The Greatest Valentine!

In many places in the world, and most especially here in the United States, today is meant to be a celebration of love.  Yet, we all know that the way our world defines love is often warped and confused. Love is so often tied to physical attraction and romance and disconnected from its true meaning: commitment and self-sacrifice.  Love in our world is defined by the emotional feelings we get from being with someone who makes us feel good. That is why it comes and goes so freely—i.e. the person we love today is easily exchanged for another tomorrow. The love we experience in this life can so often lead to great disappointment.  

I simply want to remind you today that there is a true love that is deeper and truer. It is a love that will never, ever fade.  That love is, of course, the love that God has for us as his children.  In fact, the greatest Valentine ever given or received was the expression of love given to us by God our heavenly Father when he gave to us his One and Only Son, Jesus.  The love that God has shown us is a self-less love, a sacrificial love, a love that has endured the tests of time.  It is a love that will last forever.  That is why the Apostle John wrote:   

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”   (1 John 3:9-10) 

In honor of Valentine’s Day, here are the words to one of the most beautiful hymns ever written about God’s love: 

1.  The love of God is greater far
 than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star,
 And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
 God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain: O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!


                It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

2.  When years of time shall pass away,
and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
 
When men who here refuse to pray,
on rocks and hills and mountains call,
 
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
 all measureless and strong;

Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
the saints’ and angels’ song.

3.  Could we with ink the ocean fill,
 and were the skies of parchment made;

Were every stalk on earth a quill,
and every man a scribe by trade;
 
To write the love of God above
 would drain the ocean dry;
 
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, 
though stretched from sky to sky.

May we never forget the wonderful love of God!

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Pastor Tim Harris

www.pifny.org