Love Came Down at Christmas

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

(1 John 4:10 NIV)

My brother, who is probably one of the greatest philosophers I know, once said that we shouldn’t have to look very far to find love because it almost always finds us. Tried-and-true words from the man who didn’t have to search very hard to find his true love.

In her poem, and now well-known Christmas carol, “Love Came Down at Christmas,” Christina Rossetti penned a similar impression of love. God, who is love, came down to earth on that First Christmas in the person of Jesus to dwell among us. In his letter, the apostle John goes a step further to tell us why, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Love came down to our rescue even when we weren’t looking for it. And because it has come, we are to embrace it and share it with the world.

Love shall be our token
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
Christina Rossetti, “Love Came Down at Christmas”