You are Loved!

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:10

Valentines Day can be a big deal - not only for the sale of cards, flowers, and candy - but most importantly to share just the right words with those we love and care for.  When I think about the right words for Valentines Day, I immediately think of one of my favorite parts of the upcoming holiday – the little candy hearts with words on them!  I wonder what the little candy hearts would say if they contained a message from God.  Based on God’s Word it would be safe to say that the message from God would read something like, “You are loved”.

God’s Word is very clear about His love for us!  God’s love for us is perfect.  God love for us is unconditional.  His perfect and unconditional love for us is shown most clearly through Jesus Christ.  Out of love for us, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior from sin, death, and the devil.  Jesus shed His blood in order to set us free from the condemnation that our sin deserves.  His death and resurrection have won for us forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation.

As repentant sinners, Christ’s blood has paid for every hate and murder and every harsh word, every affair and divorce and every look that was a little too long, every perjury, and every promise we have ever broken and every gossip we have ever spoken.  Though our hearts are corrupt with daily sin - God doesn’t tolerate these hearts, He gave His Son to die for them.  God declares them righteous, clean, new hearts solely on the account of Jesus Christ.

God’s valentine to you is: “You are loved!”  Carry that message in your heart each and every day, and rejoice in the forgiveness, life, and salvation that is yours because of God’s love for you shown in Jesus Christ!