|
Why do we celebrate Valentine's Day? Where did the customs we use today come from and when did they begin? There are several ideas of why we celebrate Valentine's Day the way we do. Thousand's of years ago, February 15 was the day the Romans held a festival to honor one of their gods, Lupercus. It was a day of games, music and dancing. This was also the day the Roman’s had their “love raffle”. The names of young women were written on pieces of paper and put into a jar. The young men would draw out the name of their sweethearts for the coming year. On February 14, 269 A.D. a Roman priest named Valentine was put to death for teaching about Christ. In 496, Pope Gelasius named Valentine as a saint and made February 14 a special day to honor him. Over the years we have combined many of the customs of these two holidays. Today, we consider Valentine’s Day as the holiday of love. We send beautiful cards of love, give chocolates and flowers, and have romantic evenings out. It is definitely a day for romance, but is romance love? 1 John 4:7-10 gives us the definition of true love. "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins." This Valentine's Day, let’s remember the man for whom this holiday was named and why it was named for him. And on this day may God’s love through His Son Jesus Christ become real to you. Happy Valentine's Day! ~Penni
|
Comments