Valentine's Week

Isn't love grand?

Sometimes it's too grand to understand...as was Agur's sentiment in

Proverbs 30:18-19 (New International Version)
¹⁸ "There are three things that are too amazing for me,
four that I do not understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden.

(The NLT puts that last phrase in a more modern way: how a man loves a woman)
The Bible has much to say on the subject of love but one familiar passage speaks very clearly on what love truly is and how it behaves:

1 Corinthians 13:1-8a and 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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....And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV)

In studying that passage and KNOWING how we behave toward the people that we say that we love, doesn't it sometimes make you wonder if you really love at all? Am I Patient? Kind? Um...well...not all the time, for sure. In fact, if truth really be told, I may be more of the envious, rude, self-seeking, easily angered variety.
Ahhhhhhh...I am nothing.

But here is a phenomenal truth...
His mercy, grace and unfailing love ever envelops me and allows me a clean slate every day and every moment to learn to love again. We love because He first loved us.

This is Valentine's Week...and here is the greatest love story of all...



John 3:16 (New International Version)
"For God so loved the world (that means EVERYONE) that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."


Can you take a moment to imagine what it would be like to sacrifice your one and only child in order to save someone else? (oh.HECK.no) And not only the "good people" of the world, mind you, but the WHOLE WORLD...which means murderers, rapists, suicide bombers, thieves...basically the scum of the scum...included as well. I personally cannot.imagine.that. He did that...though he KNEW that MOST would not believe... He did it because he is LOVE. And what is even more is that he asks for very little in return...in fact, all we have to do in order to accept that precious gift of eternal salvation is BELIEVE.

Acts 16:31 says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
Simple...and yet, how grand a love is this?

XOXO

Happy Valentine's Week! My hope and prayer is that it is filled with God's amazing unfailing love. :)