It's few days to valentine and it's already frenzy all over social media and the streets buzzing with talks of the season and vendors already placing adverts on valentine gifts.
There is so much talk on valentine and love but how far can you go for the one(s) you claim to love? What kind of love do you exhibit towards your loved ones?
Just as there are different kinds of love, people also love differently the way they know how to but the question is how do you love? Selflessly or selfishly?
Do you show love for the things you would gain from the other person or you love because that is who you are - the kind that loves sacrificially and selflessly expecting nothing in return.
Of the different kinds of love, agape love is the highest form of love there is. You can't speak of truly loving a person without first exercising agape love.
All through the Bible, perfect love has been modeled by God to us but the the word love has been so cheapened that it has become available to those we feel deserve it or that we would gain something from.
John 15:13 says "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." This is the highest form of love that depicts how far we can go for the people we claim to love.
How far you can go for who you love does not necessarily mean you must give up your life but going an extra mile sacrificially for the people you claim to love and also extending this sacrificial love to people you come across every day of your life not just family members, spouses, siblings or partners in intimate relationships.
Love in this day and age has been limited to just lovers, spouses, parents and children and between siblings but a perfect love goes beyond just the people we have blood relations with. Anyone outside this circle must earn the love indicating you have to give or do something before you become worthy of this love.
When we limit love to just blood relations, to those we feel deserve it or those we feel we would benefit something from then we miss the beauty and depth of love as God intended it.
An unconditional love is what God shows to us and has given to all mankind which we never deserved and that is why he forgives us of our sins any time we go to him to plead for his mercy.
God's love for us is not because we deserve it or have earned it but because that is who he is and the Bible says "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." - 1 John 4:8
So how do we speak of love if we do not know God or love like he expects us to sacrificially and not with benefits? An unconditional love where we go the extra mile for people, experience certain discomfort just to make the other person comfortable, stand in the gap for others even when they don't realize or notice what we, stretch a helping hand towards the needy even when we know they can't do a thing or give us anything in return, stick our necks out for the safety of another person especially when they are not related to us.
St. Valentine is celebrated today because of his acts of selfless and sacrificial love to the point that he lost his life for the same course - love. Jesus also exemplified this great love all through his days on earth and also gave his life for us.
As we celebrate valentine's day, let's not lose its essence and misuse the day but rather, let it also teach us about it's true essence which is about sacrificial living, nurturing and not abusing relationships, sacrificial giving without selfish motive and most importantly, let the celebration of this day bring us closer to the source of true love which is God who gave his only begotten son to die for all of mankind with no exception.
Quote for the day - "Do everything in love." 1 Corinthians 16:14
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