Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so I want to talk about love.
How do you let people know that you love them?
I give them hugs.
I write on their facebook walls ;)
I smile when I see them.
I listen to them.
I make them cookies.
I share my tea with them!
I forgive them.
Sometimes we just straight up say it. The phrase "I love you" is overused so much that the phrase "the phrase 'I love you' is overused" is even overused. Sometimes we give gifts. On Valentine's Day, couples give chocolate, flowers, jewelry, etc. to each other. Parents sometimes give special gifts to their children (one year my parents gave me a guinea pig) and little kids pass out "valentines" with cute little sayings on them. I think that, minus the materialism, giving gifts is a good example of what love is about. It's not about receiving, but about giving. It's not about you, but about those you love.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.
The amazing thing about showing love isn't that we are able to give gifts (material or not) to those who love us, but that we are able to give gifts of love regardless of whether the person loves us back. This Valentine's Day, show love to someone who hasn't shown any love to you. After all, our unique ideas about love are what set us apart as Christians. Unconditional love is not easy to understand, but we have the perfect example to look to- Jesus Christ.
