A Valentine's Day special

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, - 1 Peter 1.22

What a passage for today. And believe it or not – it was not planned. It is just the way it fell out in my reading.

It is, of course, Valentine’s Day. It’s a day created by card makers and flower shops and sweet shops and restaurants and jewellers and hotel to exploit consumers and make them feel good at the same time. (Whoops, did I say that?)

Okay – it is the day when love (in all its forms) is celebrated. This year in particular draws a line between the world’s ‘love’ and God’s love. Hollywood chose Valentine’s Day to a release a film celebrating the degradation of women and the perversion of God’s plan for sexual relations. The bad thing is I am sensing that even some believers are caught up in the hype.

But enough of that. There are plenty of sweet celebrations of real love today. Couples share their love. Parents and children celebrate love. Friends celebrate love. That is all kind of sweet and harmless.

But here we read about the kind of love that God celebrates. It is pure love out of a pure heart and a love that is loved with fervency.

That is the kind of love God loves us with. Pure love is just love. It is not conditional. God’s love for us doesn’t depend on our worthiness to receive it.

And that is how we should love others – with the same pure love that seeks nothing for self. People don’t need to earn our love.

Pure love is sincere. It is not hypocritical. It comes from a pure heart so it is not put on for a show.

And pure love is fervent – is moves and motivates us to action.

So let’s examine our love this Valentine’s Day. Is it a sincere love? Is it a fervent love? And is it a love with its source in a pure heart?