V-day ...mayday?!?!

Gosh today brings back a bunch of awesome memories. I don't mean in recent Valentine experiences. I'm talking bout goin way back to elementary school. Everyone got along, there were no cares in the world, and everything smelled like pee. You their with me yet? Valentines day was one of the best days ever in those times. You would go to the store in excitement a few days before the big day. As you searched the aisle's for the coolest cards you could find thoughts of Vday filled your mind. You are relieved when you find the last box of power rangers cards they have (how romantic). Then things really get serious when you head over to the candy aisle and find the kit kats and mandm's with the hearts on the outside wrapper. Finally content with the perfect assortment of candy and power ranger cards that scream I love you, you rush home to start personalizing every card to suzie, billy, jane, bob, etc. There would be jokes in these cards, and meaningful statements like "You're Super!!". In class the next day, everyone got cards and candy from everyone. As your desk filled up with this priceless loot, we would separate the cards from the candy (kinda like the wheat from the chaff). Shoving aside the cards, it almost seemed like a contest to see who could consume their candy fastest. As I remember these days I'm sure the teachers feared this a day more than others. That much candy distributed to that many kids with only one teacher to control them all just doesn't seem quite fair. Once the consumption of chocolaty goodness began, the school might as well have declared marshal law for the remainder of the day. There was no stopping us. As we got older, the cards and candy were only distributed to a select few and eventually became a day for that "special" someone. Fast forwarding to this Valentines day and the realities of this day seem way out of whack. This year I am thankfully not it any sort of relationship. It has been awhile since this has been the case. So, I realized how nice it was to not be fretting about trying to do something spectacular and buying the perfect gift. As I walked on campus today it was just another day with the occasional heart seen on the newspaper, t-shirt, etc. I was delighted when I was offered a piece of candy by some people that were passing some out. It was a nice gesture. This may have been my only positive Valentine's day experience though (except for the chocolate from my parents. woohoo!!!) There were different things that were being passed out by people throughout the day. Ultimately I was offered condoms by more people than candy. Yea, you read me right... Condoms. I was really disheartened to find how cheap our society has made love. We have decided that we are going to put value on one of the products of love instead of love itself. We have made it so cheap that I can be sitting at a lunch table with some friends and before I am done the table has three or four more times the number of condoms than people. What happened from my pee-wee days till now? In a lot of ways, kids on this day have a much better idea of what love is than adults. Kids are blissfully ignorant to some of the things that adults categorize as love. With kids its all about relationship. Love is not about sex. It's about relationship. The problem is not that people have a desire to have sex. God created sex as something for a man and a women post-marriage. The problem is that so many have taken a beautiful institution from God and perverted it. Sex was not made for cheap valentine "love". I became really sad as I thought about the emptiness that comes from this view of love. Looking in the scriptures we see that in Romans 1:28 when people are not following Christ they are given "over to a depraved mind". When someone has never seen the true love of Christ how can they be expected to practice true love. Away from Him our minds are depraved, meaning corrupt, wicked, and perverted. This view of love is not what God had in mind when He created us. His good and perfect love is shown to us in the famous passage of ICorinthians 13. He talks of love being patient, kind, and not self seeking. This love that He has shown to us and that He wants us to have is not something that talks a big game only to leave you feeling empty and worthless. When we get a glimpse of this unconditional love that Jesus has shown us we will never love the same again, whether that be romantically or towards people in general. If you have a Valentine today, serve them and show them true love. If you don't have a valentine today, show other people unconditional love in the same way as Christ did. He loved us while we were yet sinners. Pray that people will not settle for the cheap definition of love that they are offered by the world.