Will You Be My Valentine?

Americans spend over 14 billion dollars on Valentine's Day gifts every year.  That's a lot of money!  People all over America are buying gifts for friends, family - and the very special people in their lives.  Certainly a lot of attention is given to the holiday celebrating love.

The world would give all kinds of definitions if you asked what "love" is.  But only the Bible has the solid meaning of real love.  "By this we know love," the apostle John wrote, "that he [Jesus Christ] laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers" (1 John 3:16).  Author, speaker, and apologist Voddie Baucham has written a definition of love drawn from biblical principles: "Love is an act of the will, accompanied by emotion, that leads to action on behalf of its object" (Baucham, Family Driven Faith).  An act of the will.  Love is more than a passing feeling.  While certainly there are times where we may feel full of love for those around us, more often than not, choosing to love someone will be just that - a choice, a decision made regardless of our feelings.  Love means choosing to put someone else's needs before your own - even when you don't feel like it.  This selfless love goes against the grain in our self-saturated culture.

Most groups have a way to distinguish themselves from others.  Every nation's military, and even different military branches, have different uniforms to distinguish who they're fighting for and in what branch.  At games of every sport, fans are always present decked out in all kinds of crazy colors.  They can be identified at a glance as supporters of a certain team based on the color they're wearing.  Jesus told His disciples that Christians are distinguished from others as well.  "'By this all people will know that you are my disciples; if you have love for one another'" (John 13:35).  Wow!  We will be known by the way we love.  Do we love only when we feel like it?  Or, as Jesus posed the question to His disciples, '"If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you?  For even sinners love those who love them'" (Luke 6:32).  Just returning love to those who love us us isn't enough.  As Christians, we must go further.  Jesus told His disciples what the standard is for those who follow Him.  '"But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful'" (Luke 6:35-36).  The Bible tells us that God IS love (see 1 John 4:8), so, as His followers, love must be a characterization of our lives as well.  Everything Jesus did on earth was in love; He served, taught, and died for us.  This is our example for loving others.

The most often-quoted verse in the Bible is John 3:16: '"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.'"  God loved the world.  But He didn't send a box of candy hearts (although those have their place).  Instead, He sent His Son: a sacrifice, a gift - a decision to love, even when no one deserved that from Him.  Valentine's Day is about love.  Loving even when we don't feel like it.  Loving even when it means sacrifice.  Loving those who don't love us back.  Because that's what love is - '"just as I have love you" (John 13:34).

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