Advent is a journey—the voyage toward celebrating virtue and the only one who was ever fully virtuous.
Advent is inspired by hope that lifts our eyes and beckons our steps. It is reassured by peace that claims communion and restoration along the way. It is rewarded with joy that springs from the vulnerability of living good and bad days. Beneath it all, Advent is love, the source of all virtue.
Both virtue and vice have a starting line. For vice that place is pride. The mother whose influence lives in all other sin. Envy, wrath, greed, sloth, lust, and gluttony are all born out of self-worship. They perpetuate and encourage self-love.
John says God is love (1 John 4), which is why love is considered the opposite of pride. Love engulfs us along with all else and in the process truly magnifies our souls, as it did Mary’s. It gives birth and new life and is the Creator’s masterpiece.
At its core, love cries out for existence. Love affirms being. It sounds simple but saying, “I’m glad you are here,” pretty much covers the spectrum. If I’m glad you are here and I affirm your existence, then you do not exist for me. I cannot pour wrath on you, envy you, lust over you, or take from you. Love says, “I celebrate your life!”
In creation God said, “I want you to be!” In creation God said, “I love you!” Our own limitations separated us from returning the gesture. So God built a bridge. He came to us in the birth of a child who was fully virtuous. Advent means God existed—among us and within us, so that we can be.
Let your soul magnify the Lord this Advent season.
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Barrett Freeman is a pastor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He has travelled across the state as a speaker for a number of colleges and organizations and is known for a strong theological base and humorous tone. He has written church curricula as well as devotionals for all ages. Because of his passion for Christ in every day life, Barrett sees the church as a living organism, which is evident in his writing.