So Much More Than "Valentine's Day"

Valentine's Day.  The day of love.

For those who are married, engaged, dating, or have their eye on someone special, today is a celebration.  A celebration of the reality that they have someone special in their life that they get to spend the day showing their love and appreciation for.

For those who are single, it is a day that revolves around two realities: completely avoid the day by treating it as any ordinary day, or spend the day focused on Jesus being their love and life partner.

All the above scenarios are true depictions of where the individual is at.  Yet, the reality remains the same...Valentine's Day is a day dedicated to all the couples in the world, and all the single people who desire marriage someday but who have not found 'the one' yet are left feeling isolated and forgotten about.

But, what if we have it all wrong?

What if Valentine's Day could be about more than just a romantic relationship?

What if Valentine's Day could be about LOVE?

Our culture and society views love as an object.  It is viewed as something that can be given, or taken away from at any given notice.  It is something that is accepted when you want it, and pushed away when you don't.  It is something that has lost its value.

What if that is not love?  What if love is so much more?

What if love represented something you do, not something you have?  What if love is something continual?  What if Love is a person?

All this contradicts what our society says about love, but it is exactly what love is.  If you go back into the Greek word for love, you will see that there are three main words for love.  Agape love.  Phileo love.  Eros love.  In English terms they are sacrificial love, brotherly love, and emotional love. And each word has a verb stem, which signifies an action.

From this, I understand that love is to be something we choose to do.  Not something that happens to be given to us.

In addition, the Bible says that God IS love (1 John 4:8).

So, if God is love, and love is something we do, then that changes how we see love, which then changes how we live life.

See, if Valentine's Day is a "day of love," then it ultimately comes down to this.  It is a day celebrating the love that God has for each and every human being.  Without Him, there is not love, because He is love.  And if it is a celebration of the love of God, then it should be expressed by showing the people around us that amazing, wonderful, sacrificial love.  Agape love.

Part of love involves the romantic "emotional" love couples share, but that is not all love is.  Love is all three aspects shown in the Greek words.  Therefore, this Valentine's day my resolve is to not sit back as a single lady wishing that I had a special man in my life to celebrate Eros love with.  That is a desire of my heart, yes, but that's not where God has me right now.  So, since Eros love is not the only type of love, this Valentine's day my resolve is to show my friends, family, and those around me Phileo love.  And, most importantly, this Valentine's day I pray that each and every person, whether single or not, will fully know the Agape love of Christ.  He loves you more than anyone else ever could.  He sacrificed His life because of that love.  His heart is for YOU.  His kind of love is unfailing and never ending, because He IS love and He can never stop being God.

Will you join me in my resolve?  This Valentine's day let's remember that it is so much more than one expression of love...it is about the entirety of LOVE...because His kind of love is reckless for us.