v-day

I have really mixed feelings towards valentines day. But I just have the urge to respond to many facebook posts/tweets I have seen today.

So..ok. Valentines day is all about love.

Well my mind goes something like this. "V-day=Love. Love=Jesus."

And I think for Christians this is good, and how it should be. However, there's some weird new fad among Christians to slam Valentines day and attack people who celebrate it, claiming that they don't understand true love.

I understand some sense of frustration among Christians, yes. Jesus is love. God is love. We love because He first loved us. His love is the ultimate and superior and truest. All other love springs from His love.

While I guess I understand your point....a lot of people don't. And I'm not sure I even completely agree with it.

First of all, who is to say that those who aren't Christians can't genuinely love?

Now, don't go all crazy on me. Yes, I think God is love. No, I don't think there is love outside of God. But I think God has this beautiful grace on all of creation, allowing people to experience some kind of love. And I think it's real and can be beautiful and can point to Jesus even without people realizing it's what they are doing. The entire world declares the glory and beauty of God--doesn't that include those who aren't followers of Christ?

Secondly, just because we love Jesus, does that mean we should renounce all other love? I realize this is tricky. I realize that in comparison to our love for Christ, we should "hate our mothers and fathers." But overall, I don't see why it has to be a matter of Him-or-them. Not in this case. Not on Valentines day.

The more you love Jesus, the more and the better you will love your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend. Relationships and marriage are an incredible picture of Christ and His church, instituted by God. God does not want us to love them less in loving Him more. He wants us to love Him first and foremost, to continue growing in that, and to grow in our love for others. Husbands are to love their wives like Christ loves the church....that seems like a whole lot of love to me. So it just seems really inconsistent to me to hate on valentines day, saying that we should proclaim our love for God instead of for others. Why not both?

Thirdly, whether people's love is genuine or not, there is a right and a wrong way to handle it. Looking down on them, attacking them, being rude and condescending about it....yeah great idea guys. If you want to show someone the true source of love, you just need to give them Jesus. Don't get this snobby, superior attitude about it. That's doing nothing but contradicting yourself in your fight for true love.

In case you forgot, you wouldn't love Jesus had He not loved you first and made you able to love Him.

If you can't love your non-christian friends and approach them in a reasonable manner, then you have no business complaining about people not understanding love.

what do you guys think? i'd love to hear opinions on this, or tell me i'm an idiot, or whatev.