Does God's love still impact you?

This is going to sound soppy, but I can still remember the first time my wife, then my girlfriend, said: “I love you”. It meant the world to me.

It still does, of course. But in the twelve years since, Lizzie has told me she loves me so many times that in a way, it has less of an impact than it did that first time (or the second, or third).

But (before you start thinking I’m a truly awful husband), her “I love you” also means much more than it did. Because, the more life we’ve spent together, and the more I’ve got to know her, and the more she’s done for me, the more I’ve come to appreciate that love, the more I’ve come to rely on that love.

So there’s this tension; it means more, but can have so much less impact. I need to just stop and appreciate the old truth: She loves me.

I can still remember the first Christmas I was a Christian. The first time that I understood what the “good news of great joy for all people” (Luke 2:10) actually was; the first time I appreciated that it was good new for me. It meant the world to me. God loves me!

It still does… but maybe it has less of an impact with each passing Christmas. I know God loves me. I know what Christmas means for me. I get the good news, but maybe it’s not quite such great joy to me anymore.

But (you know where this is going), with each passing Christmas, God’s “I love you” should mean more than it did last year.

This past year, I’ve come to see more of the depth, and irritating durability, of my sin, yet God’s Son was born to die for it all. I’ve witnessed him working in people, bringing them to faith in that good news, and seen their joy. I’ve bid farewell to a family member who died trusting in Christ, and been able to say at their funeral: “See you soon”. I’ve seen my young son begin to learn that when he does wrong, he can pray to say sorry, and know he’s forgiven and it’s all forgotten.

Here’s the tension: this Christmas I should appreciate so much more than last year what God’s love means for me, how much I need it, how deeply I rely on it. And yet this Christmas it’s easier for it to have less of an impact than last year, or the year before, or the first year I ever understood God’s love.

Maybe Christmases rush past you each year, in a swirl of tinsel and turkey and to-do lists. Maybe you wish the knowledge that God loves you enough to come to earth to save you made the impact it used to, when you were a young Christian and it was all new and surprising and amazing.

Maybe, like me, you need to pause. Stop. Right now. What has God done for you this year? What has God forgiven you this year? How has God changed you this year? What have you learned about his love for you, and your need for his love, since last Christmas?

Christian, God loves you. Let it impact you this Christmas, more than the last. Let it mean the world to you. Make yourself combine the amazedness of the first time you realised it with the appreciation that your years following him have taught you. He loves you.