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Dear Saints: February 2004
February is here! This is the month when Hallmark makes or breaks a loving relationship. Fourteen days into the month cards will be exchanged throughout the country, maybe even the world. Couples will go out to dinner, a movie, and sometime during the evening gifts will be exchanged but most important of all, a card, a Valentine card will be given from one to the other. And this is where it can get tricky. What the card says is very important, but even more important will be what the card says on the back. Does it say "Hallmark"? After all, Hallmark has made a reputation of being the best card out there, as the slogan goes, "When you care enough to send the very best." Whether or not they are the very best card is up for debate. Some would agree but others, especially their competitors, would beg to differ. Regardless, to play it safe guys this year dig deeper in your pockets and give her a Hallmark card.
As we talk about sending the best, I am so glad that when God wanted to express His love to the world He sent the very best. The Hallmark that He sent not only was the best, but it was unique. There never was and never will be another like it, for God’s Valentine card turned out to be a person, His son. He sent us Jesus, who expressed the very image of the Father and His love for us. There has never been another virgin birth, another cross or another resurrection. Jesus is the one and only expression of God’s love to us, as He said to Philip "When you have seen me you have seen the Father!" (John 14:8.) Wow! did we get more than a dinner and a movie! God loved the world so much he gave us His only begotten Son. Jesus is more than a mere expression of God’s love to us, he is everything, He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the last, "For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell:" (Col.1:19) When it comes to showing love we have Jesus’s example to follow. Men, love your wife as Christ loved the church- this is what we are admonished to do in the Bible. So besides a dinner, a movie and a Hallmark card, give her your attention and learn to listen, really listen to her. Then and only then will you be giving to your wife what she wants more than any fancy card or flower - she wants you. If you will do this men, I guarantee the dinner and the movie will not be the best part of your evening out!
Love each other and talk to each other. Let the world see a church where there is love. Let them see a love between husbands and their wives; a love between the people that go to the church; a love for the lost who stand outside the church; and a love for the God who reigns inside all who believe.
May God bless you this February.
Pastor Rick
