Driving through Atlanta over the holidays, I commented to my wife about the multiple "dating" service billboards.  Within just a few minutes of driving we saw three different billboards offering their services to help you find that "special someone".  Each of them featured attractive and happy people along with an 800-number and website to help you get started in your search.

In an oversexed and under-loved world, there is still a hunger for real love.  There is still an innate desire to be loved and accepted in the long term.  There is also, I believe, an innate desire to commit to something or someone — to have something worth living for.  This does not mean that everyone should be married.  Not at all.  But I am suggesting that everyone is hungry for love and will fill that void with many things and yet remain empty. 

With Christmas still fresh on our minds, do we dare believe that the Incarnation can speak to this universal human need?  Our God has come to us, as one of us, to be with us.  Why?  Because of love.

I once heard it said that the cross shouldn't be viewed as simply a theological necessity but as an act of great love by our Lord.  The same could be said about the Incarnation.  It's more than a theological truth, it is a practical reality.  Our Lord loves us.  He loves us beyond our own capacity to show or even experience love.  As much as I love my wife and children, as powerful as I think that is, it pales to nothingness when placed beside the love God has for each of us. 

There is still a hunger for real, authentic love.  We often look for it in our relationships with one another.  We sometimes look high and low, desperately hoping to be noticed by someone.  While we hope and pray for real love, our Lord is waiting for us to understand that love has come — He has come.

The truth of the Incarnation is not that we sought love and found it.  The truth of the incarnation is that Love sought us and found us.