As we move into the season of Advent, we prepare ourselves to receive the only Son anew, to renew our belief, or even to believe for the first time, in God who so loves the world. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). The following reflection is based on reflections by Louis Evely’s, In the Christian Spirit.
To believe in God is to believe in the salvation of the world through Christ. The paradox of our time is that those who believe in God do not believe in the salvation of the world through Christ, and those who believe in the future of the world do not believe in God – at least the Christian God.
Christians believe in the Advent of Christ, both at His birth and His Second Coming. We await his return with anticipation and expectation: that at the name of the exalted Jesus “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” – Phil. 2:10-11.) We come to Advent anticipating the joy of Christ’s birth, and at the same time bearing in mind that our Lord’s patience in these times means salvation, for the Lord is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3: 9,15).
Atheists and agnostics and the “Nones” invent doctrines of salvation, try to give meaning to life, work, and the future of the planet, and refuse to believe in God because Christian believe in God and do not exalt their invented doctrines of the world. They ignore the true God who so loved the world. But so do some Christians who focus zealously on the final, catastrophic end of the world they despise, relishing the thought that those who do not see the world as they do will go to eternal punishment. So, which is the more culpable ignorance?
To love God is to love the world as God loves. Agape’ love in the New Testament. A new and overflowing love released by the forgiveness of sins which fills and directs all life. Self-sacrificing, unconditional love. Thus, to hope in God is to hope for the salvation of the world, especially when it seems so hard to believe possible.
I wonder if God feels alone: for is there anyone besides God who believes so much in the salvation of the world through Jesus? Advent is our time to consider these things, and answer the call of Jesus to go into the world with God’s love to save the world through Christ.