SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS
SCRIPTURES: Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Genesis 22:2
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1
An old blues song begins, “You don’t know what love is 'til you've learned the meaning of the blues. Until you've loved a love you've had to lose, you don't know what love is.” I imagine Abraham, ascending the hill holding Isaac by the hand and wondering why God, who had promised him a great nation, after he had waited so long for that promised son, why that God would now ask him to sacrifice Isaac in worship. It makes no sense!
It made no sense to me, sitting by my son’s bed, this young man on his way to a PhD in Chemistry, hooked up to so many wires and IVs that the beeping was deafening. Why was he fighting for a life the doctors said might not survive the accident?
How many times have we looked at a devastating situation and asked God WHY? If God is love, why? But then, we know that God knew what love is. He knew what it was like to love the very son he had to lose. The miracle of Christmas is that God sent that love to us. He sent His love in the form we would understand. We know what it’s like to lose your heart to a baby. We look at that beautiful, sweet, innocent face and we understand love. The Father lavishes his love on us just as we do on our newborns. We look into the eyes of that baby and we lose our hearts. That’s all God wants from us – our hearts.
This Sunday we light the candle of LOVE. Light that flame in your heart. Look into the eyes of Jesus and lose your heart. Feel the love the Father lavishes on us, His children. If we all do that, then maybe we’ll begin to know what love is.
PRAYER: Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Come into my heart and let me give my love to you. Amen.
Sue Uzelmeier
