Above All, Love

Blog by Megann Graf

1 Peter 4:8

“Above all, LOVE each other deeply, because LOVE covers a multitude of sins.”

Valentine’s Day is coming up.  If you ask me, it’s a dumb holiday.  Seriously, I know I am going again most women out there, but have you TRIED to go into the grocery store for milk or yogurt on Valentine’s weekend???  It’s not showcasing love my friends, it’s mass chaos!  And, while it’s nice to get a card telling me how much I am loved, does the person I love really need a reminder to tell me that?   Ok, enough rant…let’s talk about love. 

Let’s not miss the point on this.  Loving people is important!  It is not dumb.  It also should not just be done just one time a year.  Love is not easy.  It doesn’t come wrapped in red cellophane, with flowers attached.  It doesn’t taste like chocolate.  The verse above says that we should love deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.  That sounds a lot like forgiveness to me.  That doesn’t sound easy and pretty.  It sounds like it REQUIRES something from me.  If I love someone, as God would want me to, it means that I am able to look past their sins only because I know the vast and enormous grace that God has granted and LOVED me with for my sins.  It means that, even though I am looking at someone who has let me down, disappointed me, disagreed with me, hurt me, disobeyed me, etc., that I attempting to move beyond that and LOVE them as Christ loves me.  I know that I have certainly disappointed, disagreed with, hurt and disobeyed God numerous times.  And yet, He is still wants me. 

Now, this is a general overview.  This is not meant to condone being abused by someone in any unhealthy way.  But, it is to bring to light LOVE.  It’s to remind us, that when we are celebrating Valentine’s Day, it doesn’t have to be commercialized and romanticized and it doesn’t have to be a feeling. It can be a choice and it can be tangible and it can be practical.

God didn’t send Jesus to us to tell us he loved us.  He didn’t bring cards to hand out.  He didn’t bring flowers.  He came to a world that did not understand him.  He was ridiculed, He was mocked, and he was denied by those who claimed they would never deny him.  And, yet still he loved us.  He forgave us.  He was LOVE that covered ALL our sins.  That’s what he went to the cross for.  That, my friends, is love.  And that is a day worthy of celebrating.