Loving God and Loving Others

Today is Valentine's Day when love is celebrated by couples all over the place.  When we think of Valentine's we mostly think of flowers, chocolates, and romantic dinners.  I almost forgot that there are those Valentine Cards that people give to someone they love.

I remember as a child taking a bag of Valentine's Day Cards to school for each of my class mates.  I remember getting some cards that had a lollipop with it.  Those were my favorite.  When I grew older the only Valentine Cards I received were from my mother and to keep up that tradition my mother got me one this year as well.  That is a great blessing.

I am a single forty-three year old who has never had the blessing of celebrating Valentine's Day and that used to bother me, but then I think of all the money I have saved.  Sometimes we get bogged down on thinking of the things we don't have instead of being grateful for all that the Lord has blessed us with.  I have never had a girlfriend or wife to show love to, but I am deeply loved by my Savior, Jesus Christ, and His love is more than enough.

Maybe the Lord will bless me some day by providing a lovely lady to be my wife, but even if He doesn't I am ok with that.  I love the Lord Jesus Christ and I know He loves me.  God has blessed me far more than I could ever possibly deserve.  God is good.

The Lord has done an incredible work in my life and I thankful that He is still at work in me because I can attest that there is so much more work to be done in this heart of mine.  I want to learn to love the Lord Jesus with more of my heart, mind, body, and soul.  I want and I desire to love others as He so greatly loves me.

I am thankful for God's great love.  This world needs to know about God's love and His wonderful mercy to those who place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We need to reach out to others with the love of Christ in our hearts.

I am reminded of a story I heard about a mother who was sending her young son to school on Valentine's Day.  The young child had special needs and he didn't have many friends.  His mother knew that no one would give him a Valentine card at school even though the children were supposed to give one to everyone in the class, but no one ever gave one to her little boy.  The boy and his mother spent time making a card for everyone of his classmates and the next day he went off to school to hand them out to the other kids in his class.  The mother was nervous and felt sad for her son because she knew that no one would give him a card and she wondered what his reaction would be after school.  That afternoon when the school bus arrived and her son got off answered her question.  The little boy got off of the bus and ran excitedly to his awaiting mother, "Mommy, not one! Not One!."  The mother started to choke up and cry, but the little boy continued, "Mommy, I didn't forget one classmate.  I gave a Valentine to each one and not one was forgotten."

Sometimes in life we think of love as getting, but true love is found in giving.  God loved us so much that He gave us the most precious gift of all, Jesus.

I like what I John 4:7-17 says,

"7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 
                                                                           

8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world." 

In order to really understand what true love is we need to understand all that Jesus did for us.  We see how the true living God, the Creator of everything seen and unseen demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners without hope He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the Cross for us.  There is no greater love that to lay down one's life for his friends and that is what Jesus did for us.

Without having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ we won't understand what the true meaning of love is and without Jesus we certainly won't be able to love others as we should.  I am thankful for Jesus showing me His love by dying on the Cross for my sins and I am thankful that He conquered the grave by rising to life on the third day.  He is at the right hand of God and one day He will come back.  I am thankful that He gives us the Holy Spirit to indwell with in everyone of us that have trusted the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  

Brothers and Sisters in Christ let us love God for all that He has done for us and let's love others as ourselves.  People need to know this kind of love that God shows us.  I am thankful that God loves me unconditionally.  He knows my heart, He knows my every thought, He knows that words that I say, and He knows everything about me and He loves me anyway.  What an Awesome Loving God!

I am not deserving of God's great love.  None of us are.  We must receive His love by trusting the One He sent.  We need to come to Jesus Christ by faith and trust in His grace.  Let's love God and love others.

Lord,

Thank You for Your love.

Help us to give love whether or not we receive love back.

May Your love shine through us into this dark negative world.

Help me and all of us to love like Jesus.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.