No Meyor Amor/ No Greater Love........

With today being Valentine's Day I thought that I would share a little of the devotion that I did for class today. I started out by sharing how Valentine's Day originated. St. Valentine lived near Rome around 269 A.D. He was a priest that was known for his Christian believes. It was said that during this time the Roman emperor did not want young couples to be married because he thought that the men would not want to join the army. So, St. Valentine started performing Christian marriages in secret. So other sources say that he help others escape from prison. Once he was caught and placed on trial he was asked why he chose to marry couples and go agaisnt the Roman emperor. His answer was that they serve a false god and he only served the God that called Jesus His Son. While in prison it is said that he befriended the guards and one of the guards daugters(who was blind) through his continued testimony of faith. Once the emperor heard that he was not silent in the prison he ordered him to be beheaded the next day. Days before his execution he prayed for the girl that she might receive her sight. It is said that on the day of his death the girl was healed and due to this miracle the jailor and his entire family of 46 placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and were babptized. This is all history and from different sources online. However, 98% of all that I have read repeat the same information listed above. Valentine's Day was not started for romance and gifts of chocolates and flowers but to honor a different type of love. This man had supposedly placed his faith and trust in Jesus and was willing to die for his believes. When researching for my devotion today I found that the word LOVE with all its forms...(loveth, loved, loving, ect.) were mentioned in the Bible more than 550 times. For me when a word is in the Bible that many times it must be important to the Lord.

Today, I shared that the word LOVE is mentioned in two major ways in the Bible. The first is the love that God has towards us as people of the world. The first verse I shared was Psalms 86:15 "But thou. O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
John 3:16 (we all know this verse)
John 15:13
Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8:35-39 I love these verses. The first phrase in vs. 35 says "Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ"

I am so happy to know that God chose to love us all  inspight of our shortcomings and failures. He knew before he ever created the world that we would fail HIM, yet he created us all anyway and thus sent HIS one and ONLY son Jesus to die on the cross to save us all. Further, more there is no man, tribulation or sword that can seperate us from Our Heavenly Father. The only way that we can be seperated from the Lord is if he choose to reject HIM. He will not reject us but he gave man the free will to choose or reject. I am so thankful that I have put my faith and trust in my Lord.

The second area of love mentioned in the Bible is that of the love he wants us to show towards others. I could go on and on with the verses that he has given. Talking about our love for our children in (Proverbs 13:24) To verses on showing love towards our enemies (Proverbs 25:21-22). I have listed some other verses that you should read during your own time.
Proverbs 10:12, Proverbs 17:9, Luke 6:27-35, John 13:34-35, Romans 12:9-10, Philippians 1:9-11. Then in 1 John 3:14 and 4:7-21.
In John 13:34 it says " A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

The Bible is very clear in that we should show love to all people. We may have disagreements, they may be enemies but our duty is that we show and express the same kind of love that Christ has shown us. It is a very difficult thing to do sometimes but whenever you have a tough situation and showing love seems almost impossible remember that God sent his son to lay HIS life down for us.....the least that we can do is show love and compassion toward others.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO YOU ALL and I Pray that this week there will be a person placed in your path that you can show Christ Love too....