Advent Week 4: Love That Cannot Be Overcome

John 1:5 declares, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
That light is the love of God revealed in Jesus. And Jesus is still the love that cannot be overcome.

Advent leads us here—to the astonishing truth that God’s love chose to enter the world as a vulnerable child. The God who could have stayed distant instead drew near. He wrapped Himself in flesh, entered our chaos, and loved us from within it. Love is why He came, why He walked among us, why He endured the cross, and why we stand secure today.

But the love of Jesus is not soft or sentimental. It is fierce. It is relentless. It is disruptive. His love overturns tables of injustice, defends the vulnerable, and refuses to leave the broken behind. This is love that will not back down. Love that overcomes the darkest night.

I remember walking through the neighborhood one evening after a long day of ministry. The streets were quieter than usual, but heavy with stories I couldn’t shake—families stretched thin, young people searching for safety, women carrying more than they should have to bear. The ache of it all hung in the air.

A friend caught up to me, holding two cups of hot chocolate. She didn’t say much, just pressed one into my hands as we kept walking in silence. The warmth of that cup against the cold night air felt like a reminder: this is what love looks like. Simple. Steady. Present. The kind of love that walks with you through the dark and won’t let go.

That’s what Advent reminds us of. Love came close. Love walked with us. Love entered the world not as an idea, but as a person—Emmanuel, God with us.

Night is when fear whispers loudest. Night is when shame isolates us, when grief feels unbearable, when injustice seems to hold the upper hand. But the love of Jesus meets us there. His love is not undone by darkness. It refuses to surrender to despair. It overcomes the night by driving out fear, breaking shame, and healing wounds that feel too deep for repair.

This is the love Advent leads us to—not a fleeting feeling, but a force that remakes the world. The love of Jesus is still here. Still breaking through. Still stronger than the darkest night. And nothing—no shadow, no power, no lie—can overcome it.

Thoughts for this week:
Where do you need to encounter the fierce love of Jesus this Advent?
How can you embody a love that does not back down in your own community?