The Greatest of These is Love
by Sue Ellen Ferguson
Valentine’s Day has become our culture’s definition of love. Tradition says that Valentine’s Day has its roots in Rome in 269 A.D. when Emperor Claudius 11 was fighting bloody and unpopular campaigns and was having a difficult time recruiting soldiers. Believing it was because Roman men didn’t want to leave lovers and wives, he canceled all marriages in Rome.
A Roman priest, Valentine, defied Claudius and secretly performed marriages. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, he was sentenced to execution by beheading. The jailer’s daughter visited Valentine, and they fell in love. Before his death on February 14, it is believed he wrote her a letter, which he signed, “From your Valentine.”
In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honor St. Valentine. Signing XXX on cards and letters dates back to the early Christian era when a cross mark on a Valentine card was kissed. The XOXOXO emphasized the sincerity of the greeting. A friend recently heard this story and remarked, “Ain’t no way I’m kissing my three Xs!”
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).
As we think of love, I thank God for the greatest of all loves, his pure love, his perfect love, personified in his son, Jesus. I pray that each of you who are reading this know Jesus our Savior and have felt his loving embrace.
“And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soul of God’s marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled with God himself (Ephesians 3:17-19) TLB
Do you realize God loves you so much that he gave his one and only son! Accept Christ as your Savior today and claim the promise of eternal life. It is as simple as ABC:
A: Admit you are a sinner. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23, 24).
B: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
C: Commit yourself to live your life for him. That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Romans 10:9, 10).
Then we must commit to Bible study, corporate worship, nurture Christian friendships and unite somewhere with a body of believers. In the body of believers, you will discover the precious love of friends. The love that looks into our heaped up heart passes over the foolish things that you can’t help notice and draws out into the light all of the beautiful belongings that no one else looked quite far enough to find. That is what being a friend is, after all. Those are the friends you will find in fellowship at Council Road.
May God richly bless each of you, just as you bless others in your life. Say “I love you,” and say it again and again and again.
May love, joy, peace and chocolate abound!
Author Bio
Sue Ellen and her family joined Council Road Church in 1969 after the home visit of Pastor Fred Wilhoite. They loved the fellowship and worship time in the Chapel. Their family was transferred to northern Montana in the early 1970s and back to Oklahoma City and CRBC in 1983. Sue Ellen began the Women's Ministry, called Ladies First, and served there until Pastor Rick became our pastor 17 years ago. He was anxious to begin a Celebrate Recovery Ministry and invited Sue Ellen to become Director of the Recovery Ministries. Sue Ellen's favorite things are old hats, Valentines and chocolate. She has a granddaughter, Samantha, with whom she shares a March birthday.