Feb. 14th. The day that is marked as St. Valentine's Day. The day of love. I've learned over the years that people tend to view this day one of two ways. Either they absolutely love it, and can't wait to make and share valentines with loved ones, or they absolutely hate it, and deem it as a day invented by greeting card and chocolate companies to sell cards and chocolates.
Usually, these people also fall into two other categories: the ones with a Valentine and the ones without.
This year I fall into the latter category of being Valentine-less. So naturally I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself (cue the feminist comments of 'you don't need a man' and the like), but then it dawned on me. I have the best Valentine of all time.
My Valentine is the only truly perfect guy to walk the Earth. He loves me, and His name is Jesus.
He was perfect, and by perfect I don't mean that he had the perfect hair or smile, or wore the right kind of tunic, I mean that He was sinless. 1 Peter 2:22 says "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth." and 1 John 3:5 says "You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin." Jesus was perfect and sinless, and yet He came to take my sins away. I am far from perfect (just ask anyone who knows me). I make so many mistakes every single day, but He came and died to blot out those mistakes. To make it as if they never happened, and I am constantly left in amazement.
But why? Why would He die for a lowly sinner like me? The answer is obvious, because He loves me. Jesus, the Son of God, loves me. It gets even better, because He loves you, too. No matter who is reading this, Jesus loves you. I want you to take a second and close your eyes, and think about that.
Jesus loves you.
In John 15:9 Jesus says "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love." No matter what you have done in the past, what you will do in the future, or anything in between, He will never love you any less or any more than He does right now. How amazing is that? That is what makes Him the best Valentine of all time. There is nothing I could possibly do to lose His love, and it makes me want to strive every day to be worthy of that love.
So as I sit here eating my birthday cake Oreos (a gift from my awesome roommate) I will remember that, even though I'm not going on any dates this Valentine's Day, I am loved. I am loved by my family, my friends, but most important of all I am loved by my Jesus.
