Lonnie Wilkey
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
“Love you.”
Slightly more than a month ago our daughter Joanna posted a video of our almost 2-year-old grandson Eli, who is starting to put words and sentences together. When he said those two words, “Love you,” my heart melted.
By all accounts (or at least those of the doctors and nurses), I never should have heard Eli talk. He was born with numerous health issues and spent weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit of a Greenville, S.C., hospital. He was not supposed to live.
But God worked His amazing grace and His amazing love in Eli’s life. He truly is a miracle from God.
When we think of “love” most of us think about family and friends, but God should be at the top of the list. Amazing and true love can only come from the Creator of the universe.
God set the standard for amazing love when He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be born to a virgin in a stable in Bethlehem, knowing that later He would suffer a horrific death on the cross of Calvary for sins He never committed.
John 3:16 reminds us: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (HCSB).
Let’s face it. Mankind did not (and does not) deserve the amazing love God bestowed on us. We have been sinners since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Over the years mankind has broken God’s heart with sinful behavior.
Today is no different. Look at our world. Homosexuality is becoming a norm. Babies are aborted every day at an alarming pace. People are becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol in increasing numbers.
Our world is a mess. Yet, God still loves us.
There is no better time than the Christmas season to reflect on God’s amazing love because on that first Christmas day more than 2,000 years ago, God told us, “Love you.”
Merry Christmas!
