Week 2 of Advent- FAITH

This week we light the second purple candle in our wreaths representing: Faith

As we enjoy all the Christmassy things like decorated trees, lights, cookies, and songs we prepare for the most important birthday of all

        THE BIRTHDAY OF LOVE

The day that God became man because He loved us.

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we may live through Him" 1John 4:9

While in Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus we must remind ourselves to not only focus on the tiny baby in the manager but keep the cross in our minds, because that is where the greatest act of love happened.
That baby came for a specific, dark, and also beautiful reason. He was born to die. He came to live a perfect sinless life and die for those who live an imperfect and sinful life.

God loves us so much that He chose to become one of us. An innocent needy baby dependent on those He created in order to care for Him. Then He grew into a kind, compassionate, and perfect man and faced the ugliness and sadness of  betrayal, loneliness, pain, and suffering in order to save and rescue those who didn't even care. That is love, true love, because true love longs to give of itself.

But His love transcends the cross. He pursues us with compassion. He never leaves us, no matter how much we hurt Him with our sins. He gives us comfort when we need it most. He hears our prayers and pleas. He helps us grow in holiness. All He does only shows His true and everlasting love for us.

What Christ did for us should inspire us to act the same way
      * to be generous with those around us because God is generous with us
      * to show compassion to all those who suffer, even if their suffering is caused by their own doing, because God us compassionate with us
     * to forgive those who have hurt us because God forgives us when we hurt and insult Him with our sins.
     * to love the unlovely and those who make it almost impossible for us to love because God loves us.
    * to care for the needy whether is by donating money, time, talent, and prayers because God takes care of us.

We do all these for others we not only point them to Christ but we give God the greatest gift of all: loving others like he loves us

1John 4:7
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God"

I want to invite you to join me this advent to take some time to look and ponder on all the things God has done for you, in, and though you. As you do this look for ways and opportunities to share the love of God to others through acts of kindness. 

Luz

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