fourteen days...

Another day... come and gone...
fourteen days... till Christmas...

My hope... that time spent here...
will increase anticipation...
of the celebration...
of His birth...

Jesus came proclaiming... revealing... God's character...
He came bearing... His Spirit...
He came... as an exact imprint... of God...

He is the radiance of the glory of God

and the exact imprint of his nature...

Hebrews 1:3 ESV

Jesus... not just a partial representation of God...
not just a glimpse of... or foretaste...
He is an exact imprint... of God's nature...

When we see Jesus...
we see God...

Jesus sent by Father God...
to reveal His love...

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believed in him should not perish

but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son

into the world to condemn the world,

but in order that the world might be saved through him. ..."

John 3:16-17 ESV

God loved the world...

The word... world... captures my attention...

I've studied the Greek a little... so I know this word... kosmos...

its meaning... tells a not so flattering story...

kosmos... 1 an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government. 2 ornament, decoration, adornment, i.e. the arrangement of the stars, 'the heavenly hosts', as the ornament of heavens. ... 3 the world, the universe. 4 the circle of the earth, the earth. 5 the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human race. 6  the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ. 7 world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly. 7A the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ. ... 

---Enhanced Strong's Lexicon 

In the Strong's definition... we see creation and the downward spiral of the Fall...

The beginning harmonious... orderly... an adornment... including the heavenly hosts... the entire creation... and its inhabitants...

The definition progresses to... an ungodly multitude... the mass of men alienated from God... hostile to Christ's cause... empty pursuits seducing us away from the only One who fills...

Not a flattering picture...

But... God... so... loved... the... world... 

His love...
for the ungodly multitude...
masses alienated from Him...
hostile to His purpose...
seduced by emptiness...
caused Him to send Jesus...
to reveal His heart...
that we might be saved...

What kind of love is this...? that loves those who hate you...?!

It's God's love...
which comes down...
vulnerable...
as a baby...
to a world who has no place for Him...

Love that touches lepers...
reaches out to the lost...
heals the blind...
dies for those bound by sin...

God... so... loved...

Do you get this Love...? that loves the unlovable...?
makes Himself vulnerable...? in order to save...?

Lord... this is a BIG love...

one that doesn't make much sense...

to us raised in the world...

Help me... to stretch my mind...

around Your love... the love of Jesus...

the Spirit of Your Soul...

I want to know Your love...