Hi friends! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Thank you for being here and I hope you enjoyed this month’s book choice. Without further adieu here are this month’s questions:
Discussion Questions:
*Why do you think the author chose the love passage 1 Corinthians 13 as advent reading?
*How would you have described love before reading this book? And how would you describe it after reading this book?
*Which of the attributes of love resonated with you the most?
*Has your view of the Father’s love changed since reading this book? Have you ever struggled with feeling truly loved by Him?
*Ferguson writes that love is simply being like Jesus Christ. How should this change the way we act towards others?
*The author says that we can all agree that Christmas is about love. Why are both love and Christmas only possible because of Jesus Christ?
*“You need to throw yourself into the love of Christ” (pg. 71). Why must it be all or nothing in trusting Jesus and loving selflessly?
*Earlier this year we studied the theme of humility. Did Day 8 add to your understanding of why humility is important?
*How does Christmas point us not only to the birth of Christ but also to the second coming of Jesus?
*How would your life be different if you truly pursued the kind of selfless love discussed in this book? How would your relationships and interactions with others be different?
Scripture of the Month:
1 Corinthians 13
1 John 4:9-10
Philippians 2:3-8
Prayer of the Month
Father God, thank You for the love that came down at Christmas. Help us to live by the attributes of love listed in Your word. It’s so hard but we know with Your help we can do all things. Please search our hearts and if there be any resentment or irritability with You please cleanse us from it. Help us to act in love even if we don’t necessary feel loving. Please be our strength and grace as we live each day. We thank You for the great gift we received at Christmas and look forward to the day when Jesus comes again. We love You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
I think it’s easy to forget that Jesus Himself is a gift, and that’s why the author chose to focus on the love passage for Advent. I know I forget that Jesus is a gift; most of the time I’m asking for gifts He can give me or not truly appreciating the ones He’s already given.
Love is such a difficult word to define, particularly because we use it to describe pretty much everything. The lyrics, “What is love?” make me laugh because that’s a great question. If I had to define true love, I would say it’s giving of yourself with no strings attached. This is something that is so hard to find and even harder to do.
This is, among so many other reasons, why Jesus is so special. He is God. He is the sinless man. He is both King and servant.
How is it then that we, as humans – made in the image of God – have a hard time loving? The answer, I believe, in part lies in the author’s statement: “ But left to ourselves, all we have is ourselves.” (Page 68) We strayed from our true identify, being too proud and selfish; and ever since the beginning, have tried unsuccessfully to make it on our own. God not only knew this, but loved us anyway. He offered restoration and redemption through His Son, Jesus Christ, so that “we are no longer left to our own devices to try to discover who we really are.” (Page 70)
But letting go of ourselves is perhaps our greatest stumbling block. We like, and want, control and our culture promotes self-made selves, so it’s no wonder we get stuck time and time again. Humility is not a bad word; we’ve just redefined to be such. It’s hard to not be all about ourselves. Yet “God measures us by how much we grow in grace, not by the position we occupy because of our gifts.” (Page 57)
We get lost in the gifts, so much so that as I mentioned at the beginning, we often forget Jesus Himself is our gift. Any additional gifts God gives us (whether they be spiritual, physical, intellectual, social, emotional, or financial) are more miracles not to be taken for granted! When I focus on the Giver rather than the gifts, I am able to measure things differently because I remember to whom the standard belongs.
If I actually pursued the selfless type of love that Jesus possesses, I believe I’d get tangled up in it and be transformed. I’ve had glimpses and it’s glorious. So what’s stopping me? Pride and selfishness and doubt and fear – they constantly like to hang out at my door so they’re ready before I make a move.
Last year I had more time on my hands than I would have anticipated. This was great in a lot of ways because I had more time to focus on things I’ve been wanting to do…who doesn’t want (need) more time!? But I started noticing two things very quickly: 1) there is still only so much time in a day so no matter what I do, there’s always more to be done and 2) doing things centered around myself doesn’t bring the excitement I was hoping for (or thought I remembered). Before I go any further, I’m not saying don’t take time for yourself. What I am saying is taking too much time for yourself is an easy way to lose focus on what’s important and become stagnant in the process.
That’s why pride, selfishness, doubt, and fear like to surround us: they want to suffocate our focus. Jesus remained focused on His mission in a world full of suffocation. He threw Himself into His love for us. I want to throw “myself into the love of Christ.” (Page 71) But how do we do this? What does this look like in real life? I think Hebrews 12:1 gives us a helpful suggestion by stating: “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”
This life provides plenty of opportunity to get ourselves tangled – there’s even a Disney movie by that title!
It’s safe to say, we will get tangled up in something during our lifetimes, maybe many things. But we don’t have to be entangled in the wrong things. It is so important for us to continually remember that “the love of Christ controls us.” (2 Corinthians 5:14) Yes, we will have to go through life and its various challenges – and Jesus promises some form of suffering and persecution if we choose to follow Him – but we can be secure in Him (not ourselves), because He is good, holy, and faithful, and He never changes. (Hebrews 13:8)
Furthermore, we can rest knowing His love has a permanent grip on us! And as a result, we can love others with the love He’s given us.