Happy Valentine's Day

Two posts in one day, crazy right?

I just had a hard time not acknowledging where the
real focus of love should be on this day when we celebrate “love.”
One can call it a “Hallmark Holiday” because of the
mass amount of profit the company, or similar companies, makes.
One can be cynical because it is a holiday
for those with significant others or close loved ones,
but some are all alone.

But if today is about love,
as Christians we are first and foremost called to
focus our love on our Savior.
The first commandment calls us to solely focus on God,
“You shall have no other gods before me” Exodus 20:3.
And Matthew 22:37-38 tells us Jesus’ reply to the
testing from a Pharisee regarding the greatest commandment.
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Often we focus on Matthew 22:37 which is excellent but
too often we leave out verse 38 which is
rather important as well.

Of course we are called to love our spouses, families, friends, neighbors;
but the love we pour out over them comes from the love God pours out over us
(1 John 4:7 “…love comes from God.”).
Without our full love and devotion focused on God,
we cannot properly love those God calls us to love.

It is God who demonstrates perfect love (1 John 4:8 “…God is Love.”).
It is God who gives us strength to love (2 Samuel 22: 33 “It is God who arms me with strength…”).
It is God who first loved (1 John 4:19 “We love because God first loved us.”).

In January God put it on my heart to read Song of Songs on Mondays
and Isaiah through the remainder of the week.
He also called me to fast on Mondays.
Luke 5:33-39 identifies fasting in the absence of Christ.
“Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them;
in those days they will fast,” Luke 5:34 & 35.

Reading the Song of Songs which depicts
the Bride/Bridegroom relationship and
fasting for Christ’s return on Mondays lands me
this Monday on Valentine’s Day.
Maybe I’m the only one that finds that fascinating,
but I do.
That my focus on loving God through the Song of Songs,
pressing in to Him through fasting would
align on a day focused on love.
To me, that’s the perfect example of God showing me His love.

Love isn’t candy hearts, chocolates, or teddy bears.
Love is God, our Savior, Christ Jesus.

I love my husband and my children but in order to love them fully
I must love my God first.

Isaiah 2:22 says, “Stop trusting in man, who has but breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?”

I put my love, trust, and faith in the one who gives me breath.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

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