By: Sheryl Taylor
Read: 1 Corinthians 13
Valentine’s Day was in February, so I know there are many of you that are wondering why I did not choose to write my love devotion for last month. The reason is, I know that there are a few of you readers that are just getting off the high of Valentine’s Day. Then there are some of you, like me, who spent the night home eating your little sister’s Valentine’s Party candy, and watching a movie. There are also others, who walked around wearing all black, and shrugged off the ill feelings by calling it a Hallmark Holiday. I never had anyone to share Valentine’s Day with, but if I did, I would be real upset if my partner chose only to be “romantic” one day out of the year, and even then, he only did it because the day demanded it. On Valentine’s Day, as I lied on my bed tossing the disgusting, medicine flavored hearts into my mouth; I thought about the unbelievable amount of times the word love was going to be spoken. This question came into my mind: Out of the millions of people saying “I love you,” how many of them know what true love is? What it feels like?
Paul knew what true love was. He knew that without love he would be nothing. In the thirteenth chapter of his letter to the Corinthian people he expressed how important love was. He said that faith, hope, and love are important, but the greatest is love. Without love how can you have faith in something or someone? Without love what is the drive that causes you to continue to believe or hope? Love was something I always questioned; the reality of it was something I always wondered about. I have been hurt so many times in my life, and as a result, the existence of true love was a real concern for me. God made us all with the drive to give and receive love, and thus, he is not shocked at how easily we question it, or how easily we always seem to mess it up.
God made the ultimate testimony of his love by giving his son to suffer and die for us. The word “us” sometimes numbs us to the extremeness of the sacrifice. So instead of us, I’ll say he suffered and died for you… for me. Take a moment…. think over your life; think about the worst things you’ve done. Do you realize that Jesus died to cover that for you? He died so those awful things you have done could be completely erased and washed away in the eyes of God. That is true love; the love of God is true love. True love is what Paul was saying he would be absolutely nothing without. True love is what Paul wouldn’t trade for anything. The power of speaking in tongues, prophecy, even moving mountains…. they all meant nothing to him without love.
Jesus died to proclaim his love for me and for you, and I’m head over heals in love with him. He loves me not in spite of my scars and flaws, but because of them. He not only did he die for me, but he lives in me, “… God is love, whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him” 1 John 4:16. As you reflect on last Valentine’s Day I ask you not to focus so much on the flowers, the chocolates, and the teddy bears, but on God’s undying love for you. Even if all others forsake you, his love will endure the test of time. If you question the sincerity of the people in your life that say they love you, bring it to God. The author of love can reveal the greatest secrets to you. If you are longing and searching for the true love, the void to fill your paining heart, take it from me, your wasting your time if your eyes and heart are not set above. God is the only thing that can completely fill and round off your life. What is true love? Love is patient, kind, and it never fails. True love, is God, all road signs lead to him.
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