The Ultimate Valentine

Whether you love or hate Valentine’s Day, there’s no denying it’s a big deal in America. Just look at it by the numbers:

♥  $192.80 – the average estimated amount an individual will spend on Valentine’s Day

♥  250 million – the estimated number of roses grown for Valentine’s Day

♥  $26 billion – the projected total amount Americans will spend for Valentine’s Day

♥  57% – the percentage of people who will purchase candy for Valentine’s Day

♥  $2.3 billion – the amount people will spend on flowers

♥  $5.5 billion – the amount people will spend on jewelry

In addition, more than 9 million folks will propose on February 14, and if you’re a member of the club who sees Valentine’s Day as S.A.D. (Single Awareness Day), you can actually pick up a Valentine’s card or treat for your pet!

But then after the hundreds of pounds of chocolate have been gobbled, and the millions of cards have been exchanged, and the billions of dollars spent, there comes the inevitable follow-up known as…February 15.

That’s the day when we go back to our daily grind, and all that focus on love typically gets thrown out with the wrappers and cards. But that’s not how God approaches love. Instead, He sends us a very different message:

‘For the mountains may move
and the hills disappear,
but even then my faithful love for you will remain.
My covenant of blessing will never be broken,’
says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10

Isn’t this amazing? Long after our flowers have faded and the feelings have waned, God’s love endures beyond even the foundations of the earth! That’s because His love for us isn’t centered in our beauty, our behavior, or even our love for Him. God’s love flows from the unconditional affection and commitment of the Father’s perfect heart.

What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts. Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs  or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight! Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures, no matter what.

Love will never become obsolete. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8

This Valentine’s Day, remember that love is so much more than flowers and candy and cards. It’s even more than the deepest feelings you experience, because real love is expressed by unconditional commitment and unwavering dedication to our loved ones—which should be everyone!

That’s why God did something even greater than spending billions of dollars on us—He sacrificed His priceless Son!

He didn’t send us flowers, but He allowed a crown of thorns to be put on Jesus’s brow.

He didn’t send us a card, but He demonstrated the ultimate Valentine:

Let’s make every day a “Valentine’s Day” for THE Cause of sharing the Gospel. Since God so loved the world, so should we. Picture yourself as God’s living Valentine to a world that desperately needs to know what love is truly all about.

Ignite into Action

Don’t waste this opportunity to talk to people about a love that never fades or diminishes over time. The Gospel is the ultimate Valentine that should not be kept a secret!

Fuel for THE Cause

Pray: Jesus, thank You for showing us what true love is by dying on a cross for our sins. Help us to share that love and the message of eternal life with others, and may our friends be open to trusting you as their only hope of salvation.

Read: Romans 5:8. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Get: How Deep the Father’s Love for Us video. Check out this song celebrating how much God loves us. Then pass it along to someone who needs to hear it.