In a few days, many romantics will be rushing off to the store to get their card, heart-shaped box of chocolates, and bouquet of flowers.
They will be making dinner reservations for their special someone.
Love will be in the air.
Years ago, a popular singer asked, "What's love got to do with it?... It's a second-hand emotion!"
Is love still important in a technological age of virtual, manufactured reality? Is love really only a "second-hand emotion?"
Ask anyone in love and they will say that it is an emotion of the highest order. And they would be right! St. Paul wrote, "In this life we have three great lasting qualities--faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love" (I Corinthians 13:13).
An often-quoted Bible passage is John 3:16, "For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that every one who believes in him shall not be lost, but should have eternal life."
God, because of His love, sacrificed His Son for you and me. He exchanged His life for yours, so you could live with Him forever.
Indeed, the definition for God is love.
"My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love" (I John 4:7-8).
Love manifests itself in different ways. In Greek, there was the familial storge love, the brotherly philia love, and the eros love of physical, sensual intimacy.
Finally there is the spiritual, unconditional, sacrificial, Godly agape love.
As we express our love to a special someone this Valentine's Day, let us reflect on the higher love that can replace the hate, fear, and violence in the world today.
