As I look out the window and see the brown hills, I have to remind myself that Christmas is just a bit over a month away. Having been raised in the town of Crossfield, just north of Calgary, I can remember a few years where we had a brown Christmas and kept the skates, toboggans, sleds and skis in storage hoping that the snow would come before the Christmas holidays. The fact is, I lived in a world that revolved around me and my pleasures.
So when did the actual significance of Christmas really begin to dawn on me? The more I think about it, I carried a lot of my childhood focus into my adult years. It was about 7 years into our marriage that my ego-centric world started to crumble. We were in the kitchen and my wife looked at me and said, “Duane, you don’t love me.” Those words hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. I would have said “she is the love of my life.” I needed some time to process her statement.
The next day I sat at the edge of the lake with a pen and pad of paper. I felt constrained to write out the details of my life – all the things that involved my time. I was pastoring a church of about 150; did counseling for a medical clinic; prepared two one hour and one half hour radio programs plus a daily one-minute spot for the local radio station. I was on two of boards for our denomination plus edited the quarterly paper for our western region. And the list went on. At the end of the list the picture was clear: I was in love with Duane Harder and his drive for significance and success. Marva was an appendage to my life, not central to it. I needed a major overhaul. It was at this point that the real significance of Christmas began to move from what I knew in my head to what I lived out in my life.
Back in 1885, Christina G. Rossetti published a song entitled, “Love Came Down at Christmas.” That song encapsulates what’s at the heart of the Christmas story. Here are the words of the first verse.
Love came down at Christmas,
Love, a lovely love divine.
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.
Christmas is about the unfathomable, unending, immeasurable love that God expressed in sending His son to earth. The babe in the manger was God invading our lives for the purpose of releasing in us His great love. I needed that love to get translated into a different set of actions in my life. Come explore this with me.
In Greek, there are four words that describe love:
Eros: a sensually stimulated and experienced emotion
Storge: describes a natural affection that one has for animals, hometown, possessions or country
Philia: is a love between friends that is based on commonality. It describes people who share similar values, interests, or objectives.
Agape: this is unconquerable benevolence; invincible good will. It is a deliberate conviction of the mind ensuing in an action of the will.
It is agape that describes the act of God in releasing His Son as a babe in the manger. That love which came down to invade, infest and conquer us is what I needed to know and walk out. It can be described as follows:
Is Patient: I will not impose a time limit for change on God or others.
Is Kind: I will choose words that affirm and actions that invest in you.
Not Jealous: I will choose to be content with where I live and what I have.
Does not brag: I am the composite of many people’s investment.
Is not arrogant: I will not measure your weakness with my strength
Does not act unbecoming: I will limit my freedom to not make you uncomfortable in my presence
Does not seek its own: I will accommodate the needs of others
Is not provoked: I will give you the right to your preferences
Does not take into account a wrong suffered: I won’t keep a record
of your wrongs
Does not rejoice in unrighteousness: I will choose heroes of character not personalities of fame
Rejoices with the truth: I will align myself with those whose word can be trusted
Bears all things: I will carry the weight of your wrong with a view to your restoration
Believes all things: I will view all things through the eyes of a sovereign God
who can put any Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Hopes all things: I will anchor my expectation in the invincible, inviolable Word of God
Endures all things: I will keep my eyes on the eternal reality not the temporal trial
Love never fails: I will stay in the race until I cross the finish line
Love will never come to an end. Never will love come to an end. To an end love will never come. Love will never end.
Let love flow from your life and I’ll see you at the top in a great celebration of the love that got us there!
Duane Harder
