True love and what it means for us

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Valentine's Day has been celebrated since the Roman Empire.?There are many stories behind Valentine's Day celebrations.?The day is observed in honor of Saint Valentine of Terni, who was assassinated by Roman Emperor Claudius II. He was a priest who is supposedly known for secretly performing Christian marriages for Roman troops as well as preaching Christianity before it was legal. Therefore, he was placed under house arrest as he refused to renounce his faith.

While serving the sentence, Saint Valentine of Terni fell in love with the jailer's daughter, he soon restored her sight.?The house converted, believing in the power of God.?When the news reached the emperor, Valentine was executed on February 14. On the day of execution, he sent the jailer's daughter a farewell note: 'From your Valentine'. Later, the church made this festival a Christian celebration and chose to use it to remember St. Valentine's Day.

(Information from zeebiz.com)

Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to link Valentine's Day to romance in his poem "The Parliament of Foules", which was written in the 14th century.

There are other stories about how this day came to be, also, so if you want to know more, Google is a good place to start.

Romantic love is a great thing to celebrate. It produces warmth, care and a feeling of being wanted and needed. The same things are true of the love of God, but His love is so much more than what we can comprehend.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.?

For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love?He?predestined us for adoption to sonship?through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—?to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.?

In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace?that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,?He?made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ,?to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In Him we were also chosen,?having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will,?in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.?

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory."

Ephesians 1:3-14

Think about that for a moment. We were predestined BEFORE the creation of the world to be holy and blameless - which is something we could never be without Him and His sacrifice. His grace also allowed us to be adopted into the family of God through Jesus!

It's one thing to be born into a family and experiencing love. It's an entirely different thing when you are adopted into a family, because they CHOSE to love you.

I encourage you to consider what kind of love God has for us today. He thought of us before the world was ever created, then provided a way for us to become adopted into His family forever.

That kind of love is incomprehensible!

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*** Today's flowers are some red roses from a bush in my backyard. ***

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