This year Valentine’s Day collided with Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. It’s tempting to pit these holidays against each other as if they are opposites. What does a day for celebrating love have to do with a time that emphasizes the suffering of Christ?

A whole lot actually. Because our faith shows us that self-denial and suffering are the basis of all true love.

On the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That prayer includes the soldiers and priests who condemned and crucified Jesus. It includes all of us for whom Jesus died. Because Jesus made the greatest sacrifice, he is able to give us sinners the greatest gift.

Jesus said that the greatest love is to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. He is telling us that nobody can really love another without it costing something. True love is not just sentimental, it’s sacrificial.

God’s Word says, “Love one another as Christ loved you.” This is how the cross and the valentine fit perfectly together. Loving someone involves a painful death to self, a giving up of my pride, rights, desires, and grudges.

Any good friendship, marriage, family, or church is really a union of forgiven forgivers. When we are sinners saved by Christ’s costly gift we will learn how to love each other in the same sacrificial way.

Alan Crandall
Pastor of Care