Valentine’s Day - a day when almost everything is colored red. Hearts, chocolate, and flowers are everywhere trying to express that four-letter word, love. Such a small word with a big meaning. We spend our lives looking for it in a romantic partner like Prince Charming or a beautiful fairytale-like princess or we use the word love to describe an emotion we have.
When it comes down to the heart of the matter however, love can be a fleeting feeling once Prince Charming’s head of healthy hair has grayed and is thinning, or maybe the beautiful woman that walked down the aisle has gained 50 pounds and is no longer curvaceous but has become more “cylinderish.” Immature.
What about the parent that stays up all night with a sick child or spouse? How about the friend who always is there for you when you need them despite how they are feeling or what they may be dealing with?
1st Corinthians Chapter 13 verse 4 (In the New International Version/NIV) says that “love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” In the original King James Bible verse 7 of the same book and chapter says that love “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” It is this mature expression of selfless love that we as Christians are called to strive toward. Jesus demonstrated this type of love when he was persecuted, and later voluntarily died for us at Calvary and didn’t once complain because he understood the importance of his sacrifice for us.
So on this day full of wonderfully decadent desserts that could make you blow your diet in a fraction of a second, enjoy your box of Whitman’s Chocolate, enjoy the roses you might have been given, or the thoughtful card you received, but remember when those things are gone that you have the everlasting, eternal, unconditional love of a savior who loves you so much that He gave His life for you.
That’s love!