Well, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, and this is part 4 of my discussion of the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. That’s pretty good timing, right?
What do you think of when you think of Valentine’s Day? Do you think of flowers and chocolate, cupids and cards with little hearts on them? I guess the word LOVE is what I think of, and that is definitely parallel with 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
When Geoff and I were married back in 1995, we received a lovely framed copy of 1 Corinthians 13 that my third grade teacher wrote in calligraphy. We displayed that beautiful gift in our home for 27 ½ years. This summer, we took the picture off our wall and gave it to my niece who was married in August of 2023. At my niece’s wedding, my husband spoke about the LOVE chapter. He talked about the fact that loving someone isn’t always easy and that it takes commitment to LOVE someone unconditionally. It’s not just flowers and cupids. Geoff and I celebrated our 28th anniversary on December 31, 2023, and we can attest to the fact that showing LOVE in our marriage isn’t always easy. It is a commitment that takes work.
I think this commitment that takes work is true of any LOVE, not just romantic love. Loving friends or family isn’t always easy; they can irritate us or disappoint us. Loving difficult neighbors really isn’t easy. But when God gives us the commandment to love our neighbors, he doesn’t give us any exceptions, like, “Love your neighbor unless they are mean,” or “Love your neighbor unless you don’t feel like it.”
The very last verse of 1 Corinthians 13 says this: “13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” It talks about the big three, but it says that LOVE is the greatest of the three. That’s pretty much the bottom line–LOVE it is!
So, what can you do to show LOVE to someone else? Brainstorm some acts of kindness you can do for others. Here are a few to get you started:
Write a card of encouragement
Shovel someone’s sidewalk
Scrape the snow off of someone’s vehicle
Text someone that you are thinking about them
Share some chocolate
Happy Valentine’s Day, friends! Please know that I LOVE you and so does Jesus!
Love,
Julie
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