Between Christmas
and the Cross
There is a day set
aside that we are reminded to love
There are hearts
and flowers and remembrances all around
Valentine’s, as we
call them, are sent and received.
Displays of
affection seem to abound
But let’s think,
for a moment,
about two days that
are more special
Christmas is one
And Easter the
other
God sent his son
to earth as a man…..because He loves us
that Man suffered
and died on a cross…..because He loves us
HE rose from the
dead; was not held by the grave….because He loves us!
This day, called
Valentine’s,
that falls in between
Christmas and the Cross,
should be used as
a reminder of love,
the great love God
has for us!
As we hand tokens
to one another
we should remember
God’s example from above,
and remember the
command that Jesus gave,
to love each other
with that kind of love.
©Tracey Thompson 2/2006 Reworked from the
2001 writing
Between the previous poem and the following scripture I didn't think that there was too much more I could say!
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (HCSB)
The WORLD means YOU!
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:15-19 (HCSB)
We MUST respond to His love for us.
“As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love. If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. “I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you."
John 15:9-14(HCSB)
We love because HE commanded us to
One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked Him, “Which command is the most important of all?”
“This is the most important,” Jesus answered:
Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
“The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31 (HCSB)
Loving God with ALL that we are is FIRST and then that love will spill out to those around us!
I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith
so that I can move mountains
but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor,
and if I give my body in order to boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
Love does not envy,
is not boastful, is not conceited,
does not act improperly,
is not selfish, is not provoked,
and does not keep a record of wrongs.
Love finds no joy in unrighteousness
but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
But as for prophecies,
they will come to an end;
as for languages, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part.
But when the perfect comes,
the partial will come to an end.
When I was a child,
I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man,
I put aside childish things.
For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part,
but then I will know fully,
as I am fully known.
But as for prophecies,
they will come to an end;
as for languages, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part.
But when the perfect comes,
the partial will come to an end.
When I was a child,
I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man,
I put aside childish things.
For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part,
but then I will know fully,
as I am fully known.
Now these three remain:
faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13 (HCSB)
faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13 (HCSB)
THIS is what Christ like love should look like!
I pray today that you can say that you claim Jesus as your Savior and you can call Him FRIEND, that you understand how much He loves you and what that love motivated Him to do. To me it is such an awesome concept...that when Christ took the punishment for the sins of the world....that was MY sin. If I had been the only person in the world He still would have died on that cross for my sins....if YOU were the only person in the world He would have died on the cross for YOUR sins!
What do we do with that knowledge, that understanding, with that kind of love????
We pass it along.....we LOVE! it is not complicated...it may not be easy, but it is not complicated!
We love Him with every fiber of our being, and then we show that to as many people as we can in the time God gives us here on earth!
AMEN??
AMEN!!
You have already gotten the BEST valentine ever!!
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