Some parts of the world share their kindness and gentleness for one another as a symbol of their love on this day we call Valentines Day. But why only one day…and what does that love mean anyway?
Each year at this time I buy a small tea rose to remind me that spring is not far away. Hopefully this year I will be able to keep this one alive. Sometimes my thumb is a bit on the brown side. But roses have always been a sign of love, so I give you pictures of the beauty I bought with reminders of what true love is really like.
The most profound definition of Love comes from the strongest love story ever written for all of mankind. That love story is God’s love story written for man that we call the Bible. In 1st Corinthians, a true definition of love was written.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
The last sentence – “Love never gives up” is a message for all of us from God. His love for us is so profound that we could never really understand its depth. And nothing can separate it from us.
No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)
Even the Old Testament with all of its amazing stories through its history, the trials, and sorrow, the theme was always the same…love.
I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. Jeremiah 31:3
And of course His ultimate sacrifice of giving His life for each of ours so we could spend eternity with Him surrounded forever in that abundant 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
So always believe in that love. Let its power reach deep into your heart where it grows strong roots to help you survive this time on Earth.
I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19
Always be filled with the fullness of that love and share it with others by being kind. Kindness is a strong component of God’s love because it also comes from the heart.
