Tina Turner posed the question, “What’s love got to do with it?”.  Quite literally, everything.  Love is the basic foundation of all creation.

As we enter into the third week of Advent, our theme is love. Love is something that we all talk about, we all need, and yet something that many struggle to give or receive. As we wait for the arrival of the Christ Child, I am reminded of Jesus’ words in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son”.  That’s what love is all about – giving.

In this season of Christmas, we tend to focus on giving. The giving of gifts to friends and families. The giving of money to charities and churches. The giving of greetings such as Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. To love is to give.

One of the foundational doctrines of Christian theology is that God is love. He doesn’t just love people but he is the very essence of love. He is what love is and love is what God is.  Because He is love, I want to propose to you the following:

We were created by Love, out of Love, to be loved so that we love.

We were created by love. 

Since God is love and he created us, we were created by the very essence of Love Himself. Out of the very heart of love, humanity was created. Love created us in His image and likeness. Love created us out of his essence.

We were created out of love.

When two people desire to have a baby, it’s because they want to come together in their mutual love for each other and create another human being as an expression of that love. I realize that not all babies are conceived this way, but this is the ideal way for babies to come into the world.  The idea is that babies are born into families that love them because they were created out of love.

What’s interesting to me is that before the baby is ever born, the soon-to-be parents love that child as if he or she had always been in their lives. From the moment they find out they are expecting love is instantaneously conceived for the growing baby.  That baby is created from the love of its parents.

That’s how humanity was created, out of the love of the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. We were created out of the Divine Love that exists between the Triune Godhead.  What an amazing thought that they would take such a risk in creating human beings with free will that could, and would, reject them and some would even deny their existence.

And yet, they took the risk. That’s was love does. Love takes risks. The Word becoming flesh was a huge risk that the Triune God decided was worth it.  We go after the things that we love. I believe we get that from our Heavenly Father who also goes after the things, the creation, that he loves.

We were created to be loved.

I know that some Christian’s theology is that after Adam and Eve sinned, God could no longer stand to look at man because humanity was now vile because of sin.  I used to believe that because that’s what I was taught growing up.

I don’t see that in Jesus, and I don’t see that in the Father that Jesus revealed to us.  In them, I see love pursuing the object of their affection. For God so loved the world that he gave his son. You were created to be loved. No matter how you ended up being conceived and born, you were created to be loved by God. No matter who loves you or who doesn’t, you were created to be loved by God.

The apostle Paul makes a daringly bold statement when he declares that NOTHING shall separate you from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39).  There is absolutely nothing that you can do, nowhere that you can go, and nothing in this physical world, or the spiritual realm, that will separate you from God’s love for you. 

You were created to be loved, and there is nothing you can do about it.  You can’t sin your way out of being loved by God. You can’t blaspheme your way out of being loved by God. You can reject him and even deny he exists and you still will not stop being loved by him.

You were created to love.

Love is what every single person needs.  Every. Single. Human. Being!

We all long for it, need it, desire it, want it, and will do almost anything to get it.  While many have been hurt, rejected, and even traumatized to the point where they struggle to give or receive love, they still need it.   

The hope of loving someone is that they will love you back. I believe this is God’s hope for you that you will love him back. Even if you choose not to, he will still love you because unconditional love is not based upon returned love.  God’s unconditional love is based upon his very essence. He doesn’t simply love people; He is love.

Love is the basic foundation of creation. All things were created by, for, and through the Logos. Everything carries within its makeup the love of God.  God loves his creation.

As we wait for the birth of the baby Jesus, let us reflect on how loved we are. Let us also be willing to return that love to our Father as well as to each other.

You were created by Love, out of Love, to be loved so that you can love.

Click here for the Thinking Allowed Corresponding Episode

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Most people would define peace as the absence of conflict or the absence of war. That is certainly a definition of the word and something that we should all desire. However, from a Biblical perspective, the word peace has a much deeper meaning.

As we go into week two of Advent, this week’s theme is peace.  Peace is tranquility, be it internal or external.  It’s a state of being, as one can be in the midst of conflict and still retain a peace that defies understanding (Phil. 4:6-7).  That’s the Biblical idea of peace.

The word peace in the Hebrew scriptures means to be complete, having nothing missing and nothing broken (shalom).  This is an internal state of being where one knows that no matter what is happening externally, because one’s trust and hope are in God, all things are going to be okay. 

As I wrote about hope in my last post, hope is the confident expectation that good things are coming.  Out of this hope, one can live in peace because they are not focused on external things. They are focused on their relationship with their Heavenly Father and since He is in charge of all things, they can live with inner tranquility knowing that no matter what happens, it will all turn out for their good.

The Jewish people were waiting for their Messiah, their Deliverer.  They were anticipating the day their Messiah would come and deliver them from Roman oppression and make Israel great again.  They wanted external peace that came through a national deliverer.

One thing that is ironic to me is that Jesus (the Prince of Peace) was born during a time known as the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome.  However, that Roman peace came at a high price. It came through the punishment and sometimes the violent death of anyone that opposed Rome.  Peace came through violence. That’s the way of the world.

Jesus came to bring peace in a different way. The way of Jesus’ peace doesn’t come through violence, although many Christians believe that it does. Many Christians believe that at some point in the future, Jesus will return and wipe out his enemies thus bringing forth eternal peace.

How is that different than the Pax Romana?  How is keeping the peace through means of violence the way of the Kingdom? Jesus didn’t offer peace through violent means.  He offers peace through relationship, through union with him and the Father.

The words to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth declare the intent and thoughts of the Father’s heart towards humanity. “Peace on earth, goodwill to men.” (Luke 2:14).  These are not words of violence but of peace. The angels did not say “you’d better worship this baby or else all hell will break loose”.  That’s the way of the world as we see in the actions of King Herod when his kingdom was threatened by the birth of this new king. In order to protect his kingdom, King Herod committed the Slaughter of the Innocents.

God’s way is peace, everything and everyone in its place, where nothing is missing, nothing is broken. God wants us to live in both inner and external peace. And that peace comes from our hope and trust in Him. It comes from believing that God’s will is peace and goodwill toward mankind. 

Far too many Christians believe that God is angry with humanity and is punishing us through violent means such as hurricanes, tornados, and tsunamis. On a more personal level, some believe that God inflicts sickness on them as a punishment or a means to teach them a lesson.  That’s the way of Pax Romana, not the way of the Prince of Peace.

Peace is one of the foundational points of our relationship with God. Jesus, the very Prince of Peace, came so that we could have peace with God and live in peace with one another. Jesus came to show us that the Father was wanting to reconcile the world to himself. (**).  God is a God of peace and wants us to live in peace.

Jesus came to reveal a Father that loves his children and desires peace with them.  He’s done all that he can do to bring that peace about. It’s up to us to trust in his desire for peace on earth, and goodwill to men.

As we observe Advent by anticipating the birth of this Prince of Peace, ask the Father where things may be missing or broken in your life.  Ask the Prince of Peace to bring peace into your situation. Believe that his desire is peace in your life and goodwill toward you.

Thinking Allowed Episode: The Peace of Advent

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In this season of Advent, the first week’s theme is hope. The hope of a promised deliverer. Hope for a Messiah that will save us.  Hope for a king that will rule in righteousness and justice.

Hope!

Hope is what we need today more than any gift under a tree. Hope is what will get us through dark valleys and lonely nights. Hope is what will carry us through the receiving of bad news, long days of sickness, the devastation of broken relationships, and the consequences of bad decisions.

Hope that tomorrow will be better. Hope that we will see another sunset with the ones that we love. Hope that we can have peace in our lives and joy in our hearts.

As we enter this Christmas season, let us slow down for a minute and think about hope.

In today’s lingo, hope means little more than wishful thinking.  I hope that I get that new job.  I hope my children come to see me more often. I hope that I don’t get cancer.  I hope I don’t get a flat tire on the way to work.

It’s all just wishful thinking, a desire for something good to happen.

But the hope that the Bible talks about is a confident expectation of good.  Do you see the difference?

A desire for something to happen versus a confident expectation of good.

Wishful thinking versus confident expectation.

Three Things Hope Involves

Hope involves waiting. 

Hope isn’t hoping if what you are expecting comes right when you expect it. If there is no waiting involved then hope is not needed.  The Jewish people had been waiting for centuries for their promised Messiah. They had prophecies but no timeline.

They were waiting for his arrival, his advent. (Advent is from the Latin word meaning arrival or coming).

Many times, we have to wait on God to move in our lives.  We pray prayers of expectation but then we have to wait.  It’s in the waiting that we learn to trust.  It’s in the waiting that we learn patience. 

But it’s also in the waiting that we sometimes give up. In the waiting, we can lose hope.

I want to encourage you to not lose hope in the waiting.  God will not abandon nor forget you.  He promised a Messiah. And he delivered a Messiah in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4). In other words, God will send what you need when he deems the time is right. Until then you must wait in the confident expectation that something good is coming.

Hope involves expectancy.

When you hope for something you are expecting something to happen.  Despair and hope are polar opposites. Despair comes from worry, and worry is simply fear that something bad could or is going to happen. Hope carries an expectation of good.

God is not the God of despair but of hope. Jesus promised that God knows what we need and will supply what we need (Matt. 6:25-34).  Paul tells us that God will supply all our needs according to his riches in glory (Phil. 4:19).  As my friend Torrey Montgomery put on a tshirt, “The kingdom of Heaven is not in crisis.” (kingdomgospelvault.com).

Because God is a God of hope, we can expect good things for our lives. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever have bad things happen. On the contrary, bad things happen to good people all the time…it’s part of life. But, when bad things happen, we have the hope that God will use all things (good and bad) that happen to us and bring forth good things out of them.

Check your expectations!  Are you expecting good things or bad things?  Just a word of caution though, don’t be dismayed when God answers your prayers in ways you weren’t expecting.  Keep your expectation in his goodness, not in the way you want your prayer answered.

Hope involves trust.

To believe a promise, one must trust the promise maker. To place my hope in the words of Jesus about his Father’s love and concern for me, I must trust Jesus.  I can’t trust his words without trusting his character and who he is.

If I am to have hope in God then I must learn to trust God. Hope doesn’t come without some level of trust.

I trust therefore I have hope. I can put hope in the words of those that I trust. If I lack trust then I will not have hope.

Find Hope Again

As we go through Advent, I encourage you to slow down and allow yourself to find hope again. If you have lost hope, ask the Father to restore your hope. If you find yourself in despair, ask yourself if you are struggling to wait, to trust, or to have confident expectations.

For a long time, I’ve lived without much hope due to circumstances beyond my control. I felt despair and discouragement. But things have changed! The change came when I accepted that things are the way they are (my reality) but that they could change. I changed my outlook from despair to hope by being willing to wait, changing my expectations from bad to good, and choosing to trust God’s goodness even when I didn’t see him using his ability on my behalf.

I am praying for those of you that may have lost hope. This is my prayer for you:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

The post Advent, The Season of Hope appeared first on Michael Wilson.