Ah, Valentine’s Day is upon us once again. I can’t escape it. Facebook. Twitter. TV sitcoms. Even my local supermarket has lined its isles with heart-felt paraphernalia. It is EVERYWHERE. To possibly state the obvious, Valentine’s Day is pretty low on my totem pole of important holidays. I don’t mean to be a Debbie-Downer; celebrating love is great. Letting your significant other know that they are loved and cherished is a wonderful, beautiful thing. But, overall, the day sort of bothers me.
As I sat back this week and thought about my inner angst towards this beloved holiday, I thought, “maybe its the commercialism of the day that I struggle with.” And although commercialism and consumerism do get under my skin, I realized that wasn’t it. Then I thought, “it must be the pressure to get a great gift. My wife would love a great gift! Without the perfect gift the day would be a bust, right?” After sitting with that idea, turns out, that wasn’t it either.
Then it hit me. I hate the fact that Valentine’s Day, and all that it stands for, is just one day. Stay with me here. I realized this holiday challenges me to love in a special way for one day. That’s cool, one day of love. But, as a Christian aren’t I called to love in a special way all year long? Now, I’m not saying that I neglect to love my wife and close friends throughout the year save for Feb 14th. What I am saying, or asking rather, what would it be like if our goal was to love others all day, everyday? Everyday!
How awesome would that be?
Personally, I stink at loving those close to me and I am even worse at loving those who I am not close with. However, 1 John 4:19 says that, “we love because [God] first loves us.” The only reason I can love is because I have a God who loved me first. And if God loved me enough to live for me, die for me and to save me from my sin, what does that say about how I am to love? How you are to love? And does that type of love reflect the love that we are going to celebrate this Sunday on Valentine’s Day?
We love because he first loved us – 1 Jn 4:19
