Love - Season of Advent

Traditionally, the four big themes of Advent are Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, many churches light a new candle on the Advent wreath each Sunday, with every candle pointing to one of these ideas.

The fourth and final Advent candle represents Love, and it’s often called the Angel’s Candle. This candle really brings us to the heart of Christmas—why God sent Jesus in the first place:

“For God so loved the world ... "

Join me as we reach our final Advent theme that comes straight from Scripture, meant to help us slow down and prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love— each highlighting a different part of God’s amazing plan in sending His Son into the world and what that means for us today.

Love - the Angel's Candle

Christmas, at its core, is God’s love story. The birth of Jesus is proof that God’s love for us has no limits. First John 4 tells us that God didn’t just say He loved us—He showed it by sending His Son into the world so that we could have life through Him.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

And it reminds us of something important: love didn’t start with us loving God. It started with God loving us. Think about that for a moment. God didn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up or get everything right before He showed His love. Romans 5:8 says that

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were still sinners - still caught up in doing bad stuff - Jesus died to take away our sin. That’s the kind of love we’re talking about.

Jesus stepped into a broken world knowing full well how people would respond to Him. He knew He would be rejected, mocked, and eventually killed. And He came anyway. Why? Because God’s love for us is that strong.

The incarnation—God becoming man—is the greatest expression of love the world has ever seen. Jesus left the glory of heaven, took on human flesh, lived among sinful people, felt our pain and struggles, and ultimately gave His life to save us.

So when we light this fourth candle, we’re reminded that Love isn’t just a feeling or a nice idea. Real love costs something. Jesus showed us that kind of love by laying down His life for us. As First John says, that’s how we truly know what love is.

During this final week of Advent, we pause to reflect on just how deep God’s love really is—and we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Saviour who loved us enough to give his life for each and every one of us.