GLMX #237: A Love That Exceeds All Others

Valentine's Day is perhaps the time of year when people most turn their thoughts to love. Stores fill with heart-shaped balloons, red roses, chocolate, and greeting cards expressing ideas of devotion and love. Husbands and wives, those engaged to be married, boyfriends and girlfriends take the time to show their feelings for each other in different ways. 

But, yet, for all the love that seems to be in the air, many people find Valentine's Day to be a day of sadness or regret. Many people are reminded of how their heart was broken by someone they thought really loved them. Others are reminded of broken relationships and broken marriages. February 14th is sometimes referred to as Singles Awareness Day (or S.A.D.) for all the people who wish and hope for love and romance but have not found it yet. 

Despite the emphasis placed on love and relationships by entertainment and the media in our culture, the latter group of people whom I have just mentioned know that love is really like a rose -- it is a beautiful flower that has dangerous thorns. C.S. Lewis said, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal." 

However, there is one demonstration of love that exceeds all others. The Bible tells us about this love when it says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." It is a brave and selfless thing for someone to take a gunshot or a knife stroke meant for someone else. You might never imagine that someone would do such a thing for you. And, indeed, with the selfishness that is common in human nature, you would be hard pressed to find someone willing to do such a thing. But there is someone who has already done that for you. 

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