“What did the one watermelon say to the other on Valentine’s Day? You’re one in a melon.”
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35 NLT
Ah Valentines Day. That great Hallmark holiday that either encourages or guilts us into affirming our love to someone through commerce. The greater the spending, the finer the dining, the more grotesque the splay of flowers, all possibly measured to determine one’s love for another. Sound cynical? Of course this statement is. Love does not require anything beyond our heart, mind, effort, commitment and presence. Love simply is love. Nothing else compares.
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV
Happy Valentines Life. If you have joined me as a daughter or son of God by surrendering your life to him by acknowledging that Jesus came to earth, died for our sins and rose from the dead, allowing us to spend eternity in Heaven with him, please consider this. We are gifted with a Valentines Life. Love invades us from the Creator of love. Love envelopes us by the very definition of love. We are loved in a way that is too marvelous to measure. We are not constrained by any contingency in the love showered over, in and through us. We are loved by a love too deep, wide and lasting to comprehend. We are loved by a love that we can only freely accept. A love that delivers a lifetime of assurance for an eternity of love. Agape love.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 NIV
So the question becomes, how do we love? Does our love differentiate itself from what the World markets as ‘love?’ As Believers, endorsed, encouraged and empowered by the very foundation of love, we should reflect love perpetually. We should extend love continuously. We should embody love, true love, agape love that is beyond condition or situation.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 KJV
There is a beautiful hymn, “They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love” whose message resonates loudly above the noise of the desperate. Have you ever heard something similar in thought like “if that’s what being a Christian is like/about, count me out!” No, if you have experienced hate, anger, judgement, or anything besides hope, joy, kindness, encouragement, help…love, then that is NOT what being a Christian is about. Being a Christian is about spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. It is about living a life of fullness too marvelous to explain and more wonderful to experience. It is about introducing fellow, broken and seeking humans to the Father and Creator of love. Being a Christian is love embodied because of the agape love given to us through Jesus.
“We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they’ll know we are Christians by our love
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
Will they? Do they? They will and they can when they see and experience the love of Christ exemplified through His sons and daughters.
So, Happy Valentines Life to you, my brothers and sisters. God is so good. Life is so beautiful because our purpose is clear and what we have to offer is so pure. So much love to give, so little time to give it. Make a Valentines Life your intentional living.
You’ve got this.