Text: John 3:16–17
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son” —1 John 4:10
My wife isn’t ashamed to tell you she’s geographically challenged. If we’re ever disconnected and trying to locate one another, I’ll say, “Stay where you are—I’ll come to you.” The other way around would quickly turn into a well-intentioned venture off the map. Funny thing, though—just mention the word beach and her sense of direction miraculously improves.
Aren’t you glad that when God saw your lostness, He didn’t simply send instructions from heaven? He didn’t shout directions from a distance or drop a pin and say, “Figure it out.” Instead, He said, “I will come to you.” This is what Advent love is all about. God does not shout love from heaven—He steps into the world. He doesn’t send us a spiritual GPS with directions on how to reach Him; He sends Himself.
John’s Gospel tells us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The word dwelt literally means to pitch a tent. God moved into the neighborhood. Love did not remain distant, theoretical, or abstract. Love wrapped itself in skin and bones, entered human history, and took on our limitations—hunger, weariness, rejection, and sorrow. Advent reminds us that love did not stay safely removed; it arrived in person.
This Advent love comes to save us from ourselves, our sin, and our spiritual disorientation. When Jesus shows up, He confronts our misconceptions and modern assumptions about love. Biblical love is not sentimentality. Sentimentality is emotion without cost—it feels warm, sympathetic, and affirming, but it doesn’t necessarily do anything. Biblical love, by contrast, moves toward someone, often at great personal expense. It does not merely reassure; it rescues.
Sentimentality affirms without transforming, but biblical love heals and calls us higher. Sentimentality says, “I don’t want to upset you.” Biblical love says, “I want you whole.” A sentimentalized gospel preaches, “You’re fine as you are,” or implies that God exists to validate our desires. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me”—a life that requires repentance, surrender, and transformation. A.W. Tozer said it well, “God loves you too much to leave you where He found you.”
Love confronts because holiness is part of healing. Love that never challenges is not love at all; it is avoidance. Jesus does not affirm our sin, but He does affirm our worth. That is why He could say to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you… go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). He affirmed that she was worth rescuing, while refusing to affirm the patterns that were destroying her. Lost people do not need applause; they need rescue (Luke 19:10).
Modern culture urges us to “be true to yourself,” but the gospel calls us to something deeper: “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it” (Matthew 16:25). Jesus does not celebrate the old self. He buries it—and raises something new.
Scripture tells us plainly, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). God did not feel love from a distance; He acted in love by entering our broken world, embracing suffering, and bearing the cross. John later clarifies it with theological simplicity: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son” (1 John 4:10). Love is not our initiative toward God; it is God’s relentless initiative toward us.
Brennan Manning captured this gospel truth when he wrote, “Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.” This is not sentimental love; it is redeeming love—love that rescues, transforms, and redefines us from the inside out.
Think about that as you seek to abide in Him this week.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for coming to where we were when we could not find our way to You. Rescue us from our sin, transform our hearts, and redirect our lives into Your redeeming love. Teach us to abide in You this Advent season—not settling for sentimental comfort, but trusting Your love to make us whole. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Reflection Questions
- How does Advent change when you view it as God coming to you rather than giving you directions to find Him?
- Where might you be tempted to settle for sentimental comfort instead of transformative love?
- How does Jesus’ willingness to confront sin deepen your understanding of His love?
- What part of your old self might Jesus be inviting you to surrender this Advent?
