Happy Valentine’s Day! This is Tina writing today. Now, I’m not a big fan of the commercial side of Valentine’s Day and all the ridiculous focus on romantic love, but I do love its history as a day when a man of God refused to stop sharing the message of Jesus’ love for mankind and paid the price with his life.
Valentine’s Day is all about messages. It is a day when we stop and tell people how much we love them. It is a day for written words of love.
Last year, our family was blessed with the birth of our sweet little boy. He is our fourth child and our first boy, and he was born on Valentine’s Day. We gave him the name Malachi Immanuel, which means “one who brings the message that God is with us” because that is what we want him to spend his life doing. We want him to follow in the footsteps of St. Valentine and spend his life telling people about Jesus, the one who is God with us, the one who is the Love we all yearn for.
This bib is so confusing when you were born on Valentine’s Day, but since he didn’t wear it last year, we’re going for it this time around!
When we name our children, we give them a verse to go with their name. For Malachi, we chose the words of Zephaniah 3:17, what I consider the greatest “Valentine” message ever!
The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you; he will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
Mesu’s book, In the Shadow of Jezebel, begins with a mysterious message from the dead prophet Elijah, reminding King Jehoram that God had not forgotten him and that He was present and watching.
Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said: “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah.’” 2 Chronicles 21:12 NIV
Because King Jehoram had chosen to live as an enemy of God, this message of God’s presence and mindfulness was not comforting at all; it was terrifying!
It’s easy for us to expect that people will be thrilled when we share the message that God is with them, that He knows them inside and out and craves a relationship with them. But the fact is that this one message, while comforting to some, is terrifying to many. Paul says it like this:
God…uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere…. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. 2 Corinthians 2:14, 16 NIV
But, regardless of how we are perceived, we are to keep giving out our “Valentines.”
God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 2 Corinthians 2:18-20 NLT
So, have a wonderful Valentine’s Day and pass out as many Valentines as you can, not only today but every day!
Tina from Mommynificent.com
