Four Ways to Spread Love This Christmas

The whole point of the Christmas story is love. The Bible makes it clear that the birth of Jesus was the result of God’s love for his people. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT). Knowing what we needed, God sent Jesus to embody love and show us how true love looks. God wanted to be with us and love us personally, so he sent Emmanuel, “God with us.”

While Jesus was on earth, he lived a life of love. He cared for all people, intentionally reaching out to those who were considered outcasts or less-than by society. His interactions with others demonstrated that God loved them, freely offered forgiveness, and invited them into a new life.

Jesus’ love changed people. Zacchaeus was a tax collector who defrauded people for his own gain. After encountering Jesus, he vowed to repay four times what was owed to anyone he’d cheated. Jesus’ love and acceptance changed Zacchaeus’ heart, proven by his transformed behavior.

A Samaritan woman drew water from the town well during the heat of the day to avoid being shamed and ridiculed by others. Receiving love and forgiveness from Jesus resulted in her becoming an evangelist to her town. She stopped hiding from others and instead shared her encounter with Jesus with everyone who would listen.

Lives are changed by experiences of radical love. Jesus understood this and tried to ingrain this message into his disciples. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35 NIV).

At Christmas especially, we should be striving to follow this command and love those around us in such an extravagant way that there’s no explanation except Jesus. What are some ways we can make love the central message of our Christmas season? We can imitate Jesus by words, thoughts, and acts of love as well as teaching others to love.

Words of Love

Some of us struggle with verbally expressing our feelings to others. It can feel pretty awkward to tell someone we love them. When I was in college, a friend asked me how often I told my family I loved them. I replied that I didn’t, but we knew that we loved each other. He challenged me to speak love out loud the next time I spoke to my parents. It felt weird, but I did it, and my parents responded in kind. I continued this practice through the years and am now glad for that challenge many years ago. It feels good to speak love to my family and have it spoken back to me.

It’s not just the phrase “I love you” that’s important for others to hear. Words of encouragement and affirmation are also valuable. You never know how often others receive positive words about themselves from others. We should offer life-giving words whenever we have the opportunity. The Bible encourages us in this task, saying, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29 NIV). I’ve been personally encouraged through the timely words of others.

Thoughts of Love

Using our thoughts may sound like a strange way to love other people but I’m referring to praying for others. Prayers help align our hearts with God and give us his perspective. When we’re concerned for others, prayer helps us be impactful. It can also help us when we are struggling with another person. Jesus wants us to love everyone, even those who cause us harm, because that’s what God does: “I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45 NIV). God loves us even when we rebel against him.

When we pray for others, God softens our heart toward them. Sometimes we receive insight into why a person is challenging or rubs us the wrong way. Often, he gives us the compassion to love them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Acts of Love

Demonstrating love through action is what’s most visible at Christmastime. We donate toys, money, and groceries to organizations that distribute them to people in need. We spend time serving at various ministries. We bake cookies and wrap presents for others. We are often very generous at spending our resources on others at this time of the year. The challenge is to continue to love in tangible ways the rest of the year.

Teaching Love

If you have children or influence over others, this can be most influential of the ways you love. We can teach others to love by inviting them to join us in expressing love to others. They can help us write letters to soldiers, purchase items for a care package or an angel tree, or find other ways of expressing kindness, like holding a door open for someone. We can talk to them about God’s great love for us, share the ways Jesus has impacted our lives since inviting him into our hearts, and invite them to look for ways to love others in their lives.

When we help people know they’re loved and inspire others to pass on the love they’ve received from God, then we’re spreading the true hope of Christmas. Make the most of this season’s opportunities and spread love everywhere you go.

Megan Byrd is a mother of two who loves reading, writing, traveling, and introverting. When she’s not at a class at the gym, she can either be found perusing used book stores for great deals or exploring her new town of Asheville, NC. She is the author of Between Us Girls and can be found chronicling her reading journey @meganbyrdreads on Instagram or writing about life at meganbyrd.net.

Photograph © Kira auf der Heide, used with permission