Real Love, The Biblical Way

Well today is Valentine's Day. Like every other holiday in our culture, another opportunity for companies to make money. It is fun to buy chocolate hearts, exchange valentines and join in the festivities. It is also a great time to tell those who are special to us how much we love and appreciate them. It is even a better time to think of the awesome love which God showed to us in while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

At church today our pastor preached from Romans 12:1-3 and reminded us of what biblical love is. It is a commitment, not an emotion. It means saying "I will do what is right regardless of how I feel". Is this what we see in the world around us? How often do we see people saying "I am not happy anymore" or "I don't love him or her anymore". Well last time I checked the wedding vows, I don't remember it saying anything about I will love you as long as I am happy or I will be your husband or wife as long as I love you. In Christian marriage we do vow to love one another as long as we both shall live. I am not here to debate reasons for divorce, just to encourage us to all love, the biblical way. So what do you do when you don't feel like loving? You do it anyway. You look for ways to show love through your actions. Whether it means everyday things like cooking dinner, or doing the laundry,or something that takes a bit more thought like taking the kids out so your husband can get a nap or writing a note and leaving it somewhere unexpected, just do it. If you have children, while you are doing these things in your everyday life, you are showing your children what to look for in a future husband and wife. Will they look for someone who makes them feel good and makes them happy? Great, but what will happen when those feelings fade? But... what if they look for someone who they can help to be the person God made them to be? Someone who is committed to live together as a testimony of God's great love? Someone who will work on building a strong marriage and a strong family for God's kingdom? Well, they will have a solid foundation for those times when they don't feel like loving, when they feel unhappy. Let's face it...our feelings can change like the wind (especially for us women), but God's Word stands forever. It is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. So which are you standing on?

I know I wrote mostly about marital love, but biblical love is not just for us married folks. You can still do what is right and love and serve God and others being single. What a great opportunity to do so! May we remember to love God first, others second and ourselves last.

Happy Valentine's Day to Tom, my husband, who shows me everyday what it means to love.