Love Made Manifest

Have you ever been in love? How do you know? Is it the tingles in your stomach? Is it the way you feel when your true love looks at you? Is it your desire to do anything to make the other person happy?

How would they know you love them? Do you say I love you? Do you give them flowers and gifts? Do you spend all day gazing into their loving eyes? An even more important love is the love of God for us. Do you know God loves you? How do you know? 

1 John 4:9 tells how we see the love of God for us through Jesus coming, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him."

Through Jesus, the love of God is made manifest or show to us, and He does this in a number of ways. First, simply by coming and being with us, He gave us the very presence of God. Joseph and Mary got to experience God's love in a very unique way as the human parents to Jesus. They held Him as a baby. They raised Him as a boy, seeing Him grow and mature.

Then when Jesus started His public ministry, a large part of what He did was spend time with people. His disciples literally lived with Him for years. He went and stayed at people's houses and went to parties with many of them. Furthermore, He was not limited in spending time with just the good people or the important people. Rather, He spent time with the poor, the outcasts, and the sinner, but also with any leaders who would have Him.

He even got close enough to touch and be touched. He was held, cuddled, and swaddled as a baby. He walked among crowds where even ceremonially unclean people, like a woman with a bleeding illness could touch Him. He touched people with leprosy and with blindness. He allowed little children, who were not valued as much in that society, to come to Him.

He also came to tell us that we are loved. When talking to Nicodemus, He says that His coming is a very sign that God loves the world (John 3:16). He tell His disciples that He loves them, that they should remain in His love, and as a result they should love one another (John 13:34, 15:9). Furthermore, for those who chose to follow Him, we are told our very identity is transformed by belonging to Jesus (Philippians 1:21, Galatians 2:20). He spoke regular words of love and encouragement to His followers and through them to those of us who follow Him.

Jesus's words of love were backed up by actions of love. He said that He came to serve and to be served (Mark 10:45.) He healed the sick, fed the hungry, visited the lonely and outcast, rescued the demon-possessed, and taught the truth. Finally, He gave His life to ransom the prisons, namely us, from the chains of sin.

While we know how to show love through giving gifts at Christmas and other times, God gives the best gift in sending His son. The baby Jesus was wrapped up like a baby in swaddling clothes, but Jesus was also wrapped in burial linen. It was not until He was unwrapped at Easter that the final gift was revealed. He came to provide salvation from our sins and the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23). So this Christmas, I encourage you to open your eyes to the love the God shows us through Jesus.