Valentines day is one of those holidays that produces very mixed emotions from anger, to jealousy, happiness, to ideas of romance, stress, a wide range of feelings for what seems to be a simple holiday. I want to write to you today an encouragement, whether you are single, married, have been married, I want to offer you a perspective that may help you not go to one extreme or the other, rather give us a hope to cling to, whether we love this time of year or hate it.
Love is a word that so often gets throw around on days like today, and it is a word that has lost its true identity, at least in the American mindset. We use this word to describe the awesome unity and bond that to individuals have made to each other, while at the same time using it to describe our favorite dish at Freebirds. The idea behind love is not a casual emotion, Hebrew men and women would never think of using this term to describe all that it does today. The idea behind love is a weighty one, one that we see in full effect in the example of Jesus as He lived, taught, died, and rose again. It is the essence of 1 John 4:10-11-"IN THIS IS LOVE, NOT THAT WE HAVE LOVED GOD BUT THAT HE LOVED US AND SENT HIS SON TO BE A PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS. BELOVED, IF GOD SO LOVED US, WE ALSO OUGHT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER."
This is the passage and the chapter that I believe best describes the weight of this emotion that we are commanded to be generous with. So this Valentines Day, maybe you have been hurt and loving someone is nearly impossible, start with focusing on the Father's love for you, the price poured out at the cross, start there and let Him teach you and show you how to open yourself to love those in your life. Seek Him in pray and throughout the Scriptures, and trust that His love will burst off the pages.
For you men and women that are married, especially the men, take you key today from Ephesians 5:25-HUSBANDS LOVE YOUR WIVES AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH AND GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR HER." Make it an intentional effort to show her the love of Christ on display by the way that you serve her, speak about her, and care for her. Couples show your appreciation for one another by engaging each other, serving one another, talking with one another.
Valentines Day comes once a year, may we not think about love only one time a year, may this day be a reminder of the love that Christ has for us and has given to us to show HIm off. May you rest in Him today, and love because of Him.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
About Me
- Fellowship Church Lubbock
- We are not perfect, but we have been saved by the one who is. He did it by grace alone, through faith alone, on the basis of Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, revealed infallibly by the Scripture alone.
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