February is most known for Valentines Day. But did you know Valentine’s Day originated as a Christian Celebration?
As the story goes, a Roman emperor imposed a ban on marriages because too many men were dodging the draft by getting married (only single men had to enter the army). A Christian priest named Valentinus, caught performing secret marriages was sentenced to death. His execution occurred February 14th, 269 A.D. In 469 it was declared a holy day. (Source: learnreligions.com)
“Because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)
Agape
Everything God does is driven by His love. There is a distinct word for the type of love God has. In the Greek, this word is agape. It refers to a benevolent and charitable love that seeks the best for the loved one. It is mentioned often in the New Testament. The following passage is read at many wedding celebrations:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
When we show benevolent, selfless love, we reflect God’s love to a lost and dying world. (Source: gotquestions.org)
Our human understanding of love is flawed, weak, and incomplete, but the more we look at Jesus, the better we understand true love.
Adoptive Love
God’s plan was to unify everything in Heaven and on earth under Jesus. In love he predestined us to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:5) His purpose was to have a huge covenant family.
The term “covenant” comes from the Latin con venire, which signifies “a coming together.” It implies an agreement between two or more parties coming together to establish mutual promises, stipulations, privileges, and responsibilities.
Through Jesus anyone can be adopted into God’s family. Christ’s creation of a multi ethnic community of followers united under God changed the world. In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul prayed that people would not just know about the adoptive power of love, but would personally experience it.
I experience the adoptive power of love through my pets.
Sacrificial Love
“At the heart of Christianity is a sacrificial love that goes against our natural instincts.” (Source: christianity.org.uk) Suffering or dying for your beliefs is martyrdom. The root of martyrdom is the Greek word martur, which means “witness”; the suffix –dom means “state or condition.” In a religious context, people who experience martyrdom bear witness for their faith and suffer or die because of their beliefs. (Source: vocabulary.com)
There are a number of martyrdom stories connected to February 14th that are associated with various Saint Valentines. One is an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome. He was persecuted under the Roman Empire for ministering to Christians. (Source: en.wikipedia.org)
Valentine’s Day did not become associated with romantic love until the 14th and 15th centuries.
Love as a Literary Conception
The first recorded association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love is believed to be in Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem, Parliament of Fowls (1382). A medieval European literary conception, notions of courtly love flourished. Courtly love emphasized nobility and chivalry. It is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing a variety of deeds for ladies because of their “courtly love”.
“The lover (idolizer) accepts the independence of his mistress and tries to make himself worthy of her by acting bravely and honorably (nobly) and by doing whatever deeds she might desire, subjecting himself to a series of tests (ordeals) to prove to her his ardor and commitment.” (Source: en.wikipedia.org)
Originally, courtly love was literary fiction created to entertain nobility. But as time passed, these concepts of love spread to popular culture and attracted a larger literary audience. The topic was prominent with both musicians and poets, but was also popular with major writers, including Dante and Chaucer.
Romantic Love
No relationship will prosper without love.
Valentine’s Day customs—sending greeting cards (known as “valentines”), offering confectionery and presenting flowers—developed in England and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the 19th century.
In the United States, about 190 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, not including the hundreds of millions of cards school children exchange.
It is said that “love makes the world go round”. This idiom implies the significance of love in peoples’ lives─ “making it beautiful and fostering a sense of purpose and unity among all.” (Source: leverageedu.com)
Life is simply better when we treat one another with love.
