What would you say is the ultimate valentine gift? How far would you go to show the depth of your love for your valentine?
For me, the absolute ultimate valentine gift is Jesus’ death & resurrection, when He freely gave His life for all. I mean, think about it: it’s one thing to die for someone who did nothing wrong and does not deserve to die. But to die for me, who does deserve to die, reaches an entirely different level of true sacrifice. Complete selflessness. And He didn’t just die for one, or a few. He died for all, WILLINGLY, so we can choose spiritual life over spiritual death – not because we somehow earned it, but only because of His sacrifice and His grace to us when we believe on Him.
There is no doubt that we are all sinners; one look at the world proves that. And the law and commandments, while they are given to guide us, also show that we can never completely follow every command to a T and earn forgiveness in order to evade the death penalty. For such disobedience God could hate us and have nothing to do with us; down through history men have been killed for so much less. Yet God loved us first.
Think for a minute as a parent: we love our children – and we love them first before they understand what that means. We expect their obedience because we are striving to guide them, protect them, and we want them to obey us even when they don’t understand the why. This is just a small picture of God’s mighty love for us, His desire for us to follow Him, to have a relationship with Him, trusting Him and believing in Him even when we don’t fully understand.
When it comes down to it, the real battle in this world is for our soul, and our heavenly Father is fighting for us. The devil wants us to follow him and makes it look so pleasant, so inviting, deceiving us regarding the real consequences of such a life; but he does not care about you. His ultimate goal is to deceive as many as he can and keep them from God.
But Jesus DOES care. God will NOT leave you. His willing sacrifice – love WITH action – says it all! There truly is no greater love, no greater sacrifice, ever given. The depth of such love should leave us breathless, so deep we cannot fathom it.
For those of us who have already believed on Him and accepted His gift, may we not lose sight of the depth of this love or brush over the pain, torture and agony that He accepted on our behalf, especially when He knew what He was going to face. May we not become complacent in laying down our wants, taking up our cross and following Him. For those who have not yet received His gift, how will you respond to this truth – God’s truth? No one else has ever, or even could ever, make such an ultimate sacrifice that it would be enough to save us. This is the ultimate valentine gift. Ever.
But don’t take my word for it. Romans 5:5-10. Psalm 53:1-3. Isaiah 9:6. Isaiah 53. Matthew 16:24-26. 1 John 4:10. 2 John 1:6. John 3:16-21.