Valentine Day – Agape Love

I guess that everyone has his own thought about this day.
Those in courtship may think about romance. Singles and secret admires may be hoping…

Me, ah? Just sleep through the day lah!

No, just joking. This is the day when we should reflect about how we really love others, especially those close to us.

First, how does Valentine day comes about?

Check the internet lah! So simple!! (as my little daughter will tell me that)

OK, will do that for you:

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine

There is a legend called Legenda Aurea as regard to Valentine day.

According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.

Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. In an embellishment to The Golden Legend, on the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."

For me, being a Christian is very much learning to love others no matter how difficult it is. Since Christ went through the trouble for us (read Rom 5:8, if you don’t know this verse; http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:8;&version=31; must read, better still memorize it, like me!)

When I talk about love, it is God’s love or agape love. It is spell out in 1Cor 13:

1 Corinthians 13 (NASV)

4Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

So, think about this agape love and don’t sleep through this Valentine day, ok?


Happy Valentine!
Mark Lim

Let all that you do be done in love (1Cor 16:13 NRSV)