In this world of imperfect people, perhaps you need a fresh outpouring of love this day. A little afterglow to Christmas. This weekly Thursday blog post falls today, the day after Christmas. God’s Christmas gift to all of us is the fourth advent candle: love.
Because we have the first three candles—hope, peace, and joy—shining brightly in our lives, we have light and love to offer others. 
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:9-11).
We have received the most perfect gift of all–God’s Love.
There’s no way we can repay God for this gift, and He doesn’t expect us to.
He wants us to receive it in grateful relationship with Him.
Ann Voskamp posted a wonderful story about Jesus’ Christmas gift to us: God with us.
This year I discovered a piano piece by a favorite composer, Linda Kerby, entitled “Pure Love.” It’s a beautiful composition, and in that way reminds us of God’s love.
*What does it look like for you to make this gift part of your life: God with us?
As a friend of mine often says, God has our moments.
It might be that simple, that we find God with us in those moments in between the rest of life.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!…” (1 John 3:1).
For us to open the gift and fully embrace it, God gives us another gift, faith itself.
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9).
We’ve heard before (and it’s true) that we can’t use a gift until we open it. I have such a gift from our family Christmas gathering. I need to open the box, unpack it, and use the items.
*What will we do with God’s gift of Love?
His love reaches us in our darkness and calls us into His light.
*Who and how will we offer our candle of love to this season?
beautiful
Thanks. 🙂