Today is Valentine's Day. It is a day that is used to commemorate love. It is a day when everyone talks about those they love and how much they love them. Valentine's Day also offers the perfect catalyst to talk about God's love.
Let's start in the beginning. After God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a choice--to love Him, or not to love Him. He did this by placing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of Adam and Eve's living area, and commanding them that they can eat from anything in the Garden except for this tree. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they had made not to love God. However, this was not the end.
Even though Adam and Eve made a choice to disobey God, thereby betraying a lack of love for Him, God chose to love mankind. He did not only say that He loved us. Rather, He displayed His love for us by sending His Son to become the propitiation for our act of rebellion. God's love wasn't made manifest in word only. It was shown through the person of Jesus Christ.
Since Jesus Christ is the ultimate example for those of us who profess Him, we should also imitate this. This is what the apostle John related in his first epistle. Our actions, or how we demonstrate our love (or lack of) for God, truly do speak louder than our words. Those of us who love God will display a love for Him by living for Him.
Since God loved us enough to send His Son, we should also be willing to display our love for Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. If we do not live out our love for Him, then how can we honestly say that we love Him? If we live out our love for Him, then how can anyone honestly say that we do not love Him? Today, let's choose to follow the example that God set, and live out our love for Him and for others, rather than just speak about it. Let's stop merely talking, because talk can be deceptive. Rather, let's start doing, since our actions will reflect what we truly believe.