Love That Transforms Us

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“We love because he first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19

When I was a kid, my dad would always insist on reading the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, when the whole family was gathered together for Christmas.  

At the time, I couldn't stand it because it inevitably delayed the opening of presents or something else that was more fun than reading the Bible (anything else).  As I got older, it made me uncomfortable because my dad's family wasn't particularly religious, and I sensed they were merely indulging us. 

It's funny how time and age can help you look back fondly on something that you were disconcerted with when you were younger.   

That story from Luke's Gospel of Jesus' birth, the shepherds, the angels, the baby lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes... It's the story of the greatest love that any of us might ever imagine.  

It's the story of how God became one of us to rescue all of us.  

I didn't realize it at the time, but my dad was pushing back against the narratives of Christmas that had transformed it into something it wasn't.   

And even those of us who claim to be Jesus-followers often lose sight of this.  Christmas does not celebrate our love for God—it celebrates God’s love for us. Before we believed, understood, or responded, God moved toward us. Love is not a response we muster—it is a gift that reshapes us from the inside out.

I didn't realize it at the time, and it would take me many years to fully grasp it, but the story from Luke's Gospel is the single most important story in the history of stories.  Because of this story, we can know that God's love is not some distant, mysterious ideal.  It's near, down-to-earth, and intimate.  

Advent love is transformative. It meets us not where we wish we were but where we actually are—fearful, distracted, tired, hopeful, longing. God does not wait for us to change before loving us; God loves us so that we can be changed.

Where do you need to be transformed? Where do habits need softening, resentments need loosening, or wounds need healing? Love is the most potent force in the Christian life because it does not coerce—it compels. It does not demand—it draws us.

God’s love does not merely console—it converts; not in the sense of pressure or fear, but in the gentle unraveling and reweaving of our hearts. When we receive love deeply, we become capable of loving in ways that would otherwise be impossible: forgiving when wronged, serving without recognition, welcoming the outsider, blessing even our enemies.

“We love because he first loved us.” Love originates with God—and flows outward through us. Advent invites us to sit long enough in God’s love for our hearts to soften, our fears quiet, our anger ease, and our lives reflect the grace we have received.

Let God’s love transform you. It is still creative, still healing, still incarnate.

Prayer

God of transforming love, let Your love reshape us. Melt our hardness, heal our wounds, and teach us to receive before we attempt to give. May Your love renew our desires, soften our reactions, and make us people who reflect Your heart. Transform us through Your presence. Amen.

Reflection Questions

  1. What part of your life most needs the transforming power of God’s love?

  2. How does remembering that God loved you first change the way you relate to others?

  3. What is one way you can practice receiving God’s love today rather than working for it?


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