Happy Valentine’s Day! I normally post on Mondays, but decided to post today because of what I wanted to share.
Most people are very black and white about Valentine’s Day, you either love it or you hate it. Although it’s mostly a Hallmark holiday, it is nice to have a dedicated day on the calendar to stop, smell the roses and be reminded of love. On the other hand, Valentine’s Day can be a painful reminder of a past relationship gone wrong or the fact that you’re single and it seems as though everyone else has someone to love.
But, I have great news for you, whether you’re with someone or single. There is someone who loves you more than you can imagine and His name is Jesus!
“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.”
– John 3:16
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
– 1 John 3:16a
Since love is in the air, I thought I’d share with you a little of my journey “looking for love in all the wrong places,” not to relive the past, but to share my realization of what love really is.
As a teenager, somehow I convinced myself that I wasn’t important if I didn’t have a boyfriend. So I had many, some serious and some not so serious. Maybe it was from watching Jerry Maguire and hearing that infamous line, “You complete me,” that I assumed I needed a guy to complete my life. I longed for someone to love me, someone to complete me.
I tried filling the hole that God created in me —in all of us — that was meant for Him; I just didn’t know that’s what I was doing.
Some people turn to television, alcohol, drugs, pornography, shopping, food, money, work or people to fill that void. Before we come to know Christ, sometimes still even after, we turn to these things or people to make us complete. We’re all different, but we were all wired with the desire to be loved and made complete by our Creator.
Nothing and no one can make us complete other than Jesus! Not a spouse, not children, not riches or a job. These things can complement us, but never complete us. Once we truly understand how deep and wide and long His love is for us, we can feel complete in Him alone.
So, whether you’re single, in a relationship or married, I pray that you will take the time today to pause and marvel at God’s love for you. Read God’s love letter to you, His Word. I recommend reading 1 John chapters three and four.
Here is my Valentine’s Day prayer for you:
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
– Ephesians 3: 17-19
