Skip to main content

A Lenten Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day.  Which means a lot of Hallmark cards will be sold, along with flowers, candy, and assorted gifts - all in commemoration of Love.
It's a good thing to love...God gave it to us as a gift.  Since we are made "in the image of God", we have the capacity to love, for after all God is Love.
The words of scripture are well-known, but bear our remembrance on this day:

1 John 4:7-10 (NRSV)
7  Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God...
9  God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10  In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4:16-19 (NRSV)
16  So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them...
18  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear...
19  We love because he first loved us.

Romans 5:8 (NRSV)
8  But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.  

John 3:16 (ESV)
16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

No one can quite comprehend the love of God.  To love like He does is beyond most of us.
God is love,
And Love is a Relationship
That Relationship is full of Joy - a Joy that quite besides reason.

I remember many years ago, one Sunday evening, after Church services.  Our family was full of little kids and we all went to a Perkins Restaurant.  We sat in a booth in the corner...one of those semi-circle booths that no one large wanted to be stuck in the middle of.  When someone big needed to go to the bathroom, half of the booth had to get up and get out of it to let that one person out, and then it was repeated when they came back - so we always stuck the little ones in the middle!

That evening, our youngest son, was sitting in the middle and he must have been thinking about something that related to church - at least that's what I tell myself.  Perhaps nothing more was happening but that God's Spirit was working in his mind and heart.  He leaned over and said, "Dad, can I ask Jesus to come into my heart?"  A rather innocent and lovely statement from a little kid..."Yes...do you want to do it right now?" 
He thought a bit, and then said, "Yes"...and he disappeared...
slid down off the bench and went under the table...
a little while later he emerged, and had a smile on his face.

"What did you do?" I asked.
"I asked Jesus to come into my heart"...that's it, that's all, that's enough.

It would be easy to say, "He was influenced by his environment, doing what pleased his parents...fit into his religious community...did what was expected socially..."  Blah, Blah, Blah...

The fact of the matter is though that millions of millions of people have done the same thing - responded to the Love of God.
All of us have the same ability - to love, to trust, to accept and receive what is freely given...and it doesn't have to happen once 
In a Perkins...
Under a Table...
It can happen again, and again, and again.

Our invitation from God, is to believe, trust in, and walk every day in the reality that we are loved...and the story of that love keeps on going through out the days of our life, and then on into eternity.

Happy Valentine's Day...It's a Lovely Day

Peace

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Loving Well

As Jesus came to  his last hours on the earth, he spent them with his disciples - a show of his dedication to their special relationship with him.  If it were me and I knew this was my last night, I might want to take time to talk about what's important, and what they must remember....and perhaps it would be about doctrine, or beliefs, faith, etc.  Jesus goes a different direction: John 13:1-17 (NIV) 1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. 2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Betrayed by Failed Expectations

No one names their children Judas.  No other name is more recognized as anathema than his name.    It's hard to sort out what to do with Judas.  He walked with Jesus, learned from him, saw the miracles, knew what Jesus was up to early on.  Yet when it came down to it he betrayed Jesus. What's perhaps more amazing is that it doesn't surprise Jesus at all. John 13:18-32 (NIV) 18 "I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.' 19 "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me." 21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me." 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Joy to the World - Help is On the Way

It’s the first day of Advent– while you prepare for Worship this morning at church take a minute to ask God to direct you through this season that you might be prepared to “receive your King”. In the first week of Advent we celebrate the PROMISE of His Coming. His promise is based on our need. We were made in his image, but there is emptiness in our soul that is the result of the Fallen nature of sin. But why did Jesus come? What in his coming announces God's heart? His desire for us to know and experience? 10 BUT THE ANGEL SAID TO THEM, "DO NOT BE AFRAID; FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY WHICH WILL BE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE; 11 FOR TODAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID THERE HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU A SAVIOR, WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD. GREAT JOY! Did you know that God is Joyful? 1 CHRONICLES 16:23-27 (NASB) 23 SING TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH; PROCLAIM GOOD TIDINGS OF HIS SALVATION FROM DAY TO DAY. 24 TELL OF HIS GLORY AMONG THE NATIONS, HIS WONDERFUL DEEDS AMONG ALL THE PEOPLES....
46 comments
Read more