It might not be what you think.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

Movies, pop songs, poetry, basically all the more public displays of love will put flowery decorations, ribbons and bows on their descriptions. Love is thereby made into something grandiose, an amazing expression of undying emotion. But then we awake to reality. To be sure, the flowery language is wonderful and running into a burning building to save a person is indeed an awesome expression of love. But reality is that there are amazing little opportunities to show love every day. If we wait for that one big moment like the movies show us, we will miss true love.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8 New International Version

Ok, this is going to start off sounding like a complaint – it isn’t but stick with me…
Stacking wood in the mud room is not one of my favorite tasks. Once winter sets in it requires trudging through snow drifts to collect armload after armload. The wood pile is in a place that doesn’t receive the melting warmth of the sun. It takes 8 – 10 trips to properly do the job. I’d rather sit and watch YouTube. But a wood fire is such a more cozy source of heat for my family. Love in this case looks like stacked wood in the mud room. Pretty mundane. No poetry there.

Of course I love my family so this is not drudgery to me. And Jesus loves us even more. Did you catch the part in Romans 5 where Paul calls us “ungodly”? Don’t just breeze past that. Go read it again. I’ll wait for you…
I certainly enjoy stacking firewood and doing all manner of acts of love for my family when they exhibit an attitude of gratitude toward me. When they show appreciation it warms my heart and makes me look for more ways to serve them. But Jesus serves us when we are “powerless” and “ungodly”.

It’s Christmas, a season of love and family and thinking about the Christ being born a little baby. Embodied in that little infant child in the manger is all the power of the God of the universe. And He did this little mundane act while we were still sinners.

Photo and text copyright David Brukiewa