Back home in Germany we celebrate the 4 Sundays before Christmas, called Advent, by burning a candle for each Sunday on the Advent wreath and by preparing our hearts for Christmas and the good news that came with it. Each of the candles symbolizes something different and we will write about the meanings for the next 4 weeks.
The fourth candle on the Advent wreath is also called the Angel Candle or the Candle of Love. What do you think when you think of the word love? Maybe a Hollywood love story where a couple walks down the beach together into the sunset. Or maybe a pair of shoes you just recently bought. The word love is used in so many ways but rarely in its true meaning. But what is true love? Paul describes it in 1. Corinthians 13 the passage used in so many weddings. It talks about a sacrifice and giving up some of our own rights for someone else. It doesn’t even mention that feeling of butterflies which we only connect with love. One of the most famous and most quoted bible verses speak about true love, John 3.16.
For God so loved the world that he send his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Again a verse that talks about giving and sacrifice. When we think of Christmas and what love God has brought to us we actually see true love in Action. He cares so much about each one of us that he put the most precious thing on the line, his son. He did it so we can be reconciled with him. But the thing is he had no guarantee that people would actually take the amazing gift he gave them. What if only one person on the planet would have chosen to believe in Jesus? Do you think God would still think it was a worthy cause? I believe he would. And that is the love that is shown to us at Christmas. A love that sacrifices, heals broken things, reconciles and many more.
- When you reflect on this love for you personally, read the verse above and replace world with your name and let it go to your heart.
- After you did that replace it with the name of someone in your area that doesn’t know Jesus yet and start praying that they will experience that love of the father and make a decision for him.
- And now take an action step and live your life with such a sacrificial love with every person out there. Mother Teressa was asked once what she finds when she gave all the love away. Her answer was More love!
Remember Jesus came at Christmas time to save the world, he didn’t come so each of us can have some extra ties and socks in there closet! So let us live our lives with love in action.
Hey our friend
We hope you had a wonderful week. Wow only a few more days and Christmas is here. We are excited to celebrate with our neighbor friends. It will be an amazing time. During this and the last week we wrapped up most of the things so Christmas can come. We baked cookies together and blessed many neighbors with a Christmas card and a little plastic bag filled with homemade cookies. Its sometimes the simple things that can truly make a difference.
Also we want to say thank you to all who support us in our work here through Prayer and finances! You are a huge blessing to us! May god bless you richly!
We have a request for you! To do the work we are doing we depend 100% on support. Over the last few months we lost about $287 in monthly support through changes of circumstances in people’s lives. So at this point we need about $1410 more in monthly support to be fully funded and about $8,850 more to reach our full budget for this year. We want to ask for your help in sharing with people you know that have a heart for missions and would be interested in joining our support team monthly or with a year end donation. Of course if you are not a part of it you are welcome to join as well! When you click on this link you find out more how to do that. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you for all your help in this area.
Start this week with a lifestyle of sacrificial loving of people right around you.
We wish you a blessed Christmas week with your family. We are blessed to have each one of you in our life!!
Have a blessed week
Markus and Jen