Saturday Read: Valentine's Day and the Gospel of Love

Today is Valentine's Day, named for St. Valentine who was martyred on February 14, 269 AD. Legend says he was imprisoned for performing marriages for Christian soldiers (forbidden to marry) and ministering to persecuted Christians. Before his execution, he allegedly healed his jailer's blind daughter and left her a note signed "Your Valentine." Whether historically accurate or not, the story connects love with sacrifice - appropriate for a day that's become synonymous with romantic love.

But modern Valentine's Day has been captured by consumerism. Hallmark sells cards, florists mark up roses 300%, restaurants require reservations weeks in advance, and jewelry stores promise diamonds prove devotion. We've reduced love to transactions - spend enough money, you've demonstrated love; fail to perform adequately, you don't really care. Love becomes performance measured by expense.

This misses what love actually is. John wrote: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Not "God has love" or "God shows love" - God IS love. It's his fundamental nature. And here's the crucial part: "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Every act of love you've ever experienced or offered is an echo of God's prior love. You didn't discover love; love discovered you.

The greatest love story isn't boy meets girl - it's God pursues humanity. We didn't seek God; he sought us. We didn't choose him first; he chose us before creation (Ephesians 1:4). We didn't love him until he loved us first. Romans 5:8 captures this: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Not after we cleaned up, not once we deserved it, but while we were still sinners - that's when Christ died.

This is the love that should shape all other loves. Husbands are told to love wives "as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). That's sacrificial, initiating, unconditional love - not based on performance or feelings but on commitment. It's love that pursues when the other person isn't lovable, forgives when they don't deserve it, serves when it's costly.

For those in relationships, Valentine's Day can be a reminder of this kind of love. Not love that demands flowers and jewelry as proof, but love that sacrifices and serves. Not love that keeps score and expects reciprocity, but love that gives without calculating return. Not love that's sustained by feelings and circumstances, but love that chooses commitment when both are lacking.

For those who are single, Valentine's Day can be painful - a reminder of what you don't have, what you're waiting for, what you wonder if you'll ever experience. The bombardment of couple photos, romantic gestures, and cultural messaging that you're incomplete without romantic love can be crushing. But here's the truth: you are already loved with the greatest love that exists. God's love for you is not less than romantic love - it's the source of all romantic love, the template for every other love, the foundation on which all other loves are built.

Jesus was single. He never married, never dated, never experienced romantic love as we define it. Yet he lived the most love-filled life in history because he was secure in his Father's love and poured that love out on everyone around him. His singleness wasn't a deficit - it was freedom to love broadly rather than exclusively.

So whether you're celebrating Valentine's Day with someone or navigating it alone, remember: you are already beloved. God loved you first. His love isn't dependent on your relationship status, your performance, or your feelings. It's based on his character, demonstrated through Christ's sacrifice, and proven through his persistent pursuit of you. That's the love story that matters most.