Christians have a right to feel cynical about the commercialism surrounding Valentine’s Day. It feels like a contrived holiday of spending pushed by Hallmark and Big Candy. How many dollars worth of stuff do you love your significant other? Like many parts of culture, Christians can choose to ignore it or redeem it. Perhaps we should embrace Valentine’s Day and contemplate how we can use it as an occasion to serve others.

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

Love is the only word we have in the English language to describe an infinite variety of relationships, emotions, and actions that express it. The Greek language boasts many more precise words that describe specific types of love, many of which were used by our New Testament authors. Here are the four big ones:

• Storge — Familial Love. This word describes the love that unites and bonds families: the love between parents and children, husband and wives, siblings and wider family members.
• Philia — Friendship/Platonic Love. Think Philadelphia. “The city of brotherly love.” Philia is used in the Bible to describe the warmth and affinity shared by close friends.
• Eros — Romantic Love. This type of love is the one closest to the common English definition of love: romantic and passionate. It is a deep, encompassing love that two people share through intimacy. Eros only appears in the Bible in the Song Of Solomon, yet it’s the one we think of as “love” the most.
• Agape — Unconditional Love. This is the one. The highest level of love the Bible describes. Everlasting, sacrificial, and perfect. In the original Greek, agape is specifically used to describe God’s love for us: God is love.

The point is: Just because our culture is focused on one definition of love doesn’t mean that we can’t express other definitions this Valentine’s Day. How can we share God’s love with parents, children, grandparents, friends, other loved ones, and perhaps even to those we don’t know?

Pour Out Your Love(s)

For Valentine’s Day, think of acts of charity to mirror Christ to someone in your life. Take the day to intentionally speak your spouse’s love language, call up a family member, write a letter to a grandparent, thank your pastor, or even spend the day performing random acts of kindness. Give someone the spot in the parking lot. Pay for the next person in line at the coffee shop. Hold the door for everyone. The opportunity to show love is infinite if we think outside of ourselves.

Lutheran Family Service seeks to do that on a daily basis, but it’s okay when an occasion like Valentine’s Day comes along to remind us of our mission: To walk with people who are experiencing hard times and are there for them just as God has been there for us. Whether that be a woman experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, an LCMS church worker struggling to find balance, a friend in need of mental health wellness, babies in need of a loving Christian home, or marriages that aren’t “feeling the love” this Valentine’s Day.

For some, Valentine’s Day will bring up painful or sad memories and a sense of loss or loneliness. Maybe it’s a fresh break-up in a young relationship, or maybe it’s the first Valentine’s Day alone after 60 years of marriage. In any of the above examples, Lutheran Family Service sees the opportunity to share God’s overwhelming, comforting love.

Be Our Valentine

Likewise, you can partner with us this Valentine’s Day (or any day) to ignite those many definitions of love. It’s your passion for helping others, coupled with your financial support, that allows us to continue this mission. Our Valentine’s card would say, “We wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for you.”

God extends His grace so that we can embody a life filled with generosity and compassion. Our ultimate destination is heaven, the place where God, who is love itself, reveals the true essence of love. Let’s all strive to express that Christ-like charity not only on Valentine’s Day, but every day of our lives!

Consider starting or strengthening your giving with Lutheran Family Service HERE.

Your partnership allows Lutheran Family Service to walk with those experiencing difficult times, enabling us to help:

• Babies find loving, Christian homes
• Keep marriages, families, and individuals healthy and well
• Women facing surprise pregnancy choose life for their unborn child
• Support LCMS Church Workers and their families
• And so much more!