Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002
Subject: The World’s Oldest Valentine
Good Morning Ethan & Emily:
Valentine’s Day! I always have to laugh as I race into the card shop on Valentine’s Day to get my wonderful wife and your mom a card and see all the guys scrambling all over the card display rack. You would think someone was giving away Super Bowl tickets! Shame on all of us who wait to the last minute!
But I can’t help be reminded that there was no last minute “rush” when the “world’s oldest Valentine” was “selected.” It was God Himself who prepared this “Valentine” for all the human race and it was fashioned even before the world was created: “Long ago, even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself thorough Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure.” (Eph. 1:4 – 5) Just imagine…God received “great pleasure” as He formulated His Valentine Gift for us!
We all give gifts to our special Valentines today to show our love. “God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (1 John 4: 9 – 10) There just isn’t any Valentine gift today in all the world that can top that! Words fail to describe such a Gift!
Some of the gifts we give to our sweethearts relate to beauty…perhaps a visit to the spa or a facial or manicure. But God’s Valentine Gift to us gives what only He can give and cannot be topped…that of everlasting life: “But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ form the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of His favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us through Christ Jesus.
“God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift form God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” (Eph. 2: 4 – 10)”
Rejoice and “bask” in His love today…and everyday! You are special not only to me and your mom…but to God who wrote your names on His Valentine before the beginning of time!
Everyone has received God’s Valentine. May more and more of those still unsaved respond to God’s offer of love: “Be Mine.”
What a Valentine’s Gift…and it’s not just for a day…but God sends His Valentine to all mankind every day…to every man and every woman.
It’s the world’s oldest and ultimate Valentine!
Have a great day.
I love you,
Dad