“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luke 2:14 ESV)
Love... overused and abused in our culture. Yet it does keep the fruit of the Spirit bundled together; it does express God's motivation to act upon our behalf and send His Son. So why is it not mentioned right here at the Incarnation? Why does God not say: "Here is my love demonstrated for you!"? It does. For those of us around longer than the laptop, we always memorized this account in old King James Version: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men." Goodwill. It's not just a secondhand shop. The term the New Testament gave a new twist for love - that we use for the unconditional, abundant love of God - agape' - carried with it this sense of "goodwill." To love is to desire what is best for the other, and to speak and act in such a way to bring that about, no matter how much it costs me. When God sent His Son it was not so much because he was pleased with how wonderful and holy we are, but because of His goodwill, His love, toward us. So there is love here in a very real way.
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