Brian Chandler

1 John 4:9-16

1 John chapter 4 verse 9 through verse 16. In this the love of God was made manifested among us that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. Welcome to Bridgeway Daily Advent Devotion for December 24th.

My name is Brian Chandler and I serve as a community group leader at Bridgeway Church. Today I'm going to talk to you about love fulfilled. When I think of the word fulfilled I think of being satisfied or filled up.

You know when you have a really good Christmas meal like we're going to enjoy this week and the food is so delicious you go back for a second helping and you feel fulfilled and satisfied by it. Well that's how God wants us to feel about his love, fulfilled by it, satisfied by it. Nothing else in life will satisfy you like the love of God.

When God sent his Son to this earth to die for us, it was the greatest act of love anyone could show us. And he loved us first so we could experience his love and learn how to love him and others in return. Jesus died in our place so we could be forgiven and know God personally.

Absolutely nothing will fulfill us like knowing God personally through faith in Christ and falling deeply in love with him. When I was in my early 30s I was single and serving God in full-time ministry and I desperately wanted to get married. So desperate in fact it consumed me and became the main focus of my life.

And I thought to myself how fulfilled and happy I would be if I could just fall in love and get married one day. And at that time one of my mentors in ministry noticed how consumed I was about wanting to get married. And I remember him saying this to me, Brian you are too focused on wanting to find a girl, fall in love and get married.

Forget about all that for now. Just focus on your love relationship with God and let God be enough for you. And then if he decides to bring a girl into your life, great.

But if not, let God be enough to fulfill you and meet all of your needs. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I got the focus off of trying to find the right girl and I started focusing on my love relationship with the Lord.

And an amazing thing happened. I fell more deeply in love with Christ than I had ever been before. I felt a closeness to him I had never experienced.

And I was happier and more fulfilled in my life than I had ever been before. And shortly after I made that commitment to the Lord God brought a beautiful Christian girl into my life by the name of Michelle. And I'm happy to say we've been married now for almost 30 years.

But here's what I learned at that critical time in my life. That nothing, absolutely nothing, will fulfill me or satisfy me like God's love for me will. I remember one time I was in church and we were celebrating communion together.

And the pastor had us come to the front of the church to receive the elements. And we stood in a line as each person drank from a cup and pulled a piece of bread off from a bread loaf. And there was this one young boy, I noticed about seven years old, and when it was his turn he took his hand and he tore off a fistful of bread.

And I remember reflecting upon what he did since the bread represented the body of Christ. This boy in his young mind wanted to get as much of Christ as he could get. And I thought to myself, what a beautiful picture of wanting more of Christ and desiring to be filled up with more of him.

You know, people try to find fulfillment and satisfaction in all kinds of things. They try to find it at a job, or in making more money, or a newer car, or a larger house, or like I was trying to do through a relationship. But nothing will fulfill you or satisfy you like Christ's love will.

So this Christmas season, enjoy the giving and receiving of gifts. Have fun at all the parties. Indulge in some good cookies and food.

But find your deepest fulfillment and joy this Christmas season in your love relationship with Christ. Let me pray with you. Dear God, we just thank you so much for loving us.

Thank you for showing us the full extent of that love by sending your one and only Son to this earth to die for us that we might know you through faith in his name. God, I thank you for this this Christmas season that we can enjoy, and we're so blessed. We have so much to be thankful for, Lord.

God, help us to focus on you and our love relationship with you, and we be fulfilled and satisfied by that. I ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.