Today is Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday together, an unique combination of things to celebrate. Yet I don’t think they’re totally strangers, just a bit misconstrued.
Valentine’s Day is all about love, it has just been over-commercialized and blown out of proportion.
Ash Wednesday kicks off the season of Lent, where we reflect over the next 40 days before Easter about the sacrifice that Jesus made as He journeyed toward the cross and the ultimate sacrifice of love that the world has ever seen. “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 NIV)
John goes on to expound on love in his next letter to the church. This passage is long, but parts of it will be familiar and worth the reread:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because He first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
1 John 4:7-21 NIV
The love that Jesus demonstrated for us is agape in the Greek, a deep, sacrificial love that our word ‘love’ in English barely scratches the surface of. The love that Jesus demonstrated by laying down His life is to be imitated by Christians in our daily living. We are to love unconditionally, sacrificially, and personally.
Unconditionally: let’s be honest here… this one is often misunderstood, to the detriment of a person’s well-being. Jesus said, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:43-48) but He also taught us to resolve conflict and set boundaries when conflict resolution isn’t an option (Matthew 18:25-20). To hate is not the way of Jesus. Romans 5:7-8 (NIV) says this: ”Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Out of His unconditional and overwhelmingly compassionate love for us, God sacrificed Himself in the form of Jesus–while we were still sinners– and made a way for us to no longer be separated for eternity by sin. While we live on this earth, we are called to love others unconditionally like Jesus did for us. Boundaries can be set in love. Let us do everything we do to demonstrate to others the unconditional love of Jesus.
Sacrificially: 1 John 3:16-18 (NIV) says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and truth.” Love involves sacrifice. As a mom, I sacrifice my desires and wants (and sleep sometimes) to meet the needs of my child. As a Christian, I give to the church both of my time and my finances to help meet the needs of people in my congregation and community. This is how we are different, and how we die to our flesh to live for God–we willingly sacrifice for others. True love takes action.
Personally: The truth of the matter is that we will be the only Jesus that some people ever see. That’s a sobering thought, isn’t it? This is why living with an attitude of everyday ministry is so important–we are never off duty. It is exhausting, and we are human and make mistakes, but our focus should always be on living in a way that shows Jesus to the world.
There are so many excellent songs about love out there, but this is the one that inspired my writing today and I want to close with it:
Now, love is not a feeling in your chest
It is bending down to wash another’s feet
It is faithful when the sun is in the west
And in the eastIt can hurt you as it holds you
In its overwhelming flood
Till only the unshakeable is left
“This new command I give you,” He said
“Love as I have loved”
So brother, love her better than yourself
And give her your heartFor the love of God
Andrew Peterson, “For the Love of God”
In the name of Jesus
The groom who gave his life
To love his bride
Jesus demonstrated unconditional, sacrificial, personal love for us every moment of His ministry, all the way from the start to the cross. He demonstrated the kind of love we should strive to show in every relationship in our lives. When we live in the love He showed, God lives in us and His love is made complete, which allows us to go through every situation with the confidence that perfect love gives.
You can walk in confidence! You are loved. You are seen. You are valued. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Blessings,
~Lynne
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