We Can Find It in A Barn
This is the final week of Advent, and this brings us to LOVE.
The world teaches us that we need to be worthy to be loved and most don’t deserve it. This is not God’s love. God’s love is the opposite.
This is made evident in Luke 2:8-20. The first people the angels told about Jesus’ coming, after Mary and Joseph, were the shepherds.
“The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger’.”
At the time of Jesus’ birth, shepherds were one of the lowest classes of people. The world certainly wouldn’t have considered them deserving of being loved. But God shared this with them first. They were privy of the biggest actions of love before anyone else.
And where did the angels say they would find Him? In a feeding trough in a barn.
After the angels left, the shepherds went to check this out and sure enough … that’s where they found Him.
“‘Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.’ They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. (Luke 2:15-16)
Jesus tells us in John 15:9-17 to love each other the way God loves us.
“As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.
This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends.”
There is no doubt that giving up your life for someone else is the greatest love. Jesus showed this kind of love when He went to the cross and was killed in my place. This unselfish act of putting someone else ahead of yourself is an amazing act of love.
This is evident in law enforcement, firefighting, and the military. But let’s not get so focused on those life-giving acts of love that we neglect to do smaller acts of love.
Jesus loved in a lot of smaller acts of kindness prior to the cross.
In 1 Corinthians 13, were given a good example of how we should love. We can do all kinds of big, amazing things, but if we don’t do them for the right reason, that is just noise.
“Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
Now faith, hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love.”
These are the kinds of things that we can, and should, do every day.
Love comes down to where you put your focus. Is it on you or is it on God?
God’s love came to us as a small baby, wrapped in strips of cloth laying in a feed trough in a barn. God’s love is for everyone. We are supposed to be God’s hands and feet and share His love with everyone, every day.
In this Christmas season, we can find love in the barn and share it with others.
