Every store seems to be filled with hearts, cupids, and other Valentine’s Day paraphernalia.  It is that time of the year.  It is time to focus on love.

Or is it?

It seems that the kind of love that our culture promotes is little more than a feeling you might (or might not) have.  In other words, we can get the idea that love is not love unless YOU feel like it is love.

Unfortunately, when we begin to think that love is just a feeling, we are creating a new definition of the word.  We ignore the fact that love is a choice, a commitment, actions, and often a feeling.

The movie Fireproof gave a beautiful picture of love.  A self-centered husband pushed his wife to the point of her almost giving up on their relationship.  After having an encounter with God, he realized how he had treated his wife and committed to show her the love that he held in his heart.  Though she was obviously skeptical and after seeing him not falter in his change, she eventually accepted the love that she thought she would never receive from him.

I wish real life could be more like that movie’s premise.  Unfortunately, many of us give up on loving someone when we are hurt or disappointed.  That leaves us with broken relationships, broken marriages, resentment, and deep-seated anger.

Would you like to know how to overcome this?

Consider God.  How many times have you disobeyed Him, ignored Him, put other things before Him, or openly defied Him?  I do not know the exact number, but I do know that it is more times than we can count.  Yet He loves you.  He wants you in His family.  He wants His family to be right.  And He wants us to love.

Consider what we read in 1 John 4:7-8: “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

That is why we must love – whether we want to or not.

I challenge you to choose God’s kind of love.  Ignore the ugly and divisive attitudes we see around us and on social media.  Instead, choose to love as God has loved you.

I encourage you to watch the movie Fireproof. It has an excellent message that is much needed today. Click the picture below to get your copy…