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Valentine’s day is celebrated every year as a special day of love. It comes with an euphoria of colourful decorations, great expectations and sharing of gifts on the 14th of February every year. We shall reflect on the following ways we can celebrate valentine’s Day as Christians.

Firstly, parents may use this day to reassure their children of their love and commitment in encouraging them to become responsible adults in the future. On the other hand, children may also appreciate their parents by reassuring them of their love and obedience in order make their parents proud and happy. The family is admonished in Ephesians 6:1-4 that “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Love will make it possible for both children and parents to play their Biblical roles. This may call for a special family lunch or dinner on the eve of Valetine’s day. This practice may engage our adolescent children or youth who are mischievously obsessed with Val’s day celebration.

Secondly, matured and independent youth who are single but dating or courting may use this occasion to go on a date with their prospective partners. Paul reminds us that “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” (1 Corinthians 13:11). In other words, when we were lost or ignorant about the meaning of salvation and the Word of God, we misunderstood the essence of Valetine’s day. The world made us believe that Val’s day was synonyms to a day of spending money on expensive gifts and indulging ourselves in sexual immorality. By the grace of God, we have been saved and have become mature in Christ therefore we must glorify God in all that we do regardless of what the world stands for. Going out on a date on Val’s say must not climax with sexual immorality. It must be an intimate time of personal retroflection on the relationship we have developed with one another. It must be guided by mutual respect, prayer, Scripture and above all, love that transcends sexual gratification or satisfaction of the flesh and its immediate ramifications.

Thirdly, married couples may seize the opportunity to reaffirm their love and revive their commitment to each other. We need not spend extravagantly on Val’s day just to proof our love for each other. Certainly, if a couple have the funds to spend to intensify and to make the day more memorable, that is fine but let us remember that the intention to renew our vow and demonstrate our love must be the focus of the day and not the accessories, colour and pageantry. Let us be guided by the words in Song of Solomon 8:6-7 which encourages couples that “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.” In other words, love is the most precious thing that gives life and essence to a marital relationship, couples must do their possible best to keep the flame of love burning. Val’s day offers yet another opportunity to ingnite the flame of love or cause it to increase if it is not burning enough.

Fourthly, val’s day should be a day where Christians will reflect on the love of God and their commitment to Him. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16). God demonstrated the true meaning of love for which we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. This love and salvation has made us new creatures therefore we agree with Paul that “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20). Valetine’s day and its activities must be approached with Christ at the centre of everything we do so that our deeds will reflect our salvation and glorify God. It is a day to extend the love of God to the vulnerable and less privileged in society through donations in cash and kind by the church and individual Christians.

In summary, Valetine’s day can be celebrated by Christians as a family, singles (dating partners), married couples and as one saved by grace through faith in Christ. Let us give Valentine’s Day a Christocentric meaning even as we prepare to celebrate it. Shalom

Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)