HAPPY VAL TO OUR DEAR READERS!

We love you with the love of the Lord Jesus. February 14 is remembered as Valentine Day when love is shared among knit hearts. Ours are knit to yours. Love is the tonic that keeps the world going. It feels great to love and be loved.

Anger, grudge, bitterness, ill will and vindictiveness build barriers between people and make the world a hell of a place to be. If you are a victim or recipient of any of these, you probably know what we are talking about. Nobody likes such a place. We all strive to make friends rather than enemies. A friend can be trusted at all times. You may not even be communicating for a while, but you know in your hearts that you belong to each other. True friends don’t betray themselves. They protect one another. With one another they can be naked about their strengths and weaknesses and not be ashamed. Love is open and wears no masks.

Is it true love then that two persons in relationship know very little about themselves? A girl claims to love a man yet hides from him her dirty past. A man wants to marry a girl and does not want her to know he has grown up children. Is it true love that after a partner has divulged confidential information to the other, they should be abandoned because the other could not take that in? Certainly not. Love knows no bounds. Love accepts the other just as they are. No strings attached. This, however, does not ignore facts. They may know the facts and then refuse to use them against their loved ones. This type of love is not common among humans. We often love for some benefit we may derive from the other person. If that were not so, why don’t the poor have many friends? Even some of those who go the extra mile in reaching out to those who may not be able to repay their kindness do so in order to be applauded. Else, why are they unhappy at not being given the publicity? The brief of what we are saying is that human love is faulty. However strong it may appear, it is not without its deficiencies. It is, nonetheless, better than living in rancor.

There is a better love, a perfect one. It is the love of God for you and me, indeed for the whole world. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3. 16). It says further, “This is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1^st John 4. 10). God’s love is selfless. It is all about you. You are the project. God initiated it. He is always thinking about you. “I know the thoughts I think towards you, says the LORD, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29. 11). You can hardly resist genuine love, can you? God is not counting your sins against you. For you, God sent His Son to die on the Cross of Calvary. There He was crucified. He shed His blood to wash your sins away. If you could find a Val that would die for you to take away your sins because they loved you, you wouldn’t need Christ. But search through the world and you’ll only end up with disappointment. None loves you like Jesus, the Son of God. That’s why He died for you. That’s your true Val. He invites you to dinner: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and dine with them and they with Me” (Revelation 3. 20). As you think of the date, remember Jesus is inviting you to Himself. The Val frenzy may end on February 14 but Jesus’ love for you continues forever. With Him your future is 100% assured and insured. You don’t have anything to fear.     

Get the best out of life. Get true love. Get Jesus. How? Simply pray to God, meaningfully. Tell Him to forgive you your sins. He is ever willing to. Hear His promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1^st John 1. 9). Then tell Jesus you are coming to Him. Ask Him to receive you. He will. His promise is: “Whoever comes to Me, I will not drive away” (John 6. 37). You don’t get married to two persons at the same time, neither can you serve two masters at the same time. Jesus said you will love one and hate the other. That’s the truth. Just the same way, you can’t take Jesus as your Saviour and Lord, and at the same time hold on to another. Taking Jesus means forsaking all others, including your past way of life that was displeasing to God. And you lose nothing in that, because Jesus supplies all your needs. You are secure both for the present and for the future, both for this world and that which is to come. Say, beloved, that’s the real deal.

May you find true love in Jesus, and may you be fulfilled both in this life and in that which is to come. Peace be with you!

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