Valentine's Day is coming. Ah, the holiday of love. What will you do this February 14th?
Get a nice card for your honey?
What if you don't have a honey?
Go out to dinner with your husband or wife?
What if you're not married?
Will you bake cupcakes for your kids, with red sprinkles and pink frosting?
Will you spend the night before filling out cute/funny cards for their classroom friends?
What if you don't have kids?
Will you buy a dozen roses for your honey? Buy a few big balloons... a teddy bear... candy... a piece of jewelry? Go out to dinner? ($$$$!)
What if you're unemployed and low on cash?
Spend the night at home with those you love?
Get a nice card for your honey?
What if you don't have a honey?
Go out to dinner with your husband or wife?
What if you're not married?
Will you bake cupcakes for your kids, with red sprinkles and pink frosting?
Will you spend the night before filling out cute/funny cards for their classroom friends?
What if you don't have kids?
Will you buy a dozen roses for your honey? Buy a few big balloons... a teddy bear... candy... a piece of jewelry? Go out to dinner? ($$$$!)
What if you're unemployed and low on cash?
Spend the night at home with those you love?
What if you haven't got a job or a home, due to poor choices, poor circumstances, a bad economy, illness, or all of the above?
Is Valentine's Day a lonely day for you? ...for anyone you know? I call this day a "manufactured" holiday. It's less about love and more about showing off than it lets on. (If you can afford a dozen roses on February 14th, you must really love your wife!) Here's what I think of when I think of Valentine's Day: Hearts, candy, flowers, cards, restaurants, and that little guy with impossibly tiny wings who shoots arrows into people's butts.
What I don't think of is TRUE LOVE.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. — John 3:16
The word for LOVE here is "agape." According to C. S. Lewis in his book The Four Loves, agape is the highest level of love known to humanity — a selfless love, a love that is passionately committed to the well-being of the other... also translated as CHARITY.
The other kinds of love are:
Storge - Affection
Phileo - Friendship
Eros - Romance
Valentine's Day is dedicated to these three loves. They're all good (don't get me wrong) but they've got nothing on TRUE LOVE.
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said "You have heard that it was said, 'Love (agape) your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love (agape) your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:43-46
You can't put that in a $4.00 card!
Go out to dinner if you want, and send some nice candy to someone you care about. But here's an idea: Forgive someone you're mad at. Give some money to your favorite charity. Spend an evening at a soup kitchen, serving people who can't afford a dinner at a nice restaurant. That's TRUE LOVE.
Is Valentine's Day a lonely day for you? ...for anyone you know? I call this day a "manufactured" holiday. It's less about love and more about showing off than it lets on. (If you can afford a dozen roses on February 14th, you must really love your wife!) Here's what I think of when I think of Valentine's Day: Hearts, candy, flowers, cards, restaurants, and that little guy with impossibly tiny wings who shoots arrows into people's butts.
What I don't think of is TRUE LOVE.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. — John 3:16
The word for LOVE here is "agape." According to C. S. Lewis in his book The Four Loves, agape is the highest level of love known to humanity — a selfless love, a love that is passionately committed to the well-being of the other... also translated as CHARITY.
The other kinds of love are:
Storge - Affection
Phileo - Friendship
Eros - Romance
Valentine's Day is dedicated to these three loves. They're all good (don't get me wrong) but they've got nothing on TRUE LOVE.
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said "You have heard that it was said, 'Love (agape) your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love (agape) your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:43-46
You can't put that in a $4.00 card!
Go out to dinner if you want, and send some nice candy to someone you care about. But here's an idea: Forgive someone you're mad at. Give some money to your favorite charity. Spend an evening at a soup kitchen, serving people who can't afford a dinner at a nice restaurant. That's TRUE LOVE.
Peace, Love, Agape
Oops. Valentine's cards are more like $6.00. I'm not keeping up.
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