SCRIPTURE: Rom 2:4 NIV Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
THOUGHT: I’m doing a little four-day series leading up to the celebration of Valentine’s Day, a holiday I certainly liked better as a child than I do now. Simple cut outs or homemade hearts, given to classmates – a day for kindness to be celebrated, sans gaudiness.
I’m reminded, as I confront the marketing twaddle that is a U.S. holiday, that St. Valentine was a man of real heart. A priest who was likely martyred because he dared to marry Christian men and women when it was forbidden by the Roman Emperor, Claudius II.
Kindness is always in season, Valentine’s Day or not, so I’m starting with the kindness of God. Like St. Valentine, God’s kindness is not considered kind by everyone. But to those who’ve been desperate enough for it to not take it for granted, repentance is a kindness, allowed by a kingdom where mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13 … kind of like 2.13, right?).
As you consider your list of valentines this year, consider who needs your mercy more than your judgment, and the original Valentine, who gave his life for the sake of Christian marriage.
SONG: I Know https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j25JqWgjDF4
PRAYER: The idea of your kindness leading toward repentance, God, would be strange if I hadn’t experienced it so often. It is your goodness and great mercy that make me love you so. Thank you for the St. Valentines of this world, showing us what love in motion looks like.
Amy released a full-length book in early 2021, Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. Maybe you’d like to check it out here.
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