Be My Valentine
C. Hayden 2-12-18

As we approach one of the Hallmark Corporation’s favorite of holidays, Valentine’s Day, we are reminded of the opportunity to once again show our love to that special person or persons closest to us.  Yes, we can view Valentine’s Day as another shameless attempt of corporate America at getting us to rush out and spend money on flowers, chocolates or any number of gift ideas trying to prove our love to our spouses or significant others (a thought for the overly cynical mind). But maybe there is a lesson that can be applied surrounding this mysterious holiday that most believe is based on the mixture of Roman pagan fertility deities and our own St. Valentine who was martyred around 270 A.D.  For the Christian ingredient of this mixture, there exists the story of a Catholic priest named Valentinus or Valentine who was martyred for defying the Roman emperor Claudius II who banned marriage for fighting age warriors.  The emporer believed that unmarried men made for better soldiers.  Valentine saw this as an injustice of power and burden on couples in love. In consequence, he married these young lovers in defiance of the emperors orders for which he was martyred.  Well Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
So what is the lesson we can take from Valentine’s Day.  For the answer, let’s gp to the scriptures, shall we!  The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:21-26, 33 (NLT), “And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of His body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.  33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” In other words, both husband and wife should love each other in the same way that Christ loves us all.  The practical lesson is this.  Christ loved us so much that He gave his own life to meet our greatest need…the need for salvation from the effects and consequences of our own sin.  In the same way, we should love our spouses and significant loved ones to the extent that we say no to our own wants and desires for the purpose of giving our all to meet the need of those we love – especially those we are closest to.  Christ gave all to meet our need, should we do less for our most beloved?

Be blessed even more and have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!!

Pastor Chris