Finding True Love This Valentine's Day - The Crosswalk Devotional - February 14

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Finding True Love This Valentine's Day
By Lynette Kittle

 Bible Reading:
“We love because He first loved us.” - 1 John 4:19

Romantic love seems to be the love that lasts the shortest time for millions, yet it’s the prime focus in most people’s lives, especially around Valentine’s Day.

Yet, as wonderful as romantic love can seem at times, it doesn’t have the power to satisfy our hearts, unlike the countless Hallmark movies seem to indicate. As finding romantic love seems to be the #1 goal for millions of people worldwide, it may be a distraction for countless people from loving God most.

Sadly, many people believe romantic love is the ultimate love and that without it, they can’t live, which is why they go to such extremes to find and possess it.

Although, as Christians, we honor and cherish the relationship between husbands and wives, even that can cause us to put God’s love in the back seat.

But as we know, when it comes to love as Christians, our #1 goal and priority is to love God above all others, as Matthew 22:37 explains as the greatest commandment: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”

God calls us to love Him most, which is difficult for many to accept, and they have a tendency to overlook His words in Matthew 10:37, saying, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

Still, many of us put Him on the back burner. But 1 John 2:15 explains what loving the world more than God exposes in us: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

Still, the call from God’s heart when we find ourselves far from Him is found in Joel 2:13, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.”

God calls us in Joel 2:12 to return to Him, “‘Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’”

Some may remember the line from the classic 1970s film “Love Story,” which taught our culture that “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” The problem is that it’s so untrue. Sadly, an unrepentant world jumped at the chance to embrace it. Never saying we’re sorry restricts true love, hardening us at the core.

Repentance keeps our hearts softened towards God, as 2 Corinthians 7:10 describes, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

Love is God’s trademark. He’s the only source of true love and the only reason we are able to reach out and love others. 

As 1 John 4:16 describes, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Without Him loving us first, we would be loveless in our relationships with others because we can’t stir up true love based on our own strengths and thinking.

When we do as Matthew 22:27 commands, to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, true love grows within us and spills out to those around us. As 1 Peter 4:8 encourages, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Intersecting Faith & Life:

What is your focus this Valentine’s Day? Are you reaching out to God and His love, or sidetracked by romantic love this year? Ask God to help you treasure and cultivate your love for Him above all others.

Further Reading:
A Valentine’s Day Prayer to Cultivate a Tender Heart Toward God

How did today’s devotional speak to you? Share your thoughts in the Crosswalk Devotional discussion.

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/karandaev 

Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.

Check out fantastic resources on Faith, Family, and Fun at Crosswalk.com

Listen to the Jesus Calling Podcast!

Welcome to this special bonus episode of the Jesus Calling Podcast, inspired by the topical themes from Sarah Young’s seasonal prayer devotional Jesus Listens: Prayers for Every Season. Today, we are featuring guests who speak to themes that all of us might be experiencing in this season of winter. As the days grow shorter and the night longer, we are offered a rare gift: permission to stop. This season can be a challenging time for many, and if you are struggling with low spirits, please know you are not alone, and help is available. This episode is an opportunity to honor your weariness, to resist the urge to rush, and to discover the profound healing that happens when we simply let ourselves rest in the stillness. If you like what you hear, be sure to follow Jesus Calling on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!

 

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Larry Elder is an American lawyer, writer, and radio and television personality who calls himself the "Sage of South Central" a district of Los Angeles, Larry says his philosophy is to entertain, inform, provoke and to hopefully uplift. His calling card is "we have a country to save" and to him this means returning to the bedrock Constitutional principles of limited government and maximum personal responsibility. Elder's iconoclastic wit and intellectual agility makes him a particularly attractive voice in a nation that seems weary of traditional racial dialogue.” – Los Angeles Times.

Mike Gallagher Mike Gallagher began his broadcasting career in 1978 in Dayton, Ohio. Today, he is one of the most listened-to talk radio show hosts in America, recently having been ranked in the Talkers Magazine “Heavy Hundred” list – the 100 most important talk radio hosts in America. Prior to being launched into national syndication in 1998, Mike hosted the morning show on WABC-AM in New York City. Today, Talkers Magazine reports that his show is heard by over 3.75 million weekly listeners. Besides his radio work, Mike is seen on Fox News Channel as an on-air contributor, frequently appearing on the cable news giant.

Hugh Hewitt is one of the nation’s leading bloggers and a genuine media revolutionary. He brings that expertise, his wit and what The New Yorker magazine calls his “amiable but relentless manner” to his nationally syndicated show each day.

When Dr. Sebastian Gorka was growing up, he listened to talk radio under his pillow with a transistor radio, dreaming that one day he would be behind the microphone. Beginning New Year’s Day 2019, he got his wish. Gorka now hosts America First every weekday afternoon 3 to 6pm ET. Gorka’s unique story works well on the radio. He is national security analyst for the Fox News Channel and author of two books: "Why We Fight" and "Defeating Jihad." His latest book releasing this fall is “War For America’s Soul.” He is uniquely qualified to fight the culture war and stand up for what is great about America, his adopted home country.

Broadcasting from his home station of KRLA in Los Angeles, the Dennis Prager Show is heard across the country. Everything in life – from politics to religion to relationships – is grist for Dennis’ mill. If it’s interesting, if it affects your life, then Dennis will be talking about it – with passion, humor, insight and wisdom.

Sean Hannity is a conservative radio and television host, and one of the original primetime hosts on the Fox News Channel, where he has appeared since 1996. Sean Hannity began his radio career at a college station in California, before moving on to markets in the Southeast and New York. Today, he’s one of the most listened to on-air voices. Hannity’s radio program went into national syndication on September 10, 2001, and airs on more than 500 stations. Talkers Magazine estimates Hannity’s weekly radio audience at 13.5 million. In 1996 he was hired as one of the original hosts on Fox News Channel. As host of several popular Fox programs, Hannity has become the highest-paid news anchor on television.

Michelle Malkin is a mother, wife, blogger, conservative syndicated columnist, longtime cable TV news commentator, and best-selling author of six books. She started her newspaper journalism career at the Los Angeles Daily News in 1992, moved to the Seattle Times in 1995, and has been penning nationally syndicated newspaper columns for Creators Syndicate since 1999. She is founder of conservative Internet start-ups Hot Air and Twitchy.com. Malkin has received numerous awards for her investigative journalism, including the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) national award for outstanding service for the cause of governmental ethics and leadership (1998), the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award for Investigative Journalism (2006), the Heritage Foundation and Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity's Breitbart Award for Excellence in Journalism (2013), the Center for Immigration Studies' Eugene Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration Award (2016), and the Manhattan Film Festival's Film Heals Award (2018). Married for 26 years and the mother of two teenage children, she lives with her family in Colorado. Follow her at michellemalkin.com. (Photo reprinted with kind permission from Peter Duke Photography.)

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Finding True Love This Valentine's Day - The Crosswalk Devotional - February 14

Carbonatix Pre-Player Loader

Audio By Carbonatix

The Crosswalk Devotional updated banner logo

Finding True Love This Valentine's Day
By Lynette Kittle

 Bible Reading:
“We love because He first loved us.” - 1 John 4:19

Romantic love seems to be the love that lasts the shortest time for millions, yet it’s the prime focus in most people’s lives, especially around Valentine’s Day.

Yet, as wonderful as romantic love can seem at times, it doesn’t have the power to satisfy our hearts, unlike the countless Hallmark movies seem to indicate. As finding romantic love seems to be the #1 goal for millions of people worldwide, it may be a distraction for countless people from loving God most.

Sadly, many people believe romantic love is the ultimate love and that without it, they can’t live, which is why they go to such extremes to find and possess it.

Although, as Christians, we honor and cherish the relationship between husbands and wives, even that can cause us to put God’s love in the back seat.

But as we know, when it comes to love as Christians, our #1 goal and priority is to love God above all others, as Matthew 22:37 explains as the greatest commandment: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”

God calls us to love Him most, which is difficult for many to accept, and they have a tendency to overlook His words in Matthew 10:37, saying, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

Still, many of us put Him on the back burner. But 1 John 2:15 explains what loving the world more than God exposes in us: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

Still, the call from God’s heart when we find ourselves far from Him is found in Joel 2:13, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.”

God calls us in Joel 2:12 to return to Him, “‘Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’”

Some may remember the line from the classic 1970s film “Love Story,” which taught our culture that “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” The problem is that it’s so untrue. Sadly, an unrepentant world jumped at the chance to embrace it. Never saying we’re sorry restricts true love, hardening us at the core.

Repentance keeps our hearts softened towards God, as 2 Corinthians 7:10 describes, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

Love is God’s trademark. He’s the only source of true love and the only reason we are able to reach out and love others. 

As 1 John 4:16 describes, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Without Him loving us first, we would be loveless in our relationships with others because we can’t stir up true love based on our own strengths and thinking.

When we do as Matthew 22:27 commands, to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, true love grows within us and spills out to those around us. As 1 Peter 4:8 encourages, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Intersecting Faith & Life:

What is your focus this Valentine’s Day? Are you reaching out to God and His love, or sidetracked by romantic love this year? Ask God to help you treasure and cultivate your love for Him above all others.

Further Reading:
A Valentine’s Day Prayer to Cultivate a Tender Heart Toward God

How did today’s devotional speak to you? Share your thoughts in the Crosswalk Devotional discussion.

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/karandaev 

Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.

Check out fantastic resources on Faith, Family, and Fun at Crosswalk.com

Listen to the Jesus Calling Podcast!

Welcome to this special bonus episode of the Jesus Calling Podcast, inspired by the topical themes from Sarah Young’s seasonal prayer devotional Jesus Listens: Prayers for Every Season. Today, we are featuring guests who speak to themes that all of us might be experiencing in this season of winter. As the days grow shorter and the night longer, we are offered a rare gift: permission to stop. This season can be a challenging time for many, and if you are struggling with low spirits, please know you are not alone, and help is available. This episode is an opportunity to honor your weariness, to resist the urge to rush, and to discover the profound healing that happens when we simply let ourselves rest in the stillness. If you like what you hear, be sure to follow Jesus Calling on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!

 

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