Ravished With Love: Advent 2

"So God created human beings in his own image.  In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." -Genesis 1: 27

Christmas begins at the beginning.  Where God created us.  Where He became our breath of life.  He formed our human bodies out of the stuff of earth and He breathed us into being.  Where He gave us hearts and hands, emotions and brains.

Why would He create us?  Why would He form us with His own hands and breathe into us His very breath?  And in His own image!?  It shows a deep tenderness.  Love for who He created us to be.  It's quite amazing really.

"Ravished with wonder." (from a quote by John Calvin)  To be honest, I had to look up the word "ravished."  Like I "know" what it means, but what does it really mean?

Dictionary.com tells me that it means:

1. to fill with strong emotion, especially joy.

2. to seize and carry off by force.

Synonyms: enrapture, transport, enthrall, delight, captivate.

Filled with wonder.  Carried away with wonder.  Gripped with wonder.  Captivated, enthralled, delighted with the wonder of how I was created, Who created me, and who I was created to be.  Filled with awe at the creation around me, the creativity around me and in me.

Question: "What does it mean to you that you were made out of the overflow of God's love?"

It means that God must have an infinite amount of love.  For the amount of times that I mess up, He already knew the number of those times, but He has enough love to forgive me and shower me with grace every time.  More than enough.  His love will not run dry.  It is constantly overflowing.  He still shows me the beauty in the sunset or sunrise, that is Love.  He still hears the needy cries of my heart, that is Love.  He still gives me words to write or sing, that is Love.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  -John 3: 16

That is Love.

So this advent season, may we be ravished with the wonder of God's love for us!