I love the idea of Valentine's Day: hearts, love, flowers, romance. We are not, however, big Valentine's Day people. We prefer to avoid crowds, and we refuse to pay the outrageously marked up prices for flowers. So I usually get flowers a week after when they are reduced to their normal price, and we go out to dinner on the 15th so we aren't waiting hours. It may not sound very romantic, but we have found it works for us. I married a very thoughtful and loving husband who makes me feel beautiful and loved EVERY day, so delaying the celebration is not at all a big deal to me.
But while we are on the subject of Valentine's Day, let us talk about LOVE. God tells us exactly how to love in His Word. He also tells us why we love, and Who we learned how to love from.
Read this excerpt from 1 John 4, a passage I LOVE.
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US."
-1 John 4:7-19
I am always amazed when I really sit down and think about it that God really did teach us how to live. Everything we need to know is written for us in this amazing gift of Scripture. We know how churches should be run, and what they should look like. Jesus taught us HOW to pray. Jesus taught us how to LOVE. We can know how to GIVE. We know how to ACT. Don't believe me? Read this for yourself...
"...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to LIFE and GODLINESS, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."
What a precious gift that I too often take for granted!
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