Join Us for a Valentine’s Dinner, Friday Feb. 17 at 5:30 pm

The Valor of St. Valentine

“My love, for you I would climb the highest mountain, sail the deepest seas, or swim the widest rivers! 
 p.s. If it’s raining on Saturday I won’t be over.”

Unfortunately this note too often reflects our attitude towards commitment – wouldn’t you agree?  It’s easy to pledge and promise most anything, but when the time comes to fulfill our oaths, many people bounce like a rubber ball.

But not St. Valentine…you know, the guy that this whole romantic card/candy/flower/dinner deal on February 14th is named after.  The name Valentine comes from the same root word for “valor”: “strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness : personal bravery” (Source: www.dictionary.com)

See if you agree that he lived up to the meaning of his name reading about the valor of St. Valentine.

According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor was imprisoning Christians for not worshipping the Roman gods. During this persecution Valentine was arrested. Some say he was arrested because he was performing Christian marriages, but others say it was for helping Christians escape prison.

During the trial they asked Valentine what he thought of the Roman gods Jupiter and Mercury. Of course Valentine said they were false gods and that the God that Jesus called Father was the only true God. So the Romans threw him in prison for insulting the gods.

While in prison Valentine continued to minister. He shared the Gospel with the guards. One of the guards was a good man who had adopted a blind girl. He asked Valentine if his God could help his daughter. Valentine prayed and the girl was given her sight. The guard and his whole family, 46 people, believed in Jesus and were baptized. When the emperor heard about this, he was furious that Valentine was still making converts even in prison, so he had Valentine clubbed and beheaded.

Valentine and the prisoner’s daughter that had been blind developed a special friendship, and, before he was executed, Valentine wrote her a note of encouragement and signed it “From your Valentine.” From this sad situation we now celebrate Valentine’s Day as a special day for expressing love and friendship.*

Isn’t that amazing?  Valentine knew all along that if he refused to go along with the idolatrous Roman culture and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with everyone around him – even in prison, that it might cost him his very life.  But rather than being discouraged by his circumstances, he was emboldened by them!

You know what?  Valentine knew what true love is.  Not the wishy washy namby pamby fickle infatuation that we call love today. Rather his definition comes straight from the Author and Embodiment of love itself:

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.  There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:12-13).

Jesus willingly left His home in heaven, took on human flesh and walked on this dusty and depraved planet for 33 years.  He lived the life we should have lived, then He died the death we should have died.  And when the nails pierced Hands and feet, they also went straight through the heart of the Father.

Love was crucified on that dark Friday 2000 years ago…but on Sunday love resurrected our Savior and opened the gates of heaven to anyone and everyone who trusts in Jesus alone for salvation!

And now He calls us to a life of love…a life characterized by sacrifice and exemplified by surrender to share the gospel no matter what the cost.

So this February 14th, meditate on the valor of St. Valentine.  A person who loved both Jesus and his fellow human beings with a reckless passion that will be remembered forever.  And when you open up your valentines, remember the one that God the Father sent you 2000 years ago that reads:

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Knowing that we are loved that much is the fuel that energizes our heart to pound with gratitude and bestows on us the fervor to lay down our reputations, our social statuses, and even our lives for the sake of the One who laid down His life for us.

May we all have a valor-filled St. Valentine ’s Day!
Jesus, thank you for empowering St. Valentine to be such an amazing witness for Your glory and give His life for THE Cause.  May we take advantage of this holiday named in his honor by sharing the gospel with our friends who are lost and in need of a relationship with You.  Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and showing your amazing love.

Romans 5:8. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Loving Your Neighbor – A little bit of human contact can make all the difference, but where to start?

Here are some ideas… why don’t you try one of the following?

• Make an effort to speak to the neighbors you meet in the street, and ask how they’re doing. If they have a problem and you can’t help them, think about who might be able to.
• Go round and see your neighbors. Perhaps take them a plate of cookies or a card that expresses your gratitude to God for them being your nieghbor.
• If you’re shy, you could put a card on your neighbors’ door. (Don’t forget to include your house number in case they don’t know you.)
• Phone friends who you haven’t spoken to in a while for a chat. Maybe think about those friends who have had an extra tough year. In these days of Facebook etc we don’t talk to each other as much as we used to. A phone call is a much more meaningful and thoughtful action than an online message.
• Have a look (in your local paper or on the Web) and find out what events are going on in your community. This may be an opportunity to get to know some of your neighbors.
• Walk your neighborhood and pray for each home as you go.
• Walk the dog. Look for people to talk to while you walk. Or try to be outside when others normally walk their dogs. Say hi and ask about their dogs and tell them about your dogs or your family.
• Do something kind for your neighbor (even if they don’t notice). Some ideas:
  • take up a neighbor’s trash cans after pickup;
  • pick up trash in the street or around the neighborhood;
  • wash a neighbor’s car windows (ask first);
  • give batteries to neighbors to replace in their smoke alarms;
  • shovel snow from someone’s driveway or sidewalk;
  • let the person behind you in the grocery line go first;
  • Offer to return a shopping cart for someone loading a car.
• Do something kind for your coworker. Some ideas:
  • treat a coworker to fresh fruit or a coffee;
  • fill a coworker’s candy dish;
  • take flowers to work and share them;
  • take hot chocolate mix and marshmallows to the break room;
  • Place a tissue box on a coworker’s desk;
  • Buy a coworker coffee, a snack, or lunch unexpectedly

You might be surprised at how people will respond to a little kindness, care and love. Try it!

Do You Know Your Neighbors?

Lance Ford related the following story:

“I don’t know what to do for her,” my wife sniffled. “I don’t even know her name.”

My Saturday morning golf outing was placed on pause. Our peaceful weekend morning had come undone by the sound of cries from the house beside ours coming over the phone. It was the young wife’s birthday, and her husband had just loaded his boat and left for a fishing trip with his buddies. The young woman couldn’t believe her newlywed husband had not planned to spend the day with her. And now Sherri was crying because she was crying.

“Well, I don’t know what to do,” I told her. “If I knew him I would try to thump a little advice into him on how to be a decent husband.”

Sherri wanted to do something—anything to help—so she decided to send the young woman an anonymous bouquet of flowers with a card that said, “Happy Birthday. Know you are loved.”

That was eighteen years ago. We had not yet learned a lot about making a neighborhood livable. I am ashamed to say it, but we were too busy planting a church and raising our kids to view our neighborhood as a place we were called by the Lord and sent directly to reach and make better. We chose to live in our neighborhood based on how it would serve our personal wants and needs. We failed to realize that opportunities to bring something better to our neighbors—and have our own lives affected—were all around us.

Some of us were raised in an era when neighbors actually knew one another. Neighbors spent time with each other and helped one another, Contrast that with today, where it is not unusual for people to live next door to one another—for years in some cases—without even knowing each other’s names.

Heaven on Earth

The business of neighboring was enormously important to Jesus. He was the supreme people person, and He gave His followers a clear mandate on the matter.

Jesus was frequently cajoled and pestered by religious leaders attempting to trap him in theological arguments. One day one of these guys got more than he bargained for when he asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life. It was almost as if he was just waiting for that question. A thought bubble above Jesus may have said, “I’m so glad you asked.”

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” So he answered and said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-29).

The religionist who asked Jesus about eternity didn’t have a problem with Jesus’ answer—up to a point. It is just that last little bit—“and your neighbor as yourself”—he wanted clarity on. But his motives were clear: Luke says he wanted to justify himself. To do so he needed to keep the definition of neighbor in the realm of the ethereal. To go literal with this idea of loving our neighbor would be too invasive and impractical. These must only be theological “beliefs” to be agreed with, not real-world commandments to be practiced.

It is easy for anyone to claim that she loves God with her all and all, because God is unseen. How can you tell whether a person really loves God or not? This is the problem our flesh usually has with Jesus. He actually means what He says. So the questioner wants Him to define neighbor. Jesus is more than happy to oblige.

(Luke 10:30-37) Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain [man] went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded [him], and departed, leaving [him] half dead. “Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. “Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. “So he went to [him] and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. “On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave [them] to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Now the guy is really in a pickle. Jesus says the question we must ask is not, “Who is my neighbor?” because if that were the case then we could pick and choose who gets our love. We could go about our days qualifying or disqualifying who is eligible or deserving of our love. Jesus says we must ask ourselves, “Am I a neighbor?”

Who am I being a neighbor to?

Have you asked yourself that question lately? To whom are you showing the love of God?

 I am convinced that one of the main hindrances to loving our neighbor today is that although we may know them, we really don’t know them very well at all. Like the good Samaritan, we must show love to our neighbors by meeting their needs. But how can we show them that Christ meets their needs if we don’t know them well enough to know their needs?

At New Covenant Baptist Church, we are asking God to help us over the next month to help us to love our neighbors by getting to know them. Be a neighbor to someone this month. Our strategy is that every member of New Covenant Baptist Church would get to know that person you really don’t know by demonstrating God’s love and kindness to a coworker, a neighbor, a friend, an extended family member, or someone else.

The idea is that we would point our community to the Lord Jesus Christ through our caring words and loving actions.

In the following weeks I will be sharing ideas for creative ways in which we, as families and individuals, can demonstrate Christ’s love. But for right now, would you pray about who God wants you to get to know better? Pray for those who will receive your kindness and love, that seeds of the Gospel will be planted in their hearts.

So think about who is known, but not known by you. Pray about loving them. Then do it!