Today is Valentine’s Day. Most people do not know how the holiday was started, or why, but it has become a day to celebrate love. Today I want to share some things I have learned about love in my life- I will be giving this talk later today at a Valentine's party we are hosting for all our girl students (which is why it's in pretty simple language- it's all still true though!) I figured I might as well share it with anyone who wants to read it. This is mostly for women though- sorry guys. You can still read it though :)
I started wanting a boyfriend when I was very young. I always had very pretty friends growing up and they always had boyfriends. One friend got a boyfriend when she was 11 years old. I always felt like I was not pretty enough for a boy to like me. The world tells women that they are not pretty enough. Magazines tell us that we need certain clothes or makeup or hairstyles to be pretty. But this is wrong.
God, the Creator of the Universe and the world, created you to be beautiful. He thinks you are the most beautiful person in the world, and He loves you more than you could ever imagine. God does not make mistakes, and He created you to be exact the way you are. He created women to show His beauty to the world. The world has taught us to think we are not beautiful, and that if we think we are beautiful, that is a bad thing.
I have been reading a book called Captivating. It explains that when God created the first woman, Eve, she was incredibly beautiful. Satan was very jealous of Eve’s beauty, and so he made her think she was not good enough as she was. Satan told her to eat the apple so she could have more knowledge. This was when doubt entered the world. Since then, Satan has been telling women they are not good enough because he knows that women are beautiful and powerful. Satan uses doubt to make us not as powerful. But God has made us beautiful and powerful, and through God, we can do anything. (Mark 9:23)
Valentine’s Day can be a sad holiday for girls who do not have a boyfriend. But a boyfriend does not always make you happy. Until 2 years ago, I thought I needed a boyfriend to be happy. I was insecure of my looks and thought a boyfriend would help me know I was attractive. So I looked for boyfriends. I tried to make boys like me. I had 4 boyfriends, and any time I did not have a boyfriend, I would go to parties and flirt with boys so they would like me. But none of these guys satisfied me. I realized that it is because none of these guys were the one God wants me to be with. But, even if you have a husband, that love will not be perfect. Only God’s love is perfect. God’s love is better than any love a person can give. God loves us all the time, even when we make mistakes. Even when we turn away from God, He loves us. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less, and there is nothing you can do to make God love you more. He does not just dai suki ("really like" in Japanese- they use this phrase instead of "love") you, He aishiteru ("love") you, He loves you, and wants you to love him too. God wants us to be with Him.
So why do we not feel this love? It is because we have sin. Sin separates us from God so we cannot experience God’s love fully. But because God love us so much, He showed us the perfect example of love. The Bible tells us, “For God so LOVED the world He gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” – John 3:16.
Are you experiencing true love in your life right now? Are you satisfied? If you do not know God’s love, or feel that you are not experiencing God’s love, I encourage you to talk with someone who knows more, or read through the books of John and 1 John in the Bible.
For now, I love all of you, and more importantly, God loves you! Happy Valentine's Day!
Love this!
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