Valentine’s Day is a special day for those in marriages where there is a mutually enriching relationship. It is a special for couples who are dating or engaged. It is a special day for dear friends. It is a day is for gifting with boxes of chocolate candy all wrapped with a red and white bow, flowers, loving cards, enjoyable times together, lunch dates and dinners all with the most romantic of flares.
But there are some people would like to ignore Valentine’s Day: recent widows and widowers, those living together who are estranged, separated or divorced, those struggling as single mothers or single fathers or anyone because of age, depression or infirmity who feels alone. How can those who are celebrating look at their celebration of shared love from another perspective? How can those who want the day to be invisible, live in their lives from another perspective?
The answer is contained in the pages of God’s Word to us. Whoever we are, we ought to try and remember we are first loved by Creator God at the moment of conception in our mother’s womb. This love remains a constant in our lives. The truth is: God’s love is our first valentine. So, whether we celebrate openly or simply desire the day to fall off the calendar, we can all celebrate God’s love on Valentine’s Day. We do this by reflecting on his word to each of us individually:
1 John 4:7-21 GOD’S WORD Translation
God’s Love Lives in His People
7 Dear friends, we must love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 8 The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love. 9 God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. 10 This love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 We know that we live in him, and he lives in us because he has given us his Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify to the fact that the Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God lives in those who declare that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God. 16 We have known and believed that God loves us. God is love. Those who live in God’s love live in God, and God lives in them.
17 God’s love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. While we are in this world, we are exactly like him ⌞with regard to love⌟. 18 No fear exists where his love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn’t have perfect love.
19 We love because God loved us first. 20 Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates another believer is a liar. People who don’t love other believers, whom they have seen, can’t love God, whom they have not seen. 21 Christ has given us this commandment: The person who loves God must also love other believers.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
We often think of Valentine’s Day as the day for couples to show their love to one another, but rarely do we use the day to remind us of God’s unmatched love for us, His children. For many single people, Valentine’s Day can be a bitter reminder of their singleness and desire for a relationship. Luckily, God doesn’t leave anyone, single or in a relationship, out of His unending love and grace.
In 1 John 4:8, the author says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
God is love itself. We wouldn’t have any conception of “love” at all if it weren’t for God, the definition of love.
God further defines love in the classic 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 passage that reads, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
God continuously describes love in this way, and then continually tells us that He IS love. This further emphasizes that God himself is all of these things.
God is continually and continuously patient and kind. He keeps no record of wrongs. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres. God’s love is a perfect love that no one on earth could ever possibly emulate.
We frequently read this 1 John 4 and 1 Corinthians passage near Valentine’s Day or at weddings to remind us of what continuous and continual love should look like. We sin and tragically fall short, but God is the perfect demonstration of it.
John 3:16 says, “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.”
In His continuous and continual love for us, He gave up His only son for us. He gave us eternal life because of His great and unmatched love for each of us.
The theologian C.S. Lewis once said, “He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.”
Ponder upon and today meditate upon this thought: God loves you so much. If you were the only one on earth, He 100% still would have sent His son for you.
Mark 12:28-34 GOD’S WORD Translation
Love God and Your Neighbor
28 One of the experts in Moses’ Teachings went to Jesus during the argument with the Sadducees. He saw how well Jesus answered them, so he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of them all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. 30 So love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
32 The expert in Moses’ Teachings said to Jesus, “Teacher, that was well said! You’ve told the truth that there is only one God and no other besides him! 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus heard how wisely the man answered, he told the man, “You’re not too far from God’s kingdom.”
After that, no one dared to ask him another question.
So, on this Valentine’s Day 2022, remember to set your sights not on earthy relationships, but on the God above who loves far more fully and abundantly than we could ever imagine. Strive in your life to continually, continuously learning everything there is to know from God’s Word about His love for you.
Translate that knowledge and experience into your everyday life with whoever it is you may meet. Celebrate and share the perfect love of God in Christ Jesus. Love others in the exact same way in which God, through Christ first loved you! Pray openly or secretly, with those you meet today, “may God’s love embrace you not just on this Valentine’s Day but in every single moment of every single day!”
There is no such a time that is ever a bad time to express your love for someone, and if it takes a formal holiday like Valentine’s Day, to help you to express your affection to the loved ones in your life, then I’m all for it and you should be too. For the occasion: don’t just send a card or note that says “I love you!” Include a personal message from God’s Words of Love and Life, of Faith and Hope about what it is that you love about that person, why you find time to cherish them.
Please, Do not put off saying “I LOVE YOU.”
For God’s Sake, do not assume someone knows how you feel about them. Tell them. Tell them right now. The matter of one person’s soul hearing God’s love for them should never be taken for granted. God’s first love transforms utterly. Give God, Give Jesus, Give God’s Holy Spirit the opportunity to grow loves seed. We plant the seed of His abiding love with our love we first received from God. Love is always meant to be communicated. Love is always meant to be known.
Try and imagine all those moments when you did not speak or hear of 1st love. Did you love the feeling? Do you regret not even knowing of all the feelings? I encourage each and every one who eventually comes to read this devotional to pick up their Bibles, clean, wipe the dust off the covers – learn of “first love” all over again. Reacquaint and refresh your hearts and your souls with His Truth.
“Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, you soul, mind and strength!”
FROM GOD TO YOU, THROUGH ME, HAVE A HAPPY VALENTINES’ DAY 2022!!!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
A Valentine’s Day Prayer
I said a Valentine prayer for You
and asked the Lord above
to fill your heart and bless your soul
with the precious gift of love.
I asked Him for sincere love
the kind that’s meant to stay
just like the generous love
You give to those You touch each day.
I prayed for love from family
and from every cherished friend
then I asked the Lord to give you
His love that knows no end.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 
Amen
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