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For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6–8

This morning marks the first Monday of Advent Love.

I had planned to write from Romans 5:6–8—and I still am—but as I read it, another passage kept echoing in my mind: Philippians 2:3–8. I don’t think that was accidental. Sometimes Scripture does that. One text anchors us; another widens the horizon.

The theme that keeps coming back when I read is:

God’s love initiates, not reacts—He loved us first and best.

Yesterday in service we talked about this truth together—that God’s love is not a response to our loving Him, but His love is the initiating force behind all true love. Only when we embrace His first love can we mature in that love so that it can be experienced in the body and witnessed by a watching world.

Yesterday I mentioned how true love is a choice, and how that truth has been foundational to our marriage throughout the years (going on 26 years—wow!). Karen and I have experienced the warm fuzzies—what you might call sentimental, Hallmark-style love. We certainly have strong feelings for one another. But the ongoing, committed love we share is rooted more deeply in the understanding that, just as God’s love for us is a choice, our love for one another is also a choice. And that choice either glorifies God—or takes away from His glory.

Romans 5 says it plainly. Christ did not die for us when we were acceptable to Him, when we demonstrated spiritually fortitude, or when we had shown ourselves to be consistently worthy. Paul makes it very clear who we were when God initiated love towards us, he said we were helpless, ungodly and sinners. That’s when Christ died for us. It was with that knowledge that God sent His Son to humble Himself, even to the point of death, death on a cross (Philippians 2:8).

That’s what initiating love looks like.

Advent reminds us that God didn’t stand at a distance, like Bette Midler sang in her song “From a Distance” (a song I really don’t like). The song suggests that God remains safely removed at a distance where the world appears peaceful; I dislike the song because the gospel tells a very different story. God drew close and personal, emptying Himself of His glory to live among helpless, ungodly sinners, just as Philippians 2:7 tells us. Out of an incomparable love, God entered our story. He took the first step toward us at unbelievable cost to Himself.

This matters because it reshapes how we understand both God and ourselves.

If God’s love were reactive, we would live in constant uncertainty—wondering whether today’s failures have finally exhausted His patience. But because His love is the initiator, our security rests not in our consistency, but in His character.

And it also reshapes how we love others. If love only moves after it is earned, then we are free to withhold it. But if love reflects the heart of God, then love moves first. It forgives before it is deserved. It serves before it is noticed. It steps toward brokenness instead of waiting for repair.

Advent Love is not sentimental. It is costly. It is intentional. It is active.

So today, let this truth settle in: You are not loved because you responded well. … You are loved because God acted first.

And as we walk through this week and beyond, may that initiating love of God not only steady our hearts—but begin to shape the way we step toward others.