Happy Valentine's Day!!

I recall as an elementary school student the wonderful festivities surrounding Valentine’s Day. Of course there was the search for the small cards and envelopes with a variety of catchy phrases that boiled down to “Will you be my Valentine?” They were always colorful and just the right size for a small hand and a mother’s wallet to deal with. Next was the hunt for a shoebox which would be decorated appropriately to serve as a simulated post office box to receive the cards slipped into the slot on top by the other students. But what became of all those signs of friendship?

Only a couple of my Valentine cards have been saved. Daddy would create a sonnet and typically sign it “Your Secret Admirer”. I think I may have kept a couple of those. In later years he added my girls as recipients of  his love-crafted messages.

In fourth grade near Valentine’s Day, a different car arrived at our house. Out popped my classmate, Richard Jones, and up the sidewalk he came bearing a handmade Valentine for me. After we greeted one another I unwrapped three pages of red, white, and blue construction paper held together as a booklet by white satin ribbon. On each page was a different take on his interest in me. I responded as positively as a fourth grader could, which meant we enjoyed different adventures together, such as hunting for his lost beagle through the woods, golf course, and literally through the streams.

I think at times we all lose sight of the marvelous Valentine prepared for us from the depths of time. As time began and creation unfolded Adam and Eve decided to take action of their own choosing, after being told not to mess with the tree of good and evil. The arrogance of doing things our own way has been preeminent in mankind’s heart since then. History records the blatant selfishness of individuals as well as whole nations. I see it in my own dealings and perhaps you do as well. The result tends to be evident in fractured relationships on all levels, including our relationship with God. 

While we cannot straighten out centuries of wars caused by this selfishness, or even reconcile ourselves sometimes with our neighbors, oddly enough we can experience a restored relationship with our Creator.  Recognizing His perfection, that is His holiness, God will not look favorably on those trapped by selfishness, or sin. For those of us who have worked hard to be people of integrity and good works it may be hard to admit our short comings, but the truth is we have them and they block us from a relationship with God who is holy and perfect. In demanding justice God set up, according to the Old Testament, with His favorite people of Israel, a system of sacrifices. A lamb without blemish would be offered, or other means of trying to pay for the sin.  And then God revealed more of His plan.

Around 712 BC, God told Israel He would send THE perfect sacrifice. Isaiah 53 spells out Who this Savior would be and how He would be the ultimate sacrifice literally instead of animal sacrifices that were representations of bearing our sin. Eight hundred years later Jesus Christ is identified as “… the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”, by a Jewish John, the Baptizer. As Jesus’ life and death unfolded it fulfilled at least 38 of the prophecies given to Israel hundreds of years earlier, as recorded in the Old Testament.

His life ended as foretold, through a horrible means of crucifixion, but then miraculously enough Jesus resurrected from the dead proving the Father’s satisfaction with his being the perfect sacrifice for sin. “God made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21). “All this is from God; who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was in Christ, not counting men’s sin against them.” (2 Cor. 5:19). By personally believing Christ was the perfect sacrifice for my sin, my sin is paid for; God’s demand for justice is satisfied.  My relationship with God Almighty becomes alive and active.

I have come to the conclusion that God, expressing His love through Christ’s death on the Cross on my behalf is the ultimate Valentine. Will you be His Valentine?