Song of Solomon 8:7 – “Many waters cannot quench love; neither can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with everything he owned, his offer would be utterly despised.” NLT

Everyone, not just Christians, should not need a special day to focus on Love.   Love should be the rule, not the exception, in our relationship with that special person in our life and our dealings with everyone at all times.   There are numerous passages in the Bible regarding love and how relationships should be conducted on virtually every level.  I chose this particular passage for what it says and want to address a couple of things on this day in which there will be more flowers, cards, and candy given than almost any day of the year.

This verse describes that true love cannot be washed away even with a flood.   It is not fickle or fragile as is often the image we get from today’s society.    If we look at 1 Corinthians 13, we realize how strong love really is in the human heart.    If we consider John 3:16, we understand how powerful and committed love is in the heart of God. 

If we read this verse with an open heart, we understand that Love is not for sale.  That is a powerful point.  True Love is not a purchasable commodity, nor is it an earned commodity.  It is GIVEN!  It may grow stronger based on the actions within a relationship, but actions, gifts, or even words alone are not the foundation of love.

It is not fragile and fickle.  In that scenario, if one or the other forgets the gift, the words, the look, the touch, the kiss, the card, the flowers, or whatever, then love wanes.  That is not love by any definition.  I won’t attempt to tell you what it is, but love it isn’t.

We should all be the loving husbands, wives, friends, companions, neighbors, and human beings the Bible encourages and even dictates that we are to be.  Yet, we know that that goal is impossible to attain without God’s love being first shed abroad in our hearts.  Without a change in our very nature, through Christ’s giving of grace, we will remain selfish, though some are much more so than others.  We will demand rather than give and receive.  In a sense, we will sell what we call love, but it isn’t. 

Love is not an emotion or something one falls into; it is a commitment of the heart and a decision of the mind, soul, and spirit. It is a choice that develops into a bond that becomes a covenant that is not fragile or fickle. Love is not necessarily easy because we must overcome our expectations, demands, and selfishness. 

We must allow the Holy Spirit to keep our hearts attuned to God’s heart and desire the best for someone other than ourselves.  Love, as Paul says in Corinthians, “Does not seek its own.”  That is a picture of God’s love toward us and an example of how our love should be to others! 

God’s expression of love through the sacrificial work of Christ on the Cross was not for Him but for us.  His focus was not to amass a multitude of people to praise and worship Him, which would make Him selfish and self-centered; it was about bringing us out of darkness into light and redeeming man from Satan’s bondage.  It was about giving!

I am thankful that God’s love is not something I have to earn because I would fall so short that I’d never taste even the slightest morsel of His bountiful and beautiful love. 

I’m glad my wife’s love is not something I have to purchase or earn through meeting her requirements; it is bestowed on me because she has chosen to commit to me to love me, flaws and all.  Mine for her is the same, and out of that covenant comes true love.   It is not swayed by our temporary moments of selfishness.  Our momentary lapses in our displays of our human frailty do not diminish it.  It is strong because of the love of God in our hearts, our commitment to each other, and the covenant bond that we have developed and grown into, which keeps our love growing stronger each day!

• Did you have children and begin loving them only after they were old enough to fulfill your expectations? 
• Did you only begin to love your parents after they had fulfilled your desires, demands, wants, and wishes? 
• Did you begin to love God only after He fulfilled a certain number of prayer requests? 

I dare say you did not in any of those.  You love your children because they are God’s gift to you and “flesh of your flesh;” they are part of you.  You love your parents in response to their love, nurture, and care for you even before you knew or could rationalize anything.  They loved you, and you responded to that love.  The Bible tells us you love God because “He first loved us.”  

In loving, we are responding to love!  When two people find that the bond between them, the attraction that may have begun as physical, has risen to a higher level, they decide to commit, form the bond, and “cut the covenant’ that love requires; then it can be said that they are in love with each other!  I’ve heard so many definitions of love in my years of ministry that were a million miles from what love really is that I wonder if most really know what love is. 

My desire is that the Holy Spirit will enable me to love unconditionally as and with the Love of the Lord. If God loved us according to the definition, understanding, or commitment that is demonstrated among human beings, we would all be in serious trouble eternally. 

So, my prayer is that on this day, when the focus is on Love, each of us will reexamine our understanding of and commitment to love. It is my prayer that we will allow the Holy Spirit to not only deposit the Love of God in our hearts but enable us to let that love flow out of us to others, especially to that special person or those special people in our lives that we treasure. 

May God be with you on this day and make it a day with an Abounding Overflow of Love from you and to you!  Blessings!