Here it comes!  My least-favorite holiday of the year: Valentine’s Day.  I hate that we need a holiday to remember to do something sweet for people we love.  I hate that it’s so ingrained in this culture that we have to celebrate it or our special someone will get flack for not ‘treating us’ on the ‘special day.’

Come on.

This is not what love is about.

God doesn’t need a special day to show us His love.  We can see that in the example of Jesus, as He served the people He was around over and over. 

We see one example of Jesus’s love in Luke 18.  Jesus had had a long day.  He was tired and wanted to rest.  Some parents wanted to bring their children to Jesus for His blessing and His disciples (friends, helpers) tried to make them leave.  But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God,” (Luke 18:16.)  And as a mother of young kids, I know how exhausting this can be even when you’re not already tired!

We see this as Jesus forgives a woman caught in adultery (considered an ultimate evil in that time) in John 8.  He had the right and the authority to stone her (throw large rocks at her until she died) but out of love, He refused.  (He also told her to go and sin no more, so please do not think He was condoning her actions!)

We see this as Jesus washed His disciples’ feet in John 13.  There were no cars in Jesus’s time.  People walked everywhere and it was hot and dusty.  People’s feet were pretty disgusting.  The washing of feet was a servant’s job, but Jesus knelt down and washed every single disciple’s foot.

And we ultimately see Jesus’s love on the cross.

The Roman crucifixion is where we get the word “excruciating” from.  When the Romans came up with the idea of nailing a person to two, splintery pieces of wood, the pain was so great that there were no words to explain it.  So they invented a new word.  In Latin, that word is ‘excruciatus,’ which means “to torture, to torment.”  And all of this was after He had been beaten by something at least akin to a cat of nine tails.

Then came the worst: Jesus took all our sin on Him.  Deuteronomy 21:23b says, “…anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.”  He took the curse for us.  In those days, Jews had to make a living sacrifice to become right with God – a life for a life.  Jesus came as the final, the ultimate sacrifice for us.

“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ – which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46.)

God is so pure, He couldn’t even look on His own Son.  For the first time for all eternity, Jesus was cut off from His Father. 

When He rose from the dead, Jesus defeated death and the curse of sin.  We are now free to come to the Father because of Jesus’s sacrifice. 

This is what love looks like. 

Fortunately, we are rarely called to die for others, but by thinking of others first and by doing what is best for them before ourselves, that is how we, too, can live like Jesus did.

When asked what the greatest commandment is, “Jesus replied, ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ‘” (Matthew 22:37 – 39.)

How can you love better?  I’m not just talking about your significant other, but also your friends, neighbors, strangers you interact with at the store…  If you are up for the challenge, I encourage you to start.  Now.  Not just because it’s Valentine’s Day, but because Jesus has called us to love others.

And I have a confession: I did get my husband a Valentine’s Day card.  Shhh! I don’t like Valentine’s Day, but I do love telling people how much I love them.

*** NEXT WEEK *** We resume “The Mirror” and will have no more interuptions until it is finished. Thank you for reading!