The Fourth Candle of Advent

One of the really big hurdles in my seminary training was our oral comprehensive examination.  I sat at a big table with five of my seminary professors.  They took turns asking me questions.  “What year was the Council of Nicea?”  “What is the difference between infralapsarianism and supralapsarianism?”  “List all the covenants found in the Old Testament.”  It was brutal.  We spent hours reviewing lecture notes and receiving tips from those who had gone before us.  One of my classmates was asked a most interesting question by one of our professors: “Sum up the Bible in one sentence.”  How does one even begin to do that?  Well, this classmate must have been living clean, because he came up with a wonderful answer.  John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Yesterday we lit the final candle of Advent.  It is the candle of love.  As my classmate so insightfully noted, the whole reason Jesus came to earth was love.  Jesus didn’t come for any other reason than because God so loved the world.  Christmas is a celebration of God’s amazing love for us.  Let’s remember how deeply we are loved by God.  So deeply that He sent His own Son for us.