A VALENTINE’S DAY REMINDER

“We love because He first loved us.”  (1 John 4:19 NIV)

Valentine’s Day has a way of stirring up all kinds of emotions. For some, it’s a day of celebration and connection. For others, it highlights loneliness, loss, or longing. But beneath all the cards, flowers, and heart‑shaped everything lies a deeper truth: love didn’t begin with us. It began with God.

Before you ever loved someone… Before anyone ever loved you… Before you succeeded, failed, rejoiced, or wept… God loved you first.

His love is not fragile or fickle. It doesn’t depend on your performance or your perfection. It doesn’t fade with time or shift with circumstances. It is steady, initiating, pursuing, and unchanging.

Valentine’s Day reminds us that human love, beautiful as it is, can only ever be a reflection of a greater love. The cross is the truest Valentine ever given: God saying, “I choose you. I want you. I love you enough to give everything for you.”

And because God loved us first, we are free to love others without fear. Free to forgive. Free to serve. Free to show kindness. Free to love even when it’s hard, because we’re not drawing from our own limited quantity -- we’re drawing from God’s endless supply. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™

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CHOOSE FOR YOURSELVES

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  (Joshua 24:15 NIV)

It is amazing, the lengths God will go to get our attention. God will touch. He will tug. He will whisper and shout. He will take away our burdens. He'll even take away our blessings. If there are a thousand steps between us and Him, He will take all but one. But He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours. 

-- Max Lucado in “A Gentle Thunder” 

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A FORK IN THE ROAD

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  (Joshua 24:15 NIV)

I’ve always laughed at Yogi Berra’s old dictum: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” However, it’s not very helpful in making significant decisions in life.

When we come to a fork in the road, where a decision on which way to go is required, it becomes a crucial moment in our lives and the life of the church. Crucial moment literally means "the moment of the cross." So when we face a fork in the road we need to take the path where the shadow of the cross falls, not where the culture is beating a path. I believe wholeheartedly that you'll not only see the shadow of the cross, you will see the fresh footprints of the Savior. 

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson

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CHOOSE LIFE

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days;…”  (Deuteronomy 30:19-20a NKJV)

Feelings of disconnection can be most painful when we also feel separated from God… Often the feeling of disconnection persists and we are obliged simply to wait.  But such waiting is a necessary component of the crisis, a time during which we are further stripped of illusions about who God is, as well as who God is not…

The opportunity that accompanies the darkness of disconnection is freedom to search for meaning unhindered by attachments that once constrained us.  From an unfettered stance that allows us to look over the whole of our life with newfound clarity, we have the capacity to choose goals, tasks, and relationships that are healthy and free of illusion. 

Perhaps it is only now that we can understand the commandment to "choose life."

-- Judy Cannato in “Weavings Journal” Jan/Feb 2001, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission. 

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