Happy Valentine's Day!

Kurt Strassner posted the following last Valentine's Day. It made such an impression on me then that I felt the need to draw attention to it again this year. Happy Valentine's Day!

THE STORY OF ST. VALENTINE

Write it in heart-shaped stone. Valentine’s is a certified craze. Card companies, candy stores, and bed-and-breakfasts have turned February 14th into one of the biggest, pinkest, most lucrative days of the year! But I got to thinking…Isn’t the full title Saint Valentine’s Day? Was there really a saint named Valentine? If so, who was he? And is there any Christian significance to this day?

Here are the wonderful answers:

St. Valentine was the faithful pastor of a local church in Rome in the mid-200’s AD. But all around him and his little congregation, controversy raged. About this time a cruel emperor named Claudius II held the throne. Claudius, like most Roman emperors of the day, hated the Christians…and could be ruthless in his treatment of them. He and Valentine, living in the same city, were on a collision course.

Some time during Valentine’s pastorate, Claudius completely outlawed marriage in Rome…concluding that single men made better soldiers. Well, Valentine saw this as an affront, not only to young lovers, but to God. Had not God said, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1.28)? Had He not said, “the marriage bed is to be held in honor by all” (Hebrews 13.4)? And was not marriage a glorious illustration of how “Christ loved the church” (Ephesians 5.25)? What could Valentine do but defy the emperor? He continued to encourage marriage among the youth of his church. And he continued to secretly counsel and marry young couples for the sake of Christ…putting himself under the watchful eye of the authorities.

Meanwhile, Claudius also continued the reign of terror begun by his predecessors. He persisted in beating, torturing, and killing Christians. And again Valentine stood with God, not the emperor. He made the comfort of suffering, dying believers one of his top pastoral priorities. Feeding the hungry, assisting the sick, and comforting the dying saints were among Valentine’s greatest pastoral joys. And he paid with his life. On Feb. 14, 270 Valentine was captured, beaten, and beheaded.

That gives new meaning to the phrase: Will you be my Valentine?! St. Valentine’s Day is actually a day to remember a man who was willing to lay down his life for the sake of Christ and His church! Truly he imitated Jesus who said of Himself: “Greater love has no man than this that He lay down His life for His friends” (John 15.13).

Ah yes, it is not primarily to Valentine that we look for our example of sacrificial love. Rather, we look to Jesus Christ, the God-man who went to a Roman Cross for the sake of us sinners. And it is not a cruel emperor whose judgment we fear; but that of the perfect, benevolent, but righteous Judge of all the earth—a judge who finds us all guilty of ignoring His goodness and breaking His law (Romans 1.21).

So Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to look beyond St. Valentine to Jesus, who willingly went to a bloody crucifixion to stand in our place at God’s bar of perfect justice (1 Peter 3.18).

Valentine’s Day is a chance look away from man, in whom there is no salvation, to Jesus, who alone can save (Acts 4.12). And yes, Valentine’s is a day for receiving gifts of love! “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6.23)!

Have you received God’s “free gift”? Have you entrusted yourself to “Christ Jesus our Lord”? And if not, would you do so today? “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him” (1 John 4.9).