Valentine’s Day only comes once a year, but for some odd reason we are called to love each other every day of the year – something having to do with Jesus’ commandment in Matt. 22:39 to, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
So what then is the significance of a holiday centered around love? Surely Valentine’s Day has become commercialized, in the same fashion that Christmas, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day have become about giving gifts.
Some holidays have meanings we’re supposed to focus on year-round. Thanksgiving is the celebrated day where we recognize our blessings and show gratefulness for them. A grateful heart and a thankful spirit are things we should express all year. Thus, select holidays represent the pinnacle of some things we are supposed to keep in mind constantly.
Valentine’s has become only a glorified day for shelling out money to prove your love. For others, Valentine’s serves as an if-you-forgot-to-love-your-special-someone day. If you’ve been slacking, Valentine’s can be your chance for redemption. Unfortunately, Valentine’s has also become the couple’s day when everyone not in a relationship is left to feel lonely and unloved.
A day meant to celebrate love that instead causes people to feel unloved seems like a failure.
Maybe the problem isn’t Valentine’s Day but rather what it stands for. Depression and divorce rates are at an all-time high in America. At the same time, nearly every movie and song in popular culture is about love or relationships of some sort. Maybe its our understanding of love that’s corrupted. We write about it, sing about it and are entertained by it but we can’t seem to get good at it.
The Bible tells us that God is love, and therefore it makes sense for us to know the biblical characteristics of love.
1 Corinthians 13:4 reads, “Love is faithful, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always hopes, always perseveres.”
While we strive to be more Christ-like we ought to remember his second greatest commandment to love everyone.
1 John 4:7 tells us, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
Inquiring Minds is the collective opinion of the editorial staff and not necessarily representative of the entire staff. It is written by the editor-in-chief and the managing editor.