Celebrating Love?

A billion, yes that's right, a billion greeting cards will be exchanged today in America on this day of love- Valentine's Day. Guys, we don't come out looking very good in that exchange either. Greeting card companies estimate that about 85% of the Valentine's cards are purchased by women! Today is called a celebration of love, but actually it is more a celebration of romance. The origins of the holiday are shrouded in mystery but certainly had something to do with fertility rites that were common in the pre-Christian world. At this time of year, there were many rituals performed that the ancients thought would increase the fertility of their fields and herds and even their wives!!

We are hungry for love, aren't we? Not just romantic love - but real concern, real caring - genuine love. Show a little compassion and see how most people respond to it. They soak it up like a dry field takes in rain. Why? Because it is an awfully harsh world around us, a desert place when it comes to genuine love.

People hurry push, shove, compete to get to the front of the line. This is not because most of us are all that hostile. We are just pre-occupied with ourselves and feeling the pressures of life we forget the simple kindnesses that make life so pleasant. Remember that week after 9/11's tragic events? Shocked out of our self-absorption, we took time to talk with strangers, let others take the place in line in front of us, spoke about our shared sadness and disbelief. Then, as 'normality' returned, we went back to our thoughtless ways.

There are too many situations where cruelty is the order of the day. The kid with something 'different' finds himself tormented by classmates daily. The woman married to a control freak is mistreated and abused because he knows he can take out his frustrations in life on her. There are places of work where managers act like little Napoleons and make the office a miserable place. Oppression and abuse are the norm in too many corners of the world.

Whether the result of thoughtlessness or intentional cruelty, many people today are starved for love- and Believer - that is a real opportunity for Christ like ministry for you and me. The Bible teaches us that when we are loved by God, we become loving towards others. Yes, in fact, if we are deficient in love for others, there is reason to doubt the genuineness of our experience of God's love! John, the apostle of love, teaches us that "this love that comes from God. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, ... We, though, are going to love—love and be loved.
First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see?" (1 John 4:16-20, The Message)

Look for opportunities to show love today. Be sure to treat your special somebody to a gift and/or a card that expresses your affection but don't let it stop there. Slow down and listen. Speak an encouraging word. Affirm that person who makes your life a little better by just 'being there' for you. Take an active interest in another. Pick up the phone and make a call to a lonely person. Go and do something for someone that needs done.

As the Lord ennobles you with His perfect love, go and make that world of which you're a part a little less harsh by showing love.

The quality of love to which we're called, Believer, is delineated as follows:
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way.
Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.Love will last forever, but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NLT)

THAT IS something to celebrate this Valentine's Day.
_________________________
Lord, I come to You,
Let my heart be changed, renewed;
Flowing from the grace
That I've found in You;
And Lord, I've come to know,
The weaknesses I see in me,
Will be stripped away
By the pow'r of Your love.

Hold me close,
Let Your love surround me;
Bring me near,
Draw me to Your side;
And as I wait,I'll rise up like the eagle,
And I will soar with You,
Your Spirit leads me on
In the pow'r of Your love.

Lord, unveil my eyes,
Let me see You face to face,
The knowledge of Your love
As You live in me.
Lord, renew my mind,
As Your will unfolds in my life,
In living ev'ry day
In the pow'r of Your love.
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