The month of February is known by for many as the month of Love. Valentines Day marks the time of the year when shops are full of cards and gifts to buy for the love of your life. However some people are not sure what to make of this day, as Christians should we celebrate it or not, or does it belong to pagan tradition?

According to history, a Roman Emperor by the name of Claudius II was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Feeling pressure from surrounding enemies he needed a bigger army to defend his borders but Claudius II was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues.He believed that this was because the married men did not want to leave their wives or families and thus felt that they would not make good soldiers.

He knew the younger unmarried men were ideal to defend the empire and as a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. Upon hearing this news a priest by the name of Valentine decided to meet at a secret location with young couples to join them in holy matrimony although this was short lived; he was apprehended and sent to prison, where he was later condemned to death. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270.

Some say that Valentine had a chance to redeem himself when the emperor tried to convert him to Roman Paganism and after refusing such an offer Valentine tried to convert the emperor to Christianity. It is also believed that while he was in prison, Valentine fell in love with the jailor’s daughter and on the day of his execution wrote her a letter and signed it ‘from your Valentine’, this phrase is still being used to this day.

The scripture tells us that God is love and everything about God is love, the devil on the other hand can only offer a counterfeit love which is damaging, destructive and selfish. John 10:10 tells us that Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy. There is nowhere in scripture where we see the devil promoting love, it’s against his very nature. In Mark 9:38-40 John saw some people casting out devils in Jesus’ name and forbade them because they were not one of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus’ reply was “forbid him not for he that is not against us is on our part”. In other words if we are preaching the same gospel and promoting Christ, even though we may come from different back grounds, we are serving the same God. In today’s society the message of love should not be something we celebrate just once a year but it should be something that is demonstrated every day of the year. Husbands and wives need to show love to each other every day and learn to romance each other all year long.

Every married couple needs to keep investing into their marriage on a daily basis, you should not let one day go by that you do not make a deposit into your spouse. Right now the divorce rate is about 60% even within the church and keeps rising. In my 30 years of ministry, I have never met anyone who sought a divorce on the grounds of being loved! Divorce is normally because of hate, betrayal, mistrust, lack of love and affection and the list goes on. I believe that any day that promotes love should be a day we celebrate.

1 Corinthians 13 talks about love and how unselfish love should act yet we see families being torn apart and children growing up in broken homes. Ephesians 5:25 tells us husbands that we are to love our wives as Christ loves the church: Unconditionally! Being married doesn’t guarantee longevity in marriage. To remain happily married requires a lot of effort and commitment. It requires constant investments into the relationship to keep it fresh and alive.

As Valentine’s Day approaches it’s an opportunity for the single men to find some courage to invite that young lady to dinner. Married men, this is also an opportunity for you to do something special for the woman of your dreams, don’t think that because you are married now you don’t need to demonstrate your love for your wife. This is your opportunity to let her know how much you love her. Many of us after a while take each other for granted and life becomes all about bills, work and kids and we forget what it was that attracted us to each other in the first place. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to just be married; I want to be happily married.

My advice to you is don’t wait for one day of the year to be romantic, be romantic every day. Don’t let a day go by that you don’t say “I love you”. This advice is not just for the married couples but all of us can show love to the special people in our lives like our mums and dads, brothers and sisters. Remember that love is more than words; John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us”. If you say you love and don’t give time, affection, money, compliments or gifts then your love is questionable.

For those of you that are married, my prayer for you is that you will fall in love with each other afresh every day.

Happy Valentines Day & God bless you.

Pastor Douglas Goodman