Valentine’s Day Message

Love is not just cupids and your heart in your throat. We use the word “love” to
mean a lot of things. We can say, “I love that movie!” Sometimes, we can fall in
love and then fall out of love. But true love is the most powerful force in the world.
Let’s look at what the Bible has to say about love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not
demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It
does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love
never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every
circumstance.

We’ve all heard of this verse, and we usually use it to describe how we want to act
toward our loved ones. But this is not a description of love only between a husband
and wife, or even between friends. This is a description of the type of love that God
has for all people, regardless of whether they deserve it.

If you look carefully, you’ll see how this love is something that isn’t normal for
humans.

Patient and kind

We all can be patient and kind toward those who are nice to us, or that we have
sympathy or familiar affection for. But what about other people? Sometimes, we are
not even patient and kind with ourselves. Patient and kind means that you are long-
suffering, or willing to bear with the other person for their sake.

Not jealous or boastful or proud or rude

It’s easy to love when others pay attention to us, flatter us, or reciprocate our love.
But what about when that doesn’t happen? Aren’t we bound to get jealous, or want
someone to see us as valuable? And when we don’t get that recognition, isn’t it so
easy for us to rudely interrupt and demand that recognition? We say, “Hey, pay
attention to me!”

Not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

Now, on this point, it is the most easy to see the difference between what we
commonly think of love and what the Bible is talking about. Who here is willing to
forgive his brother seven times seventy? That’s how many times Jesus told Peter to
forgive people who offended him. But, actually, if we love the way God loves, we’re
not even going to count.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love is not meek. It is bold. It is willing to speak the truth and to stand up for what
is right. Some people wonder how a loving God could allow people to go to hell. But
they don’t understand love. True love is not blind to justice. If you truly love
someone, you’re not going to lie to them or encourage their self-destructive
behavior. A loving God is not your uncle who gives you candy and pats you on the
head. A loving God is your loving father who’s going to do everything he can to
protect you.

If we all loved this way, I think the world would be radically different than it is today.
This type of love is not thinking about itself. It doesn’t care if it’s unpopular or risky.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through
every circumstance.
Finally, this true love never gives up. It never ends. In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah the
prophet said, “ Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”

God’s love for us is never-ending. We love when we feel like it, but the Bible says
that God is love.

You may wonder how God showed His love for you. First, let me tell you something
that should be abundantly apparent to everyone who reads the news: Humans are
not inherently good. No, instead, our natural inclinations are toward evil. And, we all
have turned away from God’s righteous standard. Who here can say that you’ve
always obeyed all the things we talked about in 1 Corinthians 13?

So, God showed His love for us in this: He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die to pay the
penalty of our sin.

1 John 4:9-10
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world
so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

This is true love in action. Everything that we’ve read about tonight—that’s how God
has loved us. He has been patient and kind, not counting our wrongs against Him,
and unwilling to let us follow our natural destiny, which is eternal punishment.

Romans 5:6-8
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us
sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though
someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But
God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still
sinners.

God had a purpose for each of you to come here tonight. This is His love for you. If
you’d like to accept His gift of love for you, this is a good time. You can accept
God’s love any time. You just pray like this, “Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner.
Please forgive me. I repent and determine to follow You for the rest of my life. I
don’t know how to follow you, so please show me and help me. Thank you, Lord. In
the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.”