Anticipating Christmas: An Advent OverviewSample

Created to Love

Love can feel like something that just happens to us. People talk about “falling in love” or chasing it as a way to feel whole. Songs say “love is all you need,” often imagining it as a path to personal fulfillment. But Advent points us to a deeper kind of love—not accidental or self-focused, but steady, costly, and others-centered.

This love takes shape in commitment. It looks like seeking another person’s good, even when that requires sacrifice. The Apostle Paul describes love as patient, kind, and enduring, not self-seeking. And Jesus embodies this kind of love completely. On the cross, with his enemies mocking him, he prays for their forgiveness (Luke 23:34). He gives his life for friends and enemies alike, showing that true love always moves outward.

Living with this kind of love does not mean neglecting our own needs. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). We care for others best when we see ourselves and them as mutual image-bearers, both equally and deeply loved by God.

Advent draws our attention to the future that will arrive in God, an entirely restored world where this kind of love defines and compels every relationship.

It also calls us to start living into that future now. Each act of self-giving love—welcoming a stranger, forgiving someone who wronged us, caring for a neighbor in need—reveals a small but powerful work of the Kingdom that Jesus is creating and promises to complete one day.

Faith and hope will one day give way to sight, but love endures forever. As we give of ourselves, we participate in the very love that defines God, the love that Jesus reveals.

Reflection Exercises:

• How do these texts challenge the idea of love as mere feeling? How do they reframe love as an active way of living that reshapes community life?
• Think about a situation in your life marked by rivalry, indifference, or distance. What would it look like to introduce even one act of unexpected love there, not to get something in return but to reflect God’s character?