A Ring

1 Corinthians 13:7
Valentine's Day is here and it is a great time to think about what true love should be and there's no better place to find that than 1 Corinthians 13. For the difficult times we live in nothing could be more important on this Valentine's Day than reminding yourself about how love should be able to endure anything. "Love never gives up, never looses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance (1 Cor. 13:7 NLT)" Bad economy, unemployment, sickness, financial problems, bad days shouldn't stop love. Real love makes it through all those things. It grows stronger during difficulties, it pulls together to overcome the obstacles. Let the rings on your fingers be a reminder of your marriage vows to make it in good times and bad times. When all is said and done the Bible emphasizes that love is the greatest, above all, and is one thing that lasts forever. Paul talks about how you could do all kinds of great things and have all kinds of knowledge but if you don't love others you have nothing. Everything we do as Christians should be a direct result of our love for God and for other people. Our love should be unconditional and keep no record of wrongs, just like God's love. We must be forgiving and forgetting each other sins and love even those that we've had disagreements with, otherwise we're no different than those of the world. Think of ways you can make this a day of love like no other, not only for your spouse or boy or girlfriend, but for everyone you come in contact with.

Here are several great songs about love for your Valentine's Day:

A Pitcher

Romans 5:5
You could devote an entire blog on the subject of God's love for us, so one post on will barely do it justice. The first thing to understand is God is love (see 1 John 4:16); he should be next to the definition of it in the dictionary. If love is all about finding joy in making another person happy then God is like the ultimate at this. Romans 5:5 states, "Such hope never disappoints us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." A big endless pitcher of God's love is constantly being dumped on us. God has given everything, he didn't spare his Son, and as if that weren't enough he gave us the Spirit to live inside us. I don't have a clue how many times the word love appears in the Bible, (I'm sure one of my friends in seminary would know) but it's a lot. With God being all about love it is necessary for us to be all about that as well. Jesus said the greatest commandments were to love; "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second to love your neighbor as yourself." As the Beatles sang, "all you need is love, love is all you need." Feeling warm and fuzzy yet? With us feeling lovestruck now, it is important not only to think about how we can love God more, but to reflect that love in our everyday lives. We need to be about dumping that pitcher of God's love onto everyone around us, especially unbelievers who could definitely use some of that joy in their lives. We need to pursue God's love more, meditate on it, breathe it in, and worship him. Let that be your focus today. There are so many great songs and books on God's love I could fill this page with links so I'll keep it to one of each of my favorites. Enjoy the song Love of God by MercyMe today during your quiet time.