Letter From the Pastor

I’m not a fan of the big production of Valentine’s Day. Maybe part of it is that it’s just
another opportunity for me to drop the ball.

However, if we can get past the annoying commercialization of it, we can see one
benefit: it does force us to think about intentionally showing love to the ones we love.
Now, it seems that we shouldn’t need to be reminded of that, but we often do. Though
we love someone, we don’t always display that love to them. And on the occasion
when we do try to display that love to them, we don’t always communicate it well.
Sometimes we use words of affirmation when our love would be better communicated to
them by us doing the dishes. Or we buy them a gift, when they would feel loved by us if
we just spent some quality time with them. Showing love requires us to first know the
needs of the one we love (Check out The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman).

When the scriptures speak of God’s love for us, we see that it is manifested, or shown,
in many ways. However, there is one big way that it was displayed by Him. Many of us
could quote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (ESV). We know that,
but if we don’t understand the significance of it, we may think, “Wow, thank you. But
someone dying on a cross for me wasn’t really at the top of my list!”. It may not mean
much to us. Kinda like some of the Valentines Day gifts that some of you will give and
receive.

We get a fuller picture of the significance of the gift when we read 1 John 4:10, “In this
the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the
world, so that we might live through him.    In this is love, not that we have loved God but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (ESV). Remember,
to show love well, the recipient has to be known by the giver. The Lord’s knowledge of
our condition and our deep need prompted Him, in His wrath and in His love, to send
His son to be the propitiation – or the satisfaction of His wrath – for our sin. Our sin will
have the wrath of God poured out on it. Question is, will we be holding it, or was it upon
Christ on the cross, by faith?

Understanding the significance of this gift helps us to see that that it was the most
thoughtful, sacrificial gift that He could ever give to us…and all for the purpose of us
being reconciled to Himself! That sure wasn’t a last minute, thoughtless gift bought on
the night before Valentine’s Day…

Oh, the deep, deep love of God!