With February comes Valentine’s Day, a day when we focus on love and expressing our love to others. This is often done by giving flowers, cards, and candy to those we hold dear.
I fondly remember my school days when my classmates and I would exchange Valentine cards. I looked forward to this every year as it was a fun time with friends. And while each Valentine was special, my favorites were those that had a piece of candy taped to them! As a kid candy was a great way to express love. Love and loving others are very important aspects of life. And the older we get the more we realize the importance of love, especially when we see the absence of love.
We live in a sin-cursed world where hatred seems to abound. We have seen hatred rear its ugly head throughout the course of history and unfortunately it continues to this day. It is easy to see that the world desperately needs to experience an outpouring of love among humanity. Like showers of rain in April, we need to shower the world with love. And we can do that when we have experienced the love of God.
God demonstrated how much He loves us by giving His only begotten Son Jesus to die on an old-rugged cross to pay the price for our sins. The moment we get saved we are immediately indwelt by God; therefore, we are immediately indwelt by love and are then able to love others. I John chapter 4 is a great chapter on love. I encourage you to take some time to read it this week.
Beginning in verse 7, the Apostle John writes, “7) Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8) The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9) By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12) No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13) By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14) We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16) We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.”
Not only do I encourage you to read I John chapter 4 this week, but I also encourage you to apply God’s Word to your life and live out I John chapter 4 every day. Together, let’s shower the world with love.
