What Is the Candle of Love?
Love plays a vital role in the Christmas story. Because of Joseph’s love for Mary, he didn’t stone her when he found out she was pregnant with what he thought was a child out of wedlock with another man (Matthew 1:18-19). Mary has a natural motherly love for Jesus, and ultimately, we see God’s love for everyone by sending his Son for us (John 3:16).
Jesus focused on preaching love throughout his ministry. Two of his greatest commands involve love: Love God, love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40).
What Does the Bible Say about Love?
Not surprisingly, the Bible has a lot to say about love.
Depending on your translation, the word appears 100-300 times throughout Scripture. It makes sense. God is love (1 John 4). They know we are Christians by our love (1 Corinthians 13:1).
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 alone tallies off a number of characteristics of love: it’s patient, kind, it does not envy, etc.
We cannot walk with Christ without it, and we cannot have the Christmas story without it. As Linus states in A Charlie Brown Christmas, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
Some churches, on Christmas or the Sunday after Christmas, will remove the other candles and leave the Christ candle, showing that the old has passed away and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). In other words, the law the Jews followed in the Old Testament, the sinful nature of man, all of it has passed away and Christ has brought the New Covenant, a new promise of salvation.
Often, churches will make the Christ candle larger than the rest to show that Christ is the reason for the hope, the peace, the joy, and the love that we have. Jesus is the reason for the season.
Why Does This Matter?
We cannot be Christians without Christ and without love.
Otherwise, our works and our purpose on earth are for nothing. We need Christ and Christ’s love to share the Good News of salvation throughout the earth.
Advent Wreath Prayer Week 4 — Love
Heavenly Father,
The whole meaning of Christmas can be explained in one little four-letter word…LOVE. You sent Your gift of pure love to us that first Christmas. Love descended from heaven to be born of a virgin. Love lay in the scratchy hay of a manger in a merger barn in Bethlehem. All of Your love, God, was robed in the delicate skin of a baby and wrapped in swaddling clothes. This final week of Advent helps us to reflect on the magnitude of love that was made manifest in Jesus.
You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Messiah, and Ruler of All, yet You came not as a lion but as a lamb. You came as an innocent baby whose purpose was to walk this earth in complete love and then to sacrificially give Your life as an atonement for the sins of Your children. Emmanuel. God with us. Love in the form of a man.
There is no greater gift than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. You willingly gave the gift of Your life because of Your love. Your righteous blood covered our sin. You redeem and restore us when we confess You as Lord and Savior of our life. In that moment, You give us the gift of Your love for all eternity. We receive grace upon grace and mercy upon mercy in that moment.
The greatest gift of all came that first Christmas. It wasn’t wrapped in a beautiful package and set under a decorated tree. The greatest gift came wrapped in the flesh of baby Jesus and laid in the rough wood of a manger. Our perfect gift would later be rewrapped in the scars of our sin and nailed to the rugged wood of a cross on Calvary, all because of love.
Father, this final week of Advent, fill our hearts and minds with the significance of that truth. Thank you, Lord, for loving us enough to send Jesus. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen
