February is a great month to speak about love – obviously the coming of St. Valentine’s Day brings our thoughts to the people we love and cherish.  Because we exchange messages of love, people probably think that St. Valentine was quite a romantic person.  Yet this man’s greatest accomplishment was his love for people.

He showed great love by protecting the Christians in Rome from persecution.  For this crime, he was imprisoned.  While in prison, he became a Christian himself; behind bars he met the greatest lover – Jesus.  In prison he met the one who would set him free.  Because of his conversion, Valentine was sentenced to death.

While in his cell awaiting death, he found that he could reach through his window to pick some violets.  He would pin messages of love to these flowers and send them to his friends and family.  Often the message was just a simple “I love you.”  Sadly, this man who had shown so much love, was brutally clubbed to death in his cell on February 14, 269 AD.  Yet today his legacy lives on.  As he was loved by Jesus Christ, he became a great lover.  The love he gave flowed from the love he experienced.

We have a ministry of passing on the love of Christ which flows through us.  “We love Him because He first loved us.”  As we exchange messages of love, may we embrace the source of our love, Jesus Christ.  Come hear a message of love this Sunday in church.

Pastor Jim