True Love This Valentine?

It's that season of the year where love seems to be in the air all around the world. I’m talking about February 14th, a day where we see exchange of gifts, flowers, chocolates and even special grand gestures between “valentines” as a display of love.

While Valentine's Day isn't necessarily a Christian holiday, it is a perfect opportunity to spread love and also remind people about Jesus. I was sipping my hot chocolate the other day, looking through random valentine Instagram posts and was thinking about how society has created a vision of an ideal celebration. An “ideal celebration” that would seem disheartening especially for singles, when the hope does not end up matching reality.

It also got me thinking further, how can we remind ourselves of what it truly means to love despite society’s standards, how do we set the standards right? The believer in me at that point preparing to write was like “Why not tell the greatest love story of all”. What greatest love story, you might ask, I’m talking about the love our heavenly Father had for us when he gave his only Son that we might be saved. Now imagine that as a parent...

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God’s love for us was not dependent on what we had to give or on how much we loved him. As a matter of fact we are only even capable of love because he first loved us - 1 John 4:19. Personally I feel the very foundation of the gospel was built on love. The Bible also clearly outlines the power and characteristics of love in 1 Cor. 13: 4-8.

I like to think of this whole chapter as the “love manual”. We know we are supposed to be like Christ, like God… who is Love. If God is love and we try to be Christ-like, then love outlined in 1 Cor. 13 must be our everyday standard.

Like I said earlier, Valentine is a good opportunity to spread love, but sharing or experiencing love certainly doesn’t end on that day. We need to make it a habit to spread love & kindness even every other day just like God’s love for us is never ending.

No need to be consumed or weighed down by societal standards, choose the heavenly standard. The standard that reminds us of what perfect love awaits anyone who believes in him. And of course if you are opportune to receive fancy gifts, flowers, go out to dinner (lock-down dinner lol) that’s fine. But if you are not, that’s okay too. When in doubt remember Romans 8:35-39...quite frankly, this always makes my head spin a little lol

Rom 8:38-39 - For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Finally my dear friends, make someone feel special and loved today; let's change the standard! An act of kindness goes a long way; It could be as simple as a compassionate text or call, a listening ear, or even virtual fellowship with your brethren.

** A recipient of God’s Unconditional love.