Walking Valentines
As February fades into March, here are some insights about love...
Red, crimson, rose. The colors used for valentines are symbolic of love: portraying passion, beauty and warmth. A green heart would be unthinkable on Valentine’s Day, and blue doesn’t fit the bill; but red is the color of blood, the color of life.
God is love and through Him we experience the deep capacity to care for and bless others, because He first cared for us. The scriptures say: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” John 15:13. Jesus Christ died a tortuous death so that we could live eternally. The only innocent man willingly sacrificing his life for the sinners He loves.
The red blood of Christ flowed so that we could be washed clean…a mystery of divine proportion! The writer of the book of Hebrews states that “our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean.”
In the spectrum of red pigments, perhaps the deepest hue of love is forgiveness. Jesus modeled for us the mandate from our Father…to forgive others. His Word outlines the sacrificial nature of love; and the immeasurable reward we reap when we place Him first, and then love our neighbors as ourselves.
More than giving a box of chocolates, better than an e-card, bouquet of flowers or glittery trinket, I want to give the gift of forgiveness. I choose to make allowance for others’ faults, forgiving anyone who offends me and remembering that the Lord forgave me, so I must forgive others. (Colossians 3:13).
Can there be a sweeter offering of love than forgiveness? To have one’s faults and wrongs over-looked. To be counted as valuable and precious, even when our actions speak otherwise, is the greatest gift.
We are called to be lovers and forgivers. Who do you need to forgive today? This week?
God is calling us to be walking valentines of His grace, so let’s start at home with our loved ones. We can paint our lives red in the spiritual realm with multiple acts of kindness, and be blessed abundantly as we focus on the source of all real love, Jesus!
Shalom.
