The Perfect Valentine's Day Gift

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The season of love is almost upon us, you know what I'm talking about, Valentine's Day. As we think about the perfect gift for our loved ones, let's first think about love.

It is so easy to get the wrong idea of what love is, or what we think it should be. We expect love to make us feel good, to give us those warm fuzzies and maybe even butterflies in our stomachs. We expect those that love us to know what we like and get it for us, to know what we need and do it for us, and then we will love them back. But that is not what love is all about.

Love isn't a feeling.

Love is a verb.

Let's take a look at the scriptures and see what they say about love. You know where we are going right?
Yep, the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.

 "4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."  
(NLT translation)

That doesn't sound like a warm fuzzy to me, that sounds like a lot of hard work and constant effort. It doesn't come naturally for us to love in this way, but instead requires we be intentional. For us to follow the scripture's example of love also requires that we seek God's help through prayer and scripture memorization. We can ask for His wisdom and guidance on practical ways to love others in the way He commands. He is faithful and He will help us, IF we let Him.

So as Valentine's Day approaches, how about instead of worrying about getting the perfect gift, we concentrate on giving the perfect love. Let's start memorizing this scripture, asking God to help us love others as Corinthians tells us too and looking for practical ways to show that love to those around us.

the perfect gift


Over the next few weeks I plan to write more about Biblical love and how we can actually live it out. I hope you will put into practice some of the ideas I mentioned above and join me in learning to love God's way. 



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