For many years in the past, I was one of those who celebrated Valentine’s Day like any ordinary day.  That is to say, nothing special came along hence no special reason to consider February 14 beyond the ordinary - except perhaps for the fact that it’s Kris Aquino’s birthday.  Yeah right.

This year was significantly different.  Nah, it’s not that I already have a special someone.  It’s really because I spent it with my special someones - the precious young people I have been leading and serving.  On February 14, we ran a youth valentine concert with the theme “If I ain’t Got You”.  It was well attended by fellow youth (and youth-at-heart too) from brother churches from Las Pinas, Cavite, and as far as Pacita in Laguna.  We had special numbers from Jeshua Band, Youth Born for Christ, Pacita, and of course, Zoe Group which now included fantastic ladies Ena, Mariel, and Bianca.  Everybody now: Some people want it all…

The point of the message I gave was succinct and clear.  Freshly inspired from the pre-valentine dinner I had at my high school classmate Sasa’s church, I thought that discussing the idea of love does not have to be very heavy and at times convicting.  The message I was moved to deliver ought to be encouraging.  Hear it from 1 John 4:9-10,19 -

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins…We love each otherbecause he loved us first.
These few verses offer explanations for many things that God has done:

Why God cares - Because He loves, He cares for sinful people. 

Why we are free to choose - Because He loves, God wants a loving response.

Why Christ died - Because He loves, He offered a solution to the problem of sin.

Why we receive eternal life - Simply because His love is eternal.

The last one is particularly moving me.  His eternal love is made to be experienced eternally, starting from where we are right now.  From these few verses, it is already possible to conclude what the god-kind of love is really like.  To me, it is very important to consider how God loves because He is the absolute love and we as His creation are designed to experience and manifest the same thing given of course certain limitations since we are mere finite beings.  From these verses, love is a choice to commit yourself to do whatever it takes to bring out the best in the life of another person(s). 

Isn’t this defnition going against the grain?  We have always understood love to be the feeling of being on cloud 9.  Yeah, sure, but that’s always at the onset.  Give it two years or so, whether in the context of romantic relationships, ordinary friendships, or even within the family, certain feelings of attachment just fade away.  Does that mean that when the feeling is gone, the love must be too? 

God answers this question by showing the way: in terms of feeling, there is no way that God can see anything lovable in us.  Think about the manifest evil in this world.  But He chose to commit himself to do whatever it takes to get us out of darkness and bring us into the light of His beautiful presence: coming to earth, experiencing how it is to live as human beings, and dying on behalf of us all ultimately. 

The greatest acts of love in this world, they say, are those that express martyrdom.  We can imagine our heroes like Ninoy Aquino.  We can even consider the sacrifices of our parents just to be able to feed us something and send us to good schools.  (I have personally seen this in my family).  Aren’t these wonderful works that have lasting impact on us?  Much more lasting than the roses and chocolates and movies, right?

To love in a Godly manner is to put other person(s) right before your own self.  Now that is really hard but the objective is more noble: to bring out the best in him or her.  Love is not meant to control the person, but to let him or her grow all the more in God’s likeness and wonder.  Am I that kind of person that allows my friends, churchmates, and relatives to be who God created them to be?  This must show in the way I relate with them.

Ultimately, it is important for us to understand that the kind of love that we have experienced from God is the same kind of love that we will eventually share with other people.  Limited experience, limited love.  Abounding grace, abounding love for others. 

We love others because He loved us first.  Not that feeling-kind of love that easily fades aways but a commitment to serve others no matter what.  God has shown us what it is like and how it is done.  As Christ-followers, let us manifest the wonder of this humble kind of love in a world that is only concerned about oneself and personal interests.  

As a conclusion, may I direct you to this awesome video about God’s love just in case it’s something that you need to be reminded of or feel right now: http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=bbb04ab3b2c1fb244f33

May your life be filled with God’s overwhelming love!  Peace out!