Reporting the Good News

During my junior year of high school (let’s not count how many years ago that was), I wrote an article on Valentine’s Day for a journalism course. It was fun and entertaining, and my advisor published it to the school paper because it was one of my better works. I can’t remember the details, but my angle was “should February 14 be considered ‘Valentine’s Day’ or ‘Single’s Awareness Day?’” I interviewed friends and teachers to record their traditions and perspectives. The common thread among them all: nobody hesitated to show love to those they cared about.

Nowadays, we have “Galentine’s Day” for girls to celebrate friendship. In Spanish, we call Valentine’s Day “El día del amor y la amistad,” or “the day of love and friendship.” Loving one another is a necessity, so much so that we have a day on the calendar to remind us of it. As Christians, the greatest command Jesus tells us to follow is to love the Lord, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40). Jesus meant for our love to be on display each day, not just once a year. We must love the Lord, love ourselves, and love people.

Yet there’s something in me that’s resistant to celebrating this day that’s reserved for showing love. I’ve wanted nothing more than to avoid, deny, and move beyond Valentine’s Day this year.

I wasn’t expecting to be single this year. He said he’d be by my side forever. I thought he was the one.

And then he left.

I’ve mentally moved on, but my heart is still healing. Everything about love feels a bit colder this year. Yes, it’s true that it’s better to be alone than with the wrong person. But that doesn’t make the grieving process any easier. Change still hurts. Betrayal still hurts. Loss is still a reality. Hurt doesn’t just magically dissolve into thin air. Hurt needs to be handled gently in order to become healed.

That’s when I have to remember this: Friends can come and go. Relationships may fail. Loneliness can be a struggle. But God never stopped loving me since he first thought of me, chose me, and created me. When my existence was just an idea, God loved me. He loves me so much that he has carried me through all of my days. He cares for me so much that he has a perfect plan for me and a specific calling on me life. This truth doesn’t make my difficult circumstances or human heartbreak any different. It gives me the courage to keep fighting, to remain faithful to him, and to live from a place of divine acceptance.

"For you formed my inward parts;
 you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
 my soul knows it very well.
 My frame was not hidden from you,
 when I was being made in secret,
 intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
 in your book were written, every one of them,
 the days that were formed for me,
 when as yet there was none of them." - Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV)

Regardless of my relationship status, I am first chosen and loved by my Creator. He made me. He sees me. He knows me, even all of my flaws and failures. And still…he chose me. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God loves me so much that he pays attention to my every detail.

There’s a word for this kind of love. We see it woven throughout Scripture when God’s affection for his people is mentioned. Here’s an example:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16 (ESV)

God loves the world so much that he wouldn’t let his creation, his people, die in sin. He always had a rescue plan: Jesus. God knew we’d fail, as soon as imperfection entered the Garden of Eden. He could’ve started over. He could’ve let us live in an eternal state of sin and brokenness. He could’ve prevented sin from ever existing. But instead, we see God’s power and love magnified as he relentlessly pursued his people. He sent his only Son, Jesus, to be our sacrifice and die on a cross for sins he never committed. Now we can be saved and have eternal life with the One who truly loves us.

In the original Greek, this love is “agape,” or sacrificing for another. Agape love extends beyond simply caring for someone else. It’s going above and beyond, dying to oneself to ensure that the other’s needs are met. And that’s exactly how God feels about, thinks about, and treats us, his children.

Agape love is so important to God that, instead of trashing his creation when imperfection entered the world, he chose to redeem it. God could’ve done anything to rewrite or change the story…and he didn’t. Instead, he chose to use his power to show how good, how caring, how sacrificially loving he is. His love is perfect in light of a broken world.

How many times do we, as humans, give up on imperfect relationships? Our world is saturated in heartbreak, longing for acceptance and desperate for attention. Maybe, instead of a new friend or partner, what we really need is an encounter with God. He is our Heavenly Father, who sees us, knows us, and never leaves us. He will never harm or betray us. He will never deceive, tempt, reject, or abandon us. Where people will fail us, God never will.

Thank God for friends and family. Praise him for the godly men and women who support one another. And praise him even more for who he is, especially where we humans lack. In our shortcomings, we see the glory and goodness of our perfect God. He sacrificially loves us. He forgives us unconditionally. He saves us. He guides us. He always works things out for our good.

To answer my own question to that journalism article, I’m not sure what I’m celebrating this year. I’m recognizing love this year in a way that can’t be boxed into the stereotypical traditions. Forget the gift wrap. Forget the frilly bows. I don’t need cute, little hearts when God, in his perfect love, showed me his heart through the cross. I’m not as concerned with my earthly relationship status as I am captivated by Jesus.

Just as everyone I interviewed showed love to themselves and others, so does God. He loves us in a way that nobody else can. No matter what we call this holiday or how we celebrate it, it is first another day we are given to spend with Jesus. Another day to be walking and talking with him. To remain in his loving presence and to be still. To remember his perfect, sacrificial love. It’s a time to report the good news…the Truth that extends beyond candy and flowers and reaches to the God’s eternal, heavenly kingdom. This Truth radically transforms lives from hopeless to hopeful, from rejected to accepted, from forgotten to chosen. No matter where you find yourself, it’s God’s perfect, sacrificial love that makes this day with celebrating.

Reflect

1. How has God’s sacrificial love transformed your life?
2. Think about this quote: “When my existence was just an idea, God loved me.” God loved you at the very thought of you. He thought of you, made you, and has carried you every day of your life. He has your days planned and he promises to be with you in all of them. How does this impact or change your view of God’s love for you? How does this truth impact your view of others, who are also God’s children?
3. How can you demonstrate God’s love to others in your life this week?
4. Challenge: Share your faith with someone who is hurting on February 14.