Sand Mountain Sermonette 39
I John 4:7,9; I John 4:10-11 and John 3:16
Happy Valentine’s Day!
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God…By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” I John 4:7,9
I have always enjoyed Valentine’s Day, especially during elementary school! My mom would take me to the store and purchase a big box of valentine cards I would sign and give to my classmates on that special day we exchanged valentine cards in class. But before that special day, I would take an old shoe box, cut a slit in the lid, cover the lid and the box in white paper, color several red hearts on my makeshift “mailbox,” and then print my name on the top of the box. Upon arrival at school my teacher would invite her students to walk around and drop their cards into each homemade mailbox setting on top of each student’s desk. And boy o’ boy, the wonderful thing was when you went back to your own desk, opened your mailbox and began to read the cards given to you.
As I think back on this time, I am reminded that this simple and profound celebration of Valentine’s Day in my childhood years was an exercise of the heart in giving and receiving. The apostle John’s magnificent portrayal of the love God has for you and for me; a love that towers above all other loves in Christ is staggering and humbling indeed! It is the love that comes from the heart—the very being of God! And John says it is the ground-basis for loving one another in the Body of Christ (the church); the fruit born of the love of God made manifest via the sacrificial atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross alive in the heart of every Christian! Loving God and loving others are the essence of the Christian life as it is the witness of Christ to a dark and dying world in need of redemption!
But John goes on to say how this “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (Charles Wesley, 1747) would not be possible if it were not for the truth that God first loved us. A perfect love having come down from heaven to earth (See I John 4:10-11 and John 3:16). Good News! The righteous wrath of a holy God upon the sin of mankind was satisfied once and for all through His love shown at the cross!
Thank you, Lord, for childhood memories and for child-like faith that leads us to Jesus who leads us to You now and forever!
Pastor Louie