Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine since 496 AD. 

"Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair."—G.K. Chesterton 

First Love

 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.   For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” -  I John 2:15-16

  “Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. “- Revelation 2:4

Valentine’s Day is a strange holiday. Children pass out cards to every member of their classes that pledge deep friendship and love to every friend and acquaintance. Youths plot to present the ideal gift to some object of affection – not too much, not to little, not too formal, not to personal – something just right that sends just the right message. Adults act like giddy teens and golden aged couples slip flowers and candy to each other with twinkling eyes.

 It was on Valentine’s Day that the intensity of some of your first loves reached boiling point. It was do or die day. Love was in the air. It was thick. Emotions were strong. Warm, oozy, sappy feelings mingled with euphoria. Later, the mind and heart wandered and the fever of first love diminished into an ember. Other interests vied for attention and went moved on to different things and people.

First loves must remain pure and focused in spite of our lack of focus and propensity for clutter. We are so easily distracted as we chase thrills and new experiences. But it is not a wider experience we need as much as a deeper one. Loving the world may seem to broaden us, but it is a false love and poor substitute for our first love. We need to return to our love relationship with Jesus Christ. Remember that we can grow deeper in love, but we can never grow deeper than love.

Lord Jesus may Your love flow through me today and back to You. I am incapable of the love that You deserve, but Your love within me and through me is all I need to draw me closer to You.

Valentine’s Day: Sharing the Glory 

“And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” – Revelation 21:10

Someone once said that no experience in his life was complete until he had shared it with His beloved.

As children, we rushed home to our moms and dads with every piece of good news from the day at school. As teens, we called our best friends as soon as possible. When God brought that special someone into our lives, if we have been so blessed, we desired nothing more than to disclose every wonderful event to him or her. Throughout our lives there have been people attached to us who were so precious that we wanted to share ourselves, our hopes, our dreams, our victories, and our sorrows with them.

In such a spirit, Jesus took some of his dearest friends to the mountain. Up until this point, they had seen him as a man – an extraordinary man. But now, he wanted to show a little more of himself to them – and what they would see would startle and amaze them.

When was the last time the Holy Spirit took you to a high mountain to see what He was bringing to pass in God’s purposes? Whatever God prepares, He does so according to His will in Heaven so that the sincerest and purest prayer of the believer may be, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Our God is at work and He is meeting with us in worship to give us a glimpse of His glory. He does this that we might join Him and be willingly led by His Spirit wherever His Spirit leads.

It is all about love – God’s love for us and our response in love toward Him.

One more note: Have you shared the most important part of yourself -  Christ in you the hope of glory – with those you love most? How about this week as a Valentine’s gift?

Love Is More than Enough 

"Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied." – Jude 1:2

Jimmy thought about it for a long time. What could he do this year to express the depth of his love for Jennifer? Afterall, it was Valentines’ Day. He always did flowers and treats. Most of the time, they had a nice dinner at her favorite restaurant. Once, they went to the beach and walked along the shore.

It rained and was chilly, but it did not matter. How could he top that?

She was the love of his life, a gift from Heaven, a rock of encouragement, and the very beauty of his eyes.

Jennifer was having the same thoughts. Jimmy was her support, her moral compass, her accepting partner in life who could make her laugh like no one else could.

But it was a tough year. Bills had piled up from unexpected medical procedures. Time off from work had depleted savings. They had taken out a second mortgage on their home of thirteen years.

Things were looking bleak. Jennifer was practical. Jimmy was romantic.

This year, Jennifer was feeling warm and romantic about little things and Jimmy was forced to feel and act with an uncharacteristic practicality.

“We need to talk,” Jimmy said on the phone before he left the office.

“We do,” replied Jennifer.”

“It’s Valentines’ Day coming up.”

“I know. What are we going to do? Do we really want to spend money we don’t have to remind each other how much we love each other?”

“I need no reminder. I love you more today than ever. Can I give you an IOU this year?”

“You just did. And it is the best gift I have ever received.”

At that point neither remembered who had said what. Their hearts were on the same page.

Love.

Be My Valentine 

“Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.” – Song of Solomon 1:15

The Song of Songs has enough one-liners to fill dozens of Valentine cards.

What a celebration of love and marriage!

Through the eyes of the bride for the groom and the groom for the bride, there is nothing but beauty. Their hearts beat with loving desire for each other
. They feast upon everything that makes up who the other person is.

They are deeply, passionately, overwhelmingly in love with each other.

That seems to be the main idea of the book. Human romantic love is good in God’s eyes. It is God’s idea and He not only sanctions it; He inspires it and celebrates it with us.

After all, without it, it might be hard for His plan and directive to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth to be accomplished.

Some preachers and devotional writers have spiritualized it and presented it as an allegory of the love between God and His people or Christ and His church.

That would be a legitimate application by extension since there are biblical comparisons to such a relationship using marriage as a launchpad for understanding the depth of God’s love for humanity and His call for us to love Him.

But none of that takes away from the immediate context.

Solomon is in love and his bride loves him back and the whole nation celebrates and rejoices in that love.

Not everyone in the world has someone special to share life with, but we can all live in God’s love and we can commemorate the romantic love around us that has brought us into being and points us to the deeper love that we can know in Christ.

So, Happy Valentine’s Day!

“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – ” – Romans 8:39

Nothing can separate the believer from the relentless, persevering, and all pervasive love of God.

St. Valentines Day is an odd feast for little is known of its namesake. In fact, there were several martyred saints by the name of Valentinus. Most notable, perhaps, was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius the Goth. He was arrested and imprisoned for two offenses: marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted in Rome.

Sweethearts claim the day today as a celebration of martial and pre-marital love and devotion. It is rightly a time to reaffirm the sacred vows of matrimony and lift of the sanctity of godly family life.

It is also a time to reflect upon the love of God of which every human love is a dim reflection. It is God’s love that never lets us go and sees us through all manner of trial, tribulation, and persecution.

After his sister’s wedding George Mattheson entered into a time of deep pain and despair. As a direct result of his mental anguish, he felt God dictating the words of this great hymn:

“ O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be.”

An Everlasting Love

Behold, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. – Jeremiah 31:3

Sentimentality suggests that human love can be eternal. In the genre of romance literature, film, opera, and popular music, the theme is often repeated with lyrical style and sweet harmony. We come to believe that “true love” lasts forever without great effort, commitment, or struggle.

The fact is that human love is fickle, self-serving, and often lazy. Separation may not make the heart grow fonder; it may in fact, make it wander. Hard times often drive a wedge between even the most starry eyed lovers. Many a marriage, friendship, business relationship, or family tie has been severed over some petty disagreement. Harsh words have been the precipitating cause of animosity between people. Even churches have split over selfish and petty disagreements. Where is the everlasting love?

Only God’s love is eternal for God is the ultimate lover who, though spurned, loves on.

“God is love,” and “God so loved the world …” These are expressions of His very nature and yet, it cost God to love so profoundly and so persistently. We see some of that price paid on the cross. It is expressed in the real life allegory of Hosea’s life and God taught the prophet the meaning of unconditional, relentless love.

If we are going to experience long-lasting love, we have to connect with the source. A relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ is essential to building life-long relationships that can weather the storms of life. From God we learn that real love is a commitment of time, energy, and faithful service to another person. It is work, but it is worthy of all our effort and stubborn perseverance.

We are amazed that God would love us as He does. We are encouraged that He can teach us to love. The man we know as St. Valentine is one of about three historical characters who performed many, many weddings – but it is God Himself who can make a relationship stand the test of time. Trust Him and His everlasting love and let His love be the endless supply of love, through you to others.

Again I Say, “Rejoice!”

Philippians 4:4:  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

You can’t say this enough – so Paul says it many times, “Rejoice!”

It is the natural response to joy and joy is the natural progression of grace in our lives. It is giddy, chuckle joy, the kind that giggles and sings and sets the heart to rhythm

It is gratitude and evangelism and worship wrapped up in one all encompassing emotion of inner gladness. It is command and promise in one admonition. It is Christmas and Easter and New Year’s Day mingled with the Fourth of July and St. Valentine’s Day exploding exponentially into a chorus of praise to God.

It is perpetual. Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS! That means whatever the passing emotion of the moment, no matter how deep the despair or bitter the defeat, no matter how lonely one may be, disheartened, disappointed, or discouraged, rejoice! Whatever the circumstances of one’s life, the great motivation for rejoicing is a joy so deep and enduring that it surpasses all sorrow.

It’s not about “fake it till you make it,” although there may be a way of understanding that advice that can be helpful. Nor is it about any sort of superficial gladness. It is about connecting to something real, permanent, and spiritually authentic that never changes,

It is Christ in you the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Experiencing God's Love in God's Word

"Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word."  Psalm 119:41

 We are about to commemorate Valentine&#39
;s Day, the holiday devoted to the celebration of romantic love. The word used in the psalm for mercies can also be translated, "unfailing love." It is the love of those who are in covenant together. It is the Hebrew equivalent of "agape," love that is unfailing, unconditional, and unbounded. It is the highest and best of love and that to which all human love aspires. It is the grandest romance of all, for God is the suitor wooing His people unto Himself through His precious love letters in the scriptures.

The romance of scripture gripped King David so profoundly that he had to sing about it. He sings the praises of God's salvation through His Word. In the next few verses he describes God's salvation revealed in scriptures.

By embracing the mercies of God found in the scriptures, we are filled with confidence and have an answer for every critic according to verse 42. We can speak His Word freely because our hope is in Him according to verse 43.  Finally, because of His Word lovingly imparted to us and embraced in obedience, we can walk about in freedom according to verse 45.

Imagine any human love bringing such benefits to our lives. It would be the stuff of ballads … and it is.

Such love is something about which we cannot keep silent and we will speak of it before kings according to verse 46.  As human love is the topic of so much art, so many novels, and countless musical compositions, so God's love becomes the topic of conversation as David meets with kings. At the bottom line of God's love for us communicated in His Word and our love for God in receiving His Word is delight:

"And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes." (verses 47-48)