Love

Article IV in the 2022 Advent Devotionals series

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” With these words, Jesus answers a questioning lawyer. The lawyer then asks again, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:27-29).

In response, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan: a man going from Jerusalem to Jericho was beaten and left for dead while traveling. A priest passed him by, as well as a Levite, but when a Samaritan saw him, he had compassion on him. The Samaritan cared for the man’s wounds and led him on his own donkey to a nearby inn, where he paid for his boarding and whatever other expenses might be needed until his return (Luke 10:30-37).

As Christmas approaches, now just days away, we remember the final theme of advent: love. However, it is easy to forget real, Christ-like love during this season. In this last reflection, then, we will consider how we can imitate Christ’s perfect example of love this Christmas and throughout the year. While there is nothing strictly wrong with many common ways of expressing love, such as giving gifts to loved ones, or the kind of affection depicted in romance songs and movies, Christians are called, first and foremost, to a higher kind of love: to “love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). We must love others like Christ did, then—but how did Christ love? 

We can derive three points from the love shown in the parable, which display the nature and application of Christ’s love. First, we cannot earn or deserve the love of Christ. Historically, Jews and Samaritans had been at odds for generations and did not interact with each other, meaning that this Jew, ignored by so many, did not merit the Samaritan’s kindness, either through his own actions or anything his people had done. Likewise, we do nothing to deserve the love God has freely given to us (Ephesians 2:8-9, Matthew 5:44-46, Romans 11:6). 

Next, we see the cost of the love of Christ through the good Samaritan: the Samaritan gave of his time, money and possessions, to someone to whom he had no obligation to do so. Christ, on a much higher scale, gave His life— the ultimate price (Isaiah 53:5-6) (Piper). 

Lastly, we see the freedom with which Christ loves us: the Samaritan had no requirement to help, no one telling him to care for this man, and no apparent future reward if he did help. In the same way Christ, although He did not have to, chose to save us by laying down His life for us. “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…” (John 10:18a). Christ's love is sacrificial. Romans 5:8 tells us “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We must remember that Christ’s love, while shown in his coming down to earth as a baby, was ultimately fulfilled on the cross and in His resurrection (Romans 5:18-19, Ephesians 5:2). If this did not happen, our Christmas celebration would be pointless! 

Just as Christ loves us, so we should love others. This Christmas, I encourage you to show others the love of Christ. How does Christ's love change your view of Christmas? In what ways can you show Christ's love to others, even those who don’t “deserve” it? This love that we are called to show—Christ-like love—is perfectly selfless, infinitely sacrificial, and expressed by undeserved grace: the most beautiful love, reflecting Christ’s own limitless love for us.

This article is part of a series. For more articles in this series, see below.

Piper, John. The Depth of Christ’s Love: Its Cost. Desiring God, 1995.