As Christians we are commanded to love God and one another. The naturally occurring question arising from this is, “How do we show love?” If we believe advertisements, we might have to buy expensive gifts of jewellery. Maybe we need to be lavishing flowers, wine and chocolates on one another? Perhaps we should reserve a table in a fancy restaurant? In the movies it always seems to involve some overblown and elaborate scheme among friends to demonstrate that person A loves person B. We have come to believe that in order to show we love someone we have to spend a fortune on them. This is especially prevalent at Christmas where there is the pressure to buy the “perfect” gift to show someone we love them. I’m not so sure that money equals love. I’m pretty certain God doesn’t think so either.
Our reading today comes from a long time ago in Israel’s history, back to the time of King David, some thousand or so years before the birth of Jesus. David wants to show his love for God by building a fancy temple for God. God has other plans. God wants to show God’s love for David by building him a kingly dynasty. God promises that there will be an offspring from David’s line who will establish a kingdom that will last forever. God also promises that God will never take God’s love from the descendants of David regardless of how they behave. While they may not always show love to God, God will always show love to them. This is where we see God’s grace spelt out, what we benefit from. Amazingly, they can behave towards God however they wish, God will still love them. It’s a hugely significant passage as it is where we get our doctrine that we are saved by grace.
We know that God loves us regardless of who we are. It is from this promise that Paul is able to state that there is nothing that can remove us from God’s love. God doesn’t buy us fancy meals or expensive gifts. God love for us is shown in his promise to keep loving us even when we do the wrong thing. God’s love for us is shown in the grace that God has extended to us. God forgives us our failings, God comforts us when we mourn, God welcomes us into God’s family freely and so on. If we want to show love to others, maybe we need to do the same. If we can forgive others their faults, if we can comfort those who mourn, feed those who are hungry and welcome those who are outcast we can show them the same love God has for them and us. Among all the expense and pressure of Christmas, maybe we can show love by simply being Jesus to others as God was Jesus to us? It may not involve a monetary cost, but it does involve a personal one. May we be able to dig deep in our lives to be able to afford this.