For God So Loved the World

12/05/22/ to 12/11/22

A Glorious Gift

By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  12/08/22

The Bible says that out of pure love, God gave. What did He give? A token of Himself? Ten percent of Himself? A day out of His busy schedule? A few hours a day? A pittance of Himself? God’s Word tells us that when God loved, He gave His all. God’s love is not a partial love; it’s not an occasional love. God’s love is permanent and everlasting because loving is His essence. And because loving is His essence, giving is His nature.

Those who love much, give much. How do we measure the extent of someone’s love? It can only be measured by the degree of humble self-denial practiced in service to another. Anybody can say, “I love you,” but it is the degree of one’s sacrifice that demonstrates the depth of one’s love.

On that first Christmas, God demonstrated the depth of His love as He, the Holy One, gave the world His only begotten Son. When Jesus Christ entered creation, there was nothing in heaven left for God to give to humanity, for in Christ, He gave us everything. The divine one, who alone can satisfy, gave us Himself! Through Jesus our Savior, we are redeemed and adopted as children of God, as co-heirs with Christ, and promised an inheritance that will never spoil, perish, or fade (see Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 8:17; 1 Peter 1:3-5). For, in Christ, we have life and glory eternally with God.

Prayer: My God, I cannot comprehend the depth of Your love for me. Grant me power by Your Holy Spirit “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19). I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:15-16).