Love

"We love because he first loved us." 1John 4:19
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:13

What do you really know about Valentines Day?
Valentine's Day is celebrated today as a romantic observance, the busiest day of the year for florists and indeed the most expensive day if you're in the market for roses!
 Few know the true story of St. Valentine and there are various acounts of his life and martyrdom. There were in fact more than one "Valentine".  One such account is that Valentine was martyred for performing marriage ceremonies for Roman soldiers who had been forbidden to marry. The emperor at the time thought soldiers who were married with families would not be so willing to put themselves in harm's way in the line of duty. Valentine believed in the sanctity of marriage, and so defied the anti-marriage edict. He was eventually caught, convicted and sentenced to a brutal death.  Before he died he sent a note to a young woman, Julia, who had been healed from blindness when Valentine prayed over her; it was signed: "from your Valentine." Valentine had counted the costs of being a follower of Jesus, his greatest love, and layed down his life.

Beloved, below are a few scriptures about real love - how God loves us-from the greatest book of love stories and love letters ever written: the Bible. May they bless you richly!

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." 1Corinthianians 13:4-6

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”  

John 14:21