The Downside of Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day has grown into a major event over the past few decades. I enjoy observing it with my husband each year, just like thousands of other couples do. Love is a wonderful thing to enjoy and to celebrate. So what is the downside of this day?

Millions of people feel lonely and deserted on Valentine’s. Some of you have been abandoned by your husbands and left to navigate life by yourself. Many of you singles have never found Mr. Right because you desire a godly husband who is walking with God, and such men are often difficult to find. Others of you haven’t had connections with men that provide the opportunity to marry. And there are untold numbers of you who feel very alone and unloved in the midst of your marriages. For all of you in such situations, Valentine’s Day is a reminder of your pain and your loneliness. You may have no one close enough with whom to share your sorrow, except God. And your situation often causes you to feel that even he has forgotten you.

Thankfully, no matter how lonely and isolated you feel, you are not truly alone. God is there and he loves you with an everlasting love, just as he does Israel (Jer. 31:3). That means that nothing will take his love from you.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38-39).

If you are caught in the downside of Valentine’s Day, celebrate God’s great unconditional and eternal commitment of love to you, and worship the God who gave himself for you. I pray that you sense his presence and love for you today.