For February 14, 1999 Valentine's Day A Meditation: Valentines from God Text: I have called you by name: you are mine.... I will be with you.... Because you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you. Is. 43:1, 2, 4 Objects Used: A Valentine's Day Card & a heart-shaped box of candy I was in Hallmark/Wal-Mart this week and walked by the Valentine's Day Card section. There were cards of every size, shape and color. Some were simple and other ornate. And there was a Valentine for everyone there, not just your sweetheart but for any and all persons you love. Millions of these have been purchased and given out this week and this very day. As I stood there looking at all those Valentine's Day cards and the people buying them to give to family and friends all over the world, the thought came to me, "God sends Valentines too!" Valentines are messages of love, right? Who loves more than God? And each of us is God's beloved. Every day is Valentine's Day, for God showers love upon us in so many ways every second of our lives. Take a breath. Every breath, that's a Valentine from God. Every sunrise, every sunset. Every moonlit night, every starry sky... Every meal, Every walk... Every hug from a friend... Every second of our lives is filled with Valentines, with "I Love You's" from God. How have you experienced God's love recently? (Let them share). Here (show the Bible) is a collection of the most wonderful Valentines ever written or given. Here are love letters from God to you and to me - for us to read over and over, to cherish... and find strength... and hope... and the reassurance that we are loved. I have asked several of you to read some of these scriptural valentines. (Several persons from my church will be at the center with me and I have given these scriptures to them on separate slips of paper. They will take turns reading them at this point. thought about enlarging these and letting some of the residents read them - for some of them could, but don't know if I'll do that. If I were to use something like this in a Sunday worship service, I would do the same thing but give them out to various people in the congregation before the service and then have them read these at this time.) Scriptural Valentines With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you. Jeremiah. 31:3 His banner over me is love. Song of Solomon 2:4 Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, my love will never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah. 54:10 O Lord, how precious is your love. My God, the children of the earth find refuge in the shelter of your wings. Psalm 36:8 Your merciful love and your truth will always guard me. Psalm 40:12 But I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. Ps. 13:5-6 The Lord came to my support. He set me free in the open, and rescued me, because He loves me. Psalm 19:20 I will trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad for Your steadfast love.... Psalm 31:6-7 For Your love is better than life; my lips will praise You. Psalm 63:3 But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15 See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God! Yet that is what we are. 1 John 3:1 We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16-17 We, for our part, love because God first loved us. 1 John 4:19 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?....No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else is all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35, 37-39 There have never been any Valentines like these! And they all are sent to you because God loves you more than you can know. If you ever forget that, just put up your collection of God's Valentines and turn to most anyone of them...or close your eyes and let these words of love come back to mind... The Best Valentine of All You know, many people do not just send a card on Valentine's Day, do they? They often send gifts like flowers or this (hold up the heart-shaped box of candy). Fragrant and beautiful flowers for those who have brought beauty into our lives... A box of sweets for those who have brought sweetness into our lives... Now God was not satisfied with just cards, just words on paper. No. God gave us all the best, the sweetest, the most wondrous gift of all... (Put these two verses on the heart box of candy) For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. John. 3:16 The Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory; the glory of an only Son coming from the Father, filled with enduring love... Of His fullness we have all had a share -- love following upon love. John 1:14, 16 These heart shaped boxes contain sweet candy... but this greatest of all Valentines comes from the very heart of God...overflowing with love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and life abundant and eternal... Conclusion I remember the first time we gave out valentines in elementary school. You could give them to whomever you wished. That was good for some people, the most popular ones for they received more valentines than anyone else. Others got a few. Some did not get any at all. Well, the next year the teacher changed things so that each person gave every other person in the class a valentine. So everyone got them. These Valentines from God are not just for a few. They are... for you... for me... for everyone... every day of the year... For each day is Valentine's Day, my friends, when you are the beloved of God! May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen. (Ephesians.3:17-10)