Thought for Today
Leviticus 19:34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Numbers 14:18 'The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and the fourth generation.'
Luke 10:27 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
Romans 5:8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
Hopefully, every reader recognizes the significance of today’s date. Today is Valentine’s Day. “Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.” (Wikipedia)
How wonderful that in many regions of the world there is one day set aside for a celebration of romance and love. How sad that in many regions of the world there is only one day set aside for a celebration of romance and love.
The word love appears 300-600 times in scripture, depending on the English language translation referenced. It is hard to imagine that there is a Christian anywhere in Christendom unaware of John 3:16, especially the first words of that verse, “For God so loved the earth.” Jesus’ own words about the greatest commandment begin, “You shall love . . .” Equally hard to imagine that there might be a Christian who has never heard the fact that there are several different words in the koine Greek of scripture that are translated into English as ‘love.’
If challenged to capture the basic message of scripture in a single word, I would definitely choose our word ‘love.’ The Bible is a song, a hymn about love, God’s love expressed in God’s Creation and God’s creatures, including us. God’s love culminating in God’s Son Incarnate, Jesus the Christ.
Yet, we only set aside one day each year “for a celebration of romance and love.” How quickly we forget. How quickly we become distracted by the cares of the world. How quickly our love for God and our gratitude to God for God’s love become subsumed in the minutia of our daily lives. How quickly our love for each other and our gratitude to God for the emotion of love become subsumed in the minutia of our daily lives.
So, we set aside this one day. Certainly, if you turn on your television today or read a newspaper, you will be reminded that today is Valentine’s Day. And, some time during that reminder, there will be comments about the commercial impact of this special day. Greeting Card companies, candy companies, restaurants and countless others will generate a substantial percentage of their annual revenue from this day. There will be countless bouquets of flowers delivered today, Valentine’s Day cards exchanged, presents presented. And, all of that is good.
There is nothing wrong with being reminded of love. By this time in your reading of this Thought, you may have the song “What the World Needs Now is Love” running through your mind, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love/It's the only thing that there's just too little of/What the world needs now is love, sweet love/No, not just for some but for everyone.”
I could not agree more, Remember, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, when we saw countless expressions of peoples’ love for each other. We witnessed acts of self-sacrificial love by first responders, by doctors, nurses, hospital workers responding to those in need. We saw taxicab drivers and neighbors putting their own lives at risk to take others to hospital emergency rooms. As the pandemic developed, we saw a groundswell of grassroots organizations arise to combat food and housing insecurity. God’s children responding in love to help other of God’s children.
How wonderful that in many regions of the world there is one day set aside for a celebration of romance and love. How sad that in many regions of the world there is only one day set aside for a celebration of romance and love.
Stay safe, love God and love each other, trust God,
Pastor Ray