Celebrating Love
Happy Valentine’s Day…..today is the day we celebrate love. Hallmark & the world of retail & their marketing machines push the cards, flowers, special foods & sweet treats, date night etc… as our means of celebration. Then we have our poems, love is fleeting…. even our songs, love hurts….and may we never forget the epic story of Romeo & Juliet!!!
But have you ever stopped to consider WHAT is this love we are supposed to be celebrating so bounteously?? Do we even really know or have we stopped to think about love this way? I’d say most of us go through the motions on this day; following the marketing trail…. It is a fun celebratory day, the kind you can choose to observe or not & no one will think the worst of you! However, true, true love, - the I lay down my life for you love began in a manger. That love was demonstrated on the cross & it lives in every believers heart today. This is the love of a Savior - unconditional, pure, always for us, never against us LOVE.
If you don’t know this Savior as your own, I’d encourage you to seek out Jesus - He loved us before we first loved Him AND if that wasn’t enough - get this: God so loved the World that He gave His ONLY son so that we may have everlasting life. And if that’s a little confusing, don’t worry - it means when we choose to accept Him as our personal Savior we will live with Him for ETERNITY (which is much longer than we will ever live on this Earth)! On top of the eternal time line, we will live in HEAVEN. Yes Heaven is real & it’s our ETERNAL home, for any of us who choose to believe & follow Him. He’s preparing this home just for our homecoming! Oh & by the way, there is no suffering in Heaven, we will be healed of all our wounds & diseases & there will be no worries or concerns….. Sounds like a perfect home, right? As a parent isn’t this just what you strive for as you care & provide for your kids? It’s exactly the same, except this is forever & ever & ever & it’s what your Heavenly Father wants to provide for you. There is one catch, something He requires from you - to invite Him to be in your heart.
The enormousness of these facts is almost unfathomable - too good to be true you may be thinking. I have nothing to offer you outside of my words to convince you of this truth. But think, just for a moment - if someone can love me SO hard - no matter if I ignore Him for years, no matter if I deny Him in front of others, no matter if I break ALL the commandments (there’s 10) that He gave me to live by - isn’t this ENOUGH.TO.BELIEVE????
He is your Heavenly Father who loved you first. He loves YOU. He DIED for YOU. He.is.for.you. And while we are living this life on Earth preparing for that eternal destiny, He commands Angels to protect us. Provision & Protection for now, for Eternity, yours for the asking……Don’t let this Earth be the end of you story.
Happy Valentine’s Day - may you always remember the ONE that loved you first & if you don’t know Him, may this spur your quest to seek Him!
I wrote this poem years ago as part of a Valentine’s Day celebration at my church, thought I’d share & I hope you enjoy -
The Ultimate Valentine
Your love expressed so long ago
The sacrifice you made for us
Your only son who took our place
And then
Calvary became the greatest love story ever told
So on this day we celebrate love
May we for a moment think
Of a Father in Heaven above
Unfailing love He’s ready to give
He’s only waiting for us to ask
by Rhonda Oh
Verses I referenced in the English Standard Version of the Bible:
1 John 4:19 - We love because he first loved us.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he have his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Psalms 91:11 - For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Blessings, Rhonda