Finding True Love This Valentine's Day
By Lynette Kittle
Bible Reading:
“We love because He first loved us.” - 1 John 4:19
Romantic love seems to be the love that lasts the shortest time for millions, yet it’s the prime focus in most people’s lives, especially around Valentine’s Day.
Yet, as wonderful as romantic love can seem at times, it doesn’t have the power to satisfy our hearts, unlike the countless Hallmark movies seem to indicate. As finding romantic love seems to be the #1 goal for millions of people worldwide, it may be a distraction for countless people from loving God most.
Sadly, many people believe romantic love is the ultimate love and that without it, they can’t live, which is why they go to such extremes to find and possess it.
Although, as Christians, we honor and cherish the relationship between husbands and wives, even that can cause us to put God’s love in the back seat.
But as we know, when it comes to love as Christians, our #1 goal and priority is to love God above all others, as Matthew 22:37 explains as the greatest commandment: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”
God calls us to love Him most, which is difficult for many to accept, and they have a tendency to overlook His words in Matthew 10:37, saying, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
Still, many of us put Him on the back burner. But 1 John 2:15 explains what loving the world more than God exposes in us: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”
Still, the call from God’s heart when we find ourselves far from Him is found in Joel 2:13, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.”
God calls us in Joel 2:12 to return to Him, “‘Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’”
Some may remember the line from the classic 1970s film “Love Story,” which taught our culture that “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” The problem is that it’s so untrue. Sadly, an unrepentant world jumped at the chance to embrace it. Never saying we’re sorry restricts true love, hardening us at the core.
Repentance keeps our hearts softened towards God, as 2 Corinthians 7:10 describes, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
Love is God’s trademark. He’s the only source of true love and the only reason we are able to reach out and love others.
As 1 John 4:16 describes, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
Without Him loving us first, we would be loveless in our relationships with others because we can’t stir up true love based on our own strengths and thinking.
When we do as Matthew 22:27 commands, to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, true love grows within us and spills out to those around us. As 1 Peter 4:8 encourages, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Intersecting Faith & Life:
What is your focus this Valentine’s Day? Are you reaching out to God and His love, or sidetracked by romantic love this year? Ask God to help you treasure and cultivate your love for Him above all others.
Further Reading:
A Valentine’s Day Prayer to Cultivate a Tender Heart Toward God
How did today’s devotional speak to you? Share your thoughts in the Crosswalk Devotional discussion.
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/karandaev
Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.
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