How are you? How is your week going?

Today is Valentine’s Day. This is typically a day when we show appreciation to and rejoice in our significant other. It is also a time when we are thankful for and show love to our friends and family.

But before all of that, take some time today to remember your first love. Before you are a spouse, you are the bride of Christ. Before you are a family member, you are a child of God. Before you are a friend, you are a sinner redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus says that the first part of greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. The second part is for us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

This is an impossible commandment. It is impossible for us to love God with everything and to love others as much as we love ourselves.

But God makes the impossible possible through Christ. We are able to love God and love others, because we have been loved first. John put it simply: “We love because he first loved us.” -1 John 4:19

This past Sunday, we talked about patience. Check out the sermon when you have some time. We are called to wait on God and wait on others. Ultimately, we can do this because God was first patiently loving toward us.

See, patience literally means “long-suffering.” We can suffer-long on God and on others, because Christ suffered long for us on the cross first. He suffered humiliation. He suffered the shame and guilt of our sin. He suffered the judgment and wrath of God. He suffered death itself. This was for us.

Because of the cross, now we are able to be patient. We can wait on God and wait on others. We can love our neighbors. We can love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.

This Valentine’s Day, appreciate your loved ones. Enjoy your relationships. But most of all, remember and enjoy your first love: Christ Himself.

See you this Sunday for Lord’s Day Worship. May you be patient this week. Most of all, may you love as you have been loved.

In Christ,
Pastor Tim

Photo Credit: http://fatlace.com/loves-taken-over/