The Gift of God’s Love for You

I was listening to a podcast some time ago with the author and educator Adam Robinson, and he was talking about a startling discovery he made. One day he just typed into Google, “How can I learn…”

You probably know how with Google, suggestions will pop up as you type to backfill your query. And these suggestions are based on the most popular searches related to the words you enter…

So he found that if you type into Google, “How can I learn…,” the number one suggested question is: “How can I learn English?” That means a lot of people would like to learn English. A lot of people are making that particular search. Makes sense. Then at number two: “How can I learn Spanish?” Then, “How can I learn to sing?” “How can I learn to code?” But what was astonishing was that the fifth most popular search was: “How can I learn… to love myself?” Which means that millions of people have been searching that… millions of people are struggling to love themselves.

One of our greatest needs as human beings is to be accepted, to be loved, to be valued… In the world, it’s true, we often have to earn that acceptance. We have to earn that value. Sometimes we even feel we have to earn that love. It’s not often just handed to us.

But what our Scriptures teach is that that love and acceptance and grace are at the foundation of our faith.

Sometimes people will say to me, “I don’t believe in God.” And I’ll say, “Well, tell me about this God you don’t believe in.” And nine times out of ten, I’ll say, “I don’t believe in that God either.”

Sometimes we get a skewed idea of who God is—that God is an angry God, a tyrant God, a God who hates, or a God who keeps score… But at Christmas, we see a very different reality.

One of the things Christmas shows us is this: not a God who remains distant or separate, not a God who comes to punish or condemn—but a God who was born in a stable, a God who loves us so much that he would step into this world in the person of Jesus to walk alongside us, to heal us, to save us…

On this Christmas Day, my prayer for each of you is that you would accept the ultimate gift of God’s love for you. May you know that love in the very deepest part of your being… And may you share that love with a world desperately in need. May it be so. Amen.