When we think of Valentine’s Day, we associate it with couples having love for one another. This year I encourage you to use this day as a reminder of God’s love for us, His children. It is unmatched by any love we have ever or will ever experience. This is a difficult holiday for those who are single or have lost a love but when looking at it from the standpoint of God’s love it leaves no one out of the equation. So let us look at the concept of love from the point of view we gather from God’s Word. 

Love is defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness

but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.” 

God’s love is a perfect love that no one on earth could ever emulate. In 1 John 4:7-11, the author says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God is love itself. We wouldn’t have any concept of “love” at all if it weren’t for God, because He is the definition of love. 

We often read this passage from 1 Corinthians near Valentine’s Day or at weddings reminding us what love should look like, 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.”  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.” God loves you that much. Think about this for a moment. If you were the only one on earth He still would have sent His son for you. 

So this Valentine’s Day, 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.