The Month of Love?

To kick off February, we got a ton of snow! Like, upwards of 6+ inches I want to say. We haven't had a lot of snow since 2011, which then was just ice.

Anyway, Hey Pals!

It is February and everyone knows that means Valentine's Day and hearts and candy and being spoiled by your significant other. At least that's what everyone thinks Valentine's Day is about. But why do we celebrate Valentine's Day? Seems pretty... lame. I mean come on, compared to Halloween or Christmas, Valentine's Day is lame.

Have you ever looked up why we celebrate Valentine's Day? I have many times and hardly ever get the same answer. Something about some Christian martyr named St. Valentine or something. Some people think it is connected to an ancient Roman holiday called Lupercalia. According to the History Channel website, Lupercalia is some pagan holiday that is supposed to ward off infertility and evil spirits. We know how reliable the History Channel is.

Why am I telling you about Valentine's Day and how I think it's a waste of a holiday? My hope is that instead of focusing on candy, flowers, or being spoiled for no reason, you focus on the real reason we have love. See, love in English has a million different meanings. I love my mama, I love food, and I love my fiancé all have different meanings. Using context, anyone can figure that out. However, the Greeks have four different words for love. I have always found this fascinating! I am not planning to repeat my post from last February.

See I wanted this post to come out before Valentine's Day. Things don't always go as planned. But one thing that we can all rely on to go as planned is the source of our love. Jesus. Jesus is love. Jesus is the reason we have love. A verse that has been on my heart pretty much all month has been 1 Corinthians 13:2.

It says, "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:2, NIV)

Paul writes this in his first letter to the Corinthians. This entire chapter talks about love. If you continue reading, you see the iconic "Love is patient..." verse.

But lets go back for a second... Paul says, If I can do things like tell a prophecy *Pause: The Youth Director I teach with hates teaching churchy words which I, a 23 year old, sometimes have trouble with. Imagine some of our kids who don't understand these churchy words. So let's define this word. Prophecy: a prediction; telling events before they happen. :Resume* or move a mountain with my faith *Faith: Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.* but I don't show love to EVERYONE, I am nothing. Nothing. What is nothing? Well, its not something. It is literally nothing. Nobody wants nothing, nobody wants to be nothing.

It's easy to love those that love us though, right? I can love people who are nice to me with NO problem. But when someone does something that makes me mad, its a little hard to love them. I bet you know what I am talking about. I mean, you may still love them, especially if they're family, but deep down you want to smack them or worse. In 1 John 3:15, John says,

"Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him." (1 John 3:15, NIV)

Woah. That's intense. Hating someone is murder... I have hated people. I have wished terrible things on people. In God's eyes, I murdered them. And I know what you're thinking... "but they're not my brother or sister" Which brings me to yet another story in the Bible. In Matthew 12, Jesus' mother, Mary, and his brothers come to visit Jesus. He is told they are there but His response is strange. He says, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:48-50, NIV). So, if you are in Christ, a Child of God, a born-again Christian, we are siblings in Christ. However, I would like to direct you to the story of the Good Samaritan. In summary, Jesus answers the question, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (which is a post for another day) He does this thing where He answers a question with a question. This is often results in the one who asked the question to think and then later be used as an illustration. Anyway, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind AND love your neighbor as yourself" was the answer to Jesus' answer/question. There is that word... LOVE.

Love. Love who? See this is the next question.. who is my neighbor? Who is your neighbor? Betsy down the street? NO! In this parable *pause: a parable is a simple story to illustrate a lesson. :resume* Jesus never answers the question. It is left open for whoever asks the question to decide for themselves. Commonly people think Jesus said your neighbor is who shows you mercy but that is the opposite of what I am saying. It is easy to love people who are nice to you! Love those who are not nice to you! Love those are are hard to love! Love those who do wrong to you! They are your brother, your sister; they are your neighbor.

Let me go back to 1 Corinthians 13. I said if you kept reading on you would come to "Love is patient, love is kind..." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV) If you look at all of those things: patient, kind, not envious, doesn't boast, is not proud, doesn't dishonor, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrong, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I read something once that said "strive to put your name where 'love' is." As great as that is... I have another thought. Yes, love. Be these things with people. But look at it again... instead of putting your name where it says love, what if you put Jesus's name?

Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He does not dishonor others, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

That hits a little different, doesn't it? Jesus is love. Jesus is the reason we have love, the reason we can love. When we have love, we have Jesus; when we have Jesus, we have everything.

Stay Safe, Keep Smiling, and Love your neighbor