Happy Valentine’s Day bloggsters!
I’m a fan of the Valentine’s Day, I like it [and not just because I love the red and black color combo].
There is something about a day where everyone across the country is expressing love that just makes me feel…happy.
But, I also realize that there are many people who feel today is one of the worst days of the year. There won’t be any long-stemmed red roses or Russel Stover boxes of chocolate. This is a day they long to be over already.
I can understand.
There have been seasons of my life where I haven’t felt much love either. And Valentine’s Day simply served as a reminder of the lack in my life.
While I don’t want to to discount people who feel that way today, I want to share something that God showed me recently about love.
Love is of great importance to God.
So important that Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
This love that Jesus is talking about is referred to in the Greek as agapao love which is defined as: the commitment of devotion that is directed by the will and can be commanded as a duty.
-Commitment of devotion
-Commanded as a duty
That’s pretty strong.
Valentine’s Day loves to sell us on the idea of love. It’s all about the booms and sparks. But this type of love [while it can still be a good thing] isn’t the lasting love that Jesus was telling us about in this verse.
This type of love goes down deep. Past all of our worries, wounds and scars. It falls into that corner where no love of your life has ever gone before.
And when this type of love meets your soul, you are never the same.
Never the same.
A renewed confidence buds, because of God.
A deep longing is replaced, because of God.
A life filled with hope -not just wishes, because of God.
When we choose to love God, something happens. Unexplainable.
Love, comes in and takes over.
When we choose not to love God, things like bitterness, jealousy, anger and resentment can fill those corners of our souls. Those things are worse than poison. They will zap us, suck life away and we will miss out on the greatest joy in life…loving God.
So I see why Jesus didn’t just “say” we should love him…he commanded.
Because he wants better for us. He wants us to get in on the best kind of love there is.
His love.
Eternal love.
Lasting love.
