This week, people across the nation will celebrate Valentine’s Day - a day of love. You can read all about the history of the date, it originated as a Christian feast day honoring two men named Valentinus. You can read all about how the first Valentine’s Day card was sold in the US in 1847 by Esther Howland. You can read all about how a billion valentine’s cards will be sent, but less than a million will be sent by women. But none of that tells us what love is, or how we are to love, or what love looks like.
Only one place tells us of true love, and we only see that love in one person.
“Love is patient and kind…” 1 Corinthians 13
“We love because God first loved us”
“No greater love has man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” John 15:13-14
“By this we know love that Jesus laid down his life for us” 1 John 3:16
“The love of God was made known among us in this way, God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might love through Him. He loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:9-10
“God is love.” 1 John 4:8
If you are still looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, you don’t need to buy a dozen roses that wilt and are thrown away, you don’t need to buy a card that will be displayed for a while but then put in a box and never seen again. Give the ones you love what you have already been given - a gift that won’t wilt and die, can’t be kept in a box - “let us love one another, for love is from God” 1 John 4:7.
