Love, this Christmas
by: Claire Odogbo
As advent rolls by with the beautiful readings and carols, I often find myself thinking about the audacity of a young woman who said yes to God, as well as the God who made such a great promise and delivered!
This young woman was a virgin, betrothed to be married, when Angel Gabriel appears to her in Luke 1:26-37. He promises that she will bear the messiah to save the world. She rightly asks how this will be, seeing that she was a virgin. God doesn’t bash her for asking a how-to question, but lovingly shares his plan with Mary. I wonder if she understood those details, but nevertheless, she obeyed.
Mary had no reference for how God spoke in her day, yet she obeyed by boldly receiving the promise as one spoken by God. Having announced that an angel appeared to her, imagine how much ridicule she would face as a woman, not to mention the potential death penalty for having a baby out of wedlock. Yet she says in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your promise to me be fulfilled.” What a picture of love -- love for the Lord and surrender! She put everything on the line at that moment.
Mary also heard God in a period of silence. There were no prophetic declarations, and no one was saying that they received a divine message. I am certain that the children of Israel wrestled with feelings of abandonment and despair. Would God ever remember them, fight for them and fulfill his promises? It was into this darkness and despair that God showed up. First to Zechariah and Elizabeth, then to Mary, and then Joseph.
As humans, we are quick to forget and doubt. But God has no such encumbrances. He remembers and never forgets his promises as the Angel tells Mary in Luke 1:37, “For no word from God will ever fail.” Through the prophets, God promised humanity deliverance from the bondage and consequence of sin, and redeemed us to himself as his people. He did this by sending his Son to lay down his life for us on the Cross, as the Scripture says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God loved us and gave us Heaven’s one and only -- His very best. He never forgot humanity even in that period of silence, and came running to us like the great Father that he is. “God showed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8). Jesus didn’t come for lovable or righteous people; we were dead in sin (Eph 2:1), yet He bought us back with His own life. If this isn’t great love, I wonder what is. He left his glory in Heaven and endured the sacrifice of living as a human and dying for us because of his great devotion.
Our response
As we celebrate this season, I wonder how we may say yes when he calls us to be his vessels -- not to bear a baby, but to be His hands and feet in being intentional about loving the difficult people in our lives. God didn’t wait for us to clean up our lives before Jesus died for us, like Romans 5:8 says, so let us boldly step forward in surrender with full trust in our loving God.
Claire Odogbo is an author, worship leader, holding a Ph.D. in Economics, an MBA, CPA, and certified as a Life Coach. As a business and career coach, she is passionate about helping people and organizations find and pursue their God-given purpose and identity. Claire resides with her husband and their three daughters in Ontario. See her work and music on www.odogbo.com.