Because I am
Love is in the air. It is that time again when we go the extra mile to express our love to our loved ones in words and action. Let me say upfront that I am a firm believer that while Valentine’s Day provides us with an excellent opportunity to reaffirm our love to those we are in a relationship with, this reaffirmation can and should not be a once-a-year event.
It is a reaffirmation we need to give to each other at every opportunity whether the relationship is between those in love like husbands and wives or between parents and their children or between friends who share life together. I read somewhere a short while ago that children need at least four hugs a day for survival. We thrive on the assurance that we are loved, wanted and cared for by our loved ones.
As I pondered on the celebration of the Valentine’s Day over the past ten days, I stumbled on a number of verses in the Bible and articles that inspired me to a deeper look at what we do on this Day.
Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” This means that our love for one another will prove to the world that we are Jesus disciples. It struck me as I read this verse that expressing love has to go beyond us, and our immediate loved ones. Demonstrating my love for others in the body of Christ proved to the world that I belong to Jesus. After all, I am going to share eternity with them.
“We love because He (Christ) first loved us” – 1John 4:19
I can love those God has placed in my sphere of influence because Jesus first love me. God loves you and me with an everlasting and unfailing love (Ps. 36:7, Jeremiah 31:3). He loves us passionately with a steadfast and enduring love that will never cease or end (Lamentation 3:22). I want you to know beyond any iota of doubt that God loves you. You are at the center of the expression of God’s love. You are the unique expression of God’s amazing and loving design. Nothing you or I do can make God love us less. Or love us more. His love is unchanging and unending.
You are loved. I am loved.
You and I can rely on God’s love. It can never fail or change. Knowing Jesus unchanging love for you changes everything. When I know I’m loved, I can give love freely.
I am loved; I am loved
I can risk loving you
For the One who knows me best
Loves me most
I am loved you are loved
Won’t you please take my hand
We are free to love each other
We are loved.
Because I am loved, I can risk loving you.
Therefore, Valentine’s Day should not be a day when I strive to get love. It is a perfect opportunity for me to give love. has your back with His love.
There is so much joy when we seek to invest loving acts into other people’s lives. I encourage you today, not to wait around for someone to show you love but instead looking for every opportunity to show and give love. After all, by investing loving acts into lives, you will prove the world that you are loved by the one who loves you most, and you are His—you belong to Him, and you are His disciple.
I am His. You are His.
My beloved is mine, and I am His. – Solomon 2:16
For those of us who are married, here a few pointers you might want to consider as you seek to enrich your lives and marriage on a daily basis. No better day to remind you of these than on Valentine’s Day.
- Get addicted to taking notice of the good things in your spouse and verbalize it. Meaning that you should make every effort not miss opportunities to compliment your spouse. Compliments have the power to change lives. We tend to focus a lot on the wrong things, their weaknesses, failings and shortcomings, and a lot less on their strengths and the great qualities in them. Take a step further and compliment your spouse to the hearing of others. It has an incredible impact beyond your imagination.
- Best friends talk about everything. They look for opportunities to talk and share their lives together. Let your spouse be that kind of friend that you can’t wait to share your heart with. If your communication and conversations have become like the streams with crusted river bed in a dry season, then it time to pray that the Lord will restore it with torrential overflow so your conversations can be rich again.
- Be thankful for your spouse and tell him/her so. Make an effort to do thank your spouse every day.
- Bless each other with the gift of touch. A good deal of human communication takes place, not in words, but in gesture. So much sheer love is conveyed by touch.
- Listen like you mean it.
- Laugh together until it takes your breath away.
- Take a stroll together hand in hand and marvel at the beauty of God’s wonder. If nothing else, it would give you more to talk about.
Please add to this list and feel free to share.
I pray that today will be another opportunity to remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and we will seek every opportunity to give love. May the Lord fill you and me to the overflowing with the knowledge of just how much we are loved with an enduring, undying and unending love by the One, who knows us best. May God show us where we can spill that great love onto others.
Lord, I want to be a Christian
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart
Because I am loved by God Who is the definition of love, I can love freely, I can love selflessly. I can love generously.
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” – 1 John 4:8
“I am Loved” by The Gaither Vocal Band
