16For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17

As a “parent of the year” candidate, I realized last night (to the time of this writing), that my boys don’t know John 3:16. I started the verse and my oldest said, “Oh yeah, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son to die.”

Well, zero points for rote memorization.

100% on getting down to the brass-tax of it all!

The people of the Old Testament looked forward to when God would restore life back to its intended purpose. The core questions to this anticipation is…

Are we loved?

And

Are we loved by God?

We wrestle with the same questions today.

Love is a Pillar of our life. The Pillar of Love sits on the foundation that is the Object of our Hope. Whatever is our Object is what we love.

So what is love?

Love is sacrifice.

If something is the Object of the Hope of our life, we will sacrifice for it.

If we believe education is our Hope, we will sacrifice.
If we believe vision is our Hope, we will sacrifice.
If we believe success is our Hope, we will sacrifice.

If Jesus is the Object of our Hope, we will sacrifice.

Christmas is Love in a manger. Jesus came as a baby to show he is Hope by loving us so much he sacrificed himself to restore us to our original God-given intention.

Our circumstances will change, but nothing can separate us from the love of God.

You are loved enough by God to sacrifice his life for you.

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