Everlasting Love

         

With Valentine’s Day being just two days ago, I thought this would be an opportune time to write about love and about what God has shown me as a fifteen-year-old girl this Valentine’s season.

I don’t know about you, but there are still visions of pink and red hearts and boxes of chocolate and bouquets of flowers dancing around in my head!

Unfortunately, with it being two days after Valentine’s Day, those flowers don’t look as lively and beautiful as they did the moment someone handed them to you and all that’s left of the candy you were given is a bunch of wrappers.

Does this depress anyone besides me? Can love represent more than the wilting flowers on our desks and the fading feeling in our hearts?

As a fifteen-year-old girl who doesn’t have a boyfriend or have any plans to start seriously thinking about dating, Valentine’s Day can be one of those days when I shrug my shoulders, receive the gifts my friends give me, and move on. After all, what’s the point of celebrating when you haven’t found true love yet?

That’s when I have to catch myself. The truth is, I have found true love. It’s just not in the form of roses, or a sweet note, or a giant red heart. It’s in the form of a wooden cross, crudely fashioned, with blood staining its bark. It’s found in the knowledge that God the Father looked specifically at me and thought, I love her and I want to spend eternity with her.

So He sent His perfect Son, Jesus, to die a horrible death in my place as a punishment for my sin. When He died, He made a way for me to be cleansed of my sin and have a relationship with a holy God. When He rose from the dead, He proclaimed to the world that He was greater than death and that He won the ultimate battle against the devil.

God did all this…because He loved me. Just like He loves you.

But what if I’d rather have the gifts and the roses? What if I want to know I’m loved right in this moment and not just two thousand years ago when Jesus died for me?

The great news is, God’s love doesn’t stop with the cross. He loved you before you even breathed your first breath and He will not stop loving you for eternity. His love for you right in this moment is as strong as it was when He carried that cross up the hill of Calvary. He sees you in this moment, He knows you and all your desires and fears, and He cherishes you for who you are.

God’s love does not compare you to other people. It does not criticize or condemn. Rather, instead of comparing you, He specifically chooses you as His own. Instead of criticizing you, He thinks the best of you and calls you special. Instead of condemning you, He defeated sin so that He could welcome you with open arms despite your past mistakes.

God’s love remains forever. It lasts so much longer than the wilting flowers or the fading ink of a pen on a note or the slight warming of your heart. Although these earthly things we cherish aren’t bad, they can hurt you and disappoint you when you base your entire identity on them. God has an identity for you, one rooted in true love, one based on the fact that He has redeemed you and calls you His beloved child.

So maybe today, you’re starting to feel let down because the love you felt on Valentine’s Day is slowly fading away. Maybe you’re scrambling desperately around trying to feel loved again, trying so hard to get someone to tell you that they care about you.

I’m here to tell you that God cares. He has always loved you and will always love you. You can trust His love, cling to His love, and find your true identity in His everlasting love for it will NEVER leave you or disappoint you.