Meditations on the Meaning of ChristmasShembull

Experiencing the Love That Comes Down

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18a)

We have been considering the term “perfected love” and have defined it this way: perfected love is love that comes down, goes up, and goes out.

God’s love comes down to us in Jesus Christ. As we truly receive His love and experience His love, we are transformed by His love into people who love God and love others. That’s perfected love.

Perfected love begins with the love of God coming down at Christmas. God has chosen to love us like God loves God and has made a way for us to escape the eternal punishment we deserve, entering into an eternal joy in God that we don’t deserve!  

But now that we have received God’s love, how can we experience God’s love more and more in our lives?

STEP ONE: PRAYER

Consider how Moses prayed in Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

Moses prayed that God would pour out His grace in such a way that not only Moses, but all of God’s people would be so satisfied in God’s love that they would rejoice and be glad in God for the rest of their lives!

If you and I want to experience the love of God more and more in our lives, step one is prayer. We must ask!

STEP TWO: THE WORD OF GOD

If we want to experience the love of God, we must also “gaze” at the love of God. The love of God is most clearly displayed in the gospel.

This is how you and I can “see” the love of God, we meditate upon the truth of the gospel.

Peter describes the gospel this way, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18a)

As you and I meditate upon the truth that God has given us the ultimate gift of Himself, at the ultimate cost of Himself, we are gazing at the love of God in the gospel.

As you and I meditate upon the truth that God has given us the ultimate gift of eternal satisfaction in Him, at the ultimate cost of the immeasurable suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross, we are gazing at the love of God.

So let’s look with spiritual eyes upon the truth that Jesus Christ has saved us from the eternal suffering we deserve, to the eternal joy we don’t deserve at the ultimate cost of His cross.

The love of God came down for us at Christmas. Let’s seek to truly experience it!

Reflect

• Am I growing in my experience of the love of God?
• Am I asking God to satisfy me with a greater experience of His love?
• Am I looking at His love in the person of Jesus Christ?
• What can I do to grow in my experience of the love of God?