The Day of Love

February 14, 2019

DAILY READING

Acts 13:26-34
This weekend’s reading: Revelation 3:7-13

FIELD NOTES
Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s the day of red paper hearts and frilly white doilies and heart-shaped red foil boxes filled with chocolate candies; the day when we celebrate love and eat little candy hearts that say, “Kiss me” or “Be mine.”

The origins of the holiday are murky — some sources tracing it back to an ancient Roman celebration of fertility and others associating it with the death of either one of two martyrs named “Valentine” in the early centuries after Christ. Unequivocally, it is now associated with love in all its forms.

Our reading today reminds us of the greatest love of all — God’s love that sent Jesus to humanity in order to redeem us from sin and to fulfill the promises God made centuries ago to Abraham. “And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors, he has fulfilled for us their children, by raising Jesus…” (v. 32).

QUESTIONS FROM THE FIELD

• Spend a few minutes thinking about God’s love for you. Is it easy to believe God loves you all the time — whether you’re feeling close to God or whether you’re struggling to have faith?
• What are ways to can share God’s love with those around you?

FAMILY FIELD TALK

• Make Valentines and write Bible verses on them to remind people that God loves them. This is a really good one: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

PRAYER
God of love, thank you for sending your Son to show how much you love us. Help us to share that love with those around us. Make us aware of people who are lonely and need an extra measure of that love. Amen.