Dec 3
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Advent Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries
Love Came Down
In Love Came Down we see how the Heavenly Father spared nothing—not even His own Son—to work out our salvation. Though we had rebelled in our sins and spurned God and His Commandments, He chose us—not for exclusion, but redemption. The Father’s love sought us out in our perilous condition and, in His infinite mercy, bridged the divide to our isolation through Jesus—the one Mediator between God and Man.
“Jesus came to be in our lives, a part of our lives, one of us. He came to be our Savior, and that is not a job someone can do by standing safely at a distance. Instead, He embraced our human nature—He was born, He grew, He lived, worked, and suffered, He died. And then He rose from the dead,” writes author Dr. Kari Vo.
The story of our salvation is a hard-fought victory. What began in a humble manger stall in Bethlehem on Christmas morn reached its zenith when Jesus—child of Mary, Son of God—was crucified, died, and rose from the dead three days later. This is what God did for us; this is what happened when love came down.
What is Advent?The Church divides the year into different seasons that emphasize the life of Christ and the life of the Church. Beginning on Sunday December 3rd, 2017, we will enter the season of the Church year called Advent. Advent is the season of preparation and anticipation leading up to Christmas, and continuing to Epiphany January 6th, 2018. The focus of Advent is two-fold. On the one hand, we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world as both God and man so that our sins might be forgiven. On the other hand, we anticipate the day when Jesus will return to Earth and bring an end to this world. Those will be scary days, but we can look forward to the end of the world with hope because through faith in Jesus, the end of this world will mean the beginning of a new life with Christ for eternity. Advent, then, is a time for us to repent and believe. Knowing that Jesus was born to forgive our sins, we repent (admit our failures to God) and believe that we are forgiven because of the death and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf. Also, knowing that Jesus is coming back, we repent and believe that when He returns, He will give us eternal life. |
