Overflowing Love in Family

1 Corinthians 13:1-4

Yesterday millions of people celebrated Valentine’s Day. Probably millions of others loathed the day it was established as a day to honor love. The honoring of the day has been around for centuries, but in modern times much emphasis has been made of the giving of gifts, cards…..valentines. The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend on average twice as much money as women. Valentine’s Day has become a money maker for the business world and an opportunity for the “once a year”, telling someone close “I Love You”.

I was having a conversation with one of my closest friends on Saturday and I reminded him of the big day on Sunday. “Yeah, yeah, I know….my wife hates Valentine’s Day” was his reply. “Really, why does she hate Valentine’s Day”, I asked. “She says everyday ought to be filled with ‘I love you’, not just Valentine’s Day”. “I cannot argue with that”. His reply…”Guess I ought to get her a card anyway”. “Probably be smart”, I said.

Have you noticed that we often wait until “special” days to express love, to buy the gift, to give the card or do the act of kindness. We seem to place the emphasis on birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. More often than not, we practice the same thought process with our relationship with God. We have a tendency to wait until Sunday’s to worship or give Him time…we find a new sense of giving around Christmas and we put more emphasis on sacrifice around the Easter season. I wonder if His thought process is like my friend’s wife. “Shouldn’t everyday be about expressing love”?

1 Corinthians 13 speaks many wise words when it comes to the value, importance and the power of love. It tells me that I can be the most eloquent speaker ever on a platform, the smartest man in the world, have the faith to speak and move mountains, give everything I have in sacrificial love to the poor and yes, even lay down my life for others and yet if I do not possess or convey love toward others…all such abilities and sacrifice are useless and meaningless. The writer then begins a simple description of what love is and what love is not.

Love is patient……he really could have stopped right there with the descriptions, if we could just get this one right. Patient’s purest meaning…”self restraint in the face of provocation” is the foundation on which all other principles seem to build. The clearest picture of this meaning is Christ’s journey toward and on the cross. His actions are definitely love expressed in patience and it is that kind of love he exhorts us to show to those around us. Yet, he does not stop with patience….he writes that love is kind, expressed in tangible ways with the sole purpose to benefit another and expecting nothing in return. Patience and kindness are two acts of love that require sacrifice on the part of the giver. Remember the first giver of love (God first loved us) shows patience and kindness so that you and I might be a “channel” of it on the way to someone else. Be careful that His patience and kindness doesn’t stop with you, but overflows to those around you.

Oh yeah…..today is also Valentine’s Day, express your love to others.

Graced by His Love,
Marty