Valentine’s Day Reminder: Keep Love at the Center

By Bethany Barber

Love is the fuel of disciple making.

As simple as that may sound, we cannot miss the importance of this truth. Without love, our most brilliant disciple-making efforts are just a “noisy gong or clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1).

Valentine’s Day can help us remember to keep love at the center of disciple making. A day dedicated to love helps us not only prioritize our heavenly relationships, but our earthly ones as well.

Think of it this way: every decision we make is based on what we believe about God and what we believe about ourselves.

So, how can we embrace Valentine’s Day to help us remember to love well?

Rest in God’s Love

“We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). It is impossible to love others and make disciples without first experiencing the love of God in a personal way yourself.

God is love (1 John 4:8), and His love for you is the very reason He sent Jesus (John 3:16).

“. . . because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. . .” Ephesians 2:4-5 (ESV, emphasis added)

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

Praise God for His great love!

Challenging circumstances or hurtful experiences may tempt you to question God’s love, and everyday responsibilities and distraction may lead you to neglect God’s love. But as followers of Jesus, it is critical that we continually rest in God’s love — this is one way that we abide in Jesus.

You can rest in God’s love by claiming promises from God’s Word amidst challenging circumstances. Passages like Romans 8:28 or Psalm 23 will fill your heart afresh with confidence in God’s love and care for you.

You can choose to rest in God’s love by setting aside time to intentionally remember God’s love. You can slowly read verses about the love of God and meditate on them, letting the truths sink deep into your heart. You may even want to regularly read this Love Letter from God (found in Week Two of Your True Story) or simply sit and listen to a worship song that reminds you of God’s love.

"And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
Ephesians 3:18-19 (NLT)

No matter your current fears or failures, the love of God is sufficient for you. You can rest in His love today. The love of God is what makes the gospel such glorious, good news in the first place – a message worth sharing with others!

Rest in God’s love today, friend.

Respond by Loving God

In response to resting in God’s radical love for us, we overflow with love for Him! This is the greatest commandment, to love God with our all (Mark 12:30). God’s glory and goodness reveal that He is so worthy of our love. Loving Him back is the only appropriate response for all He has done!

And yet, we may find that idolatrous love of self, success, comfort, riches, or even other people can easily sneak into our hearts and crowd out our love for God. Because of this, we must be vigilant, inviting God to shine His light on our hearts and transform every part of our being, so that we can truly love Him with our all.

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Mark 12:30 (ESV)

At other times along our disciple-making journey, we may catch ourselves trying to work for God, thinking we can somehow earn His approval. But that is not what God desires! He does not want our good works or religious efforts—He wants our love (Hosea 6:6), and invites us to live and make disciples with Him.

As you rest in God’s love, think about how you can express your love back to Him. There are endless ways to do this! Perhaps you express your love through prayer or song, praising God for who He is and all He has done. At other times, you may need to express your love for God by repenting of sin and offering Him all of your life again, as a spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1).

Whatever it may look like for you today, remember that loving God is the greatest, highest, most-important command — if we keep our focus on loving Him, living a life that pleases Him will follow.

Let God’s Love Flow Through You to Others

When we rest in God’s love and respond with love for Him, that very same love overflows through us to others.

And this is how disciples are made! We overflow with the love of God to a love-starved world.

"We love because he first loved us."
1 John 4:19 (ESV)

Just as Jesus radically loves the world, laying His life down for us all, He invites His followers to sacrificially love those around us. By loving others, we give them a glimpse of the One we hope to introduce them to, the One who first loved us—Jesus.

If you’d like to learn more about how God’s love can overflow through you to others, consider taking our free Be a Disciple Maker Course online. In about an hour, you can learn how to confidently share about the love that has changed your life with others.

So, as you say “yes” to Jesus’s disciple-making call, always remember to keep love at the center—because love is the fuel of disciple making.

Rest in the love of God for you and let it overflow in love towards others.

Let this Valentine’s Day remind you to keep love at the center—not only during this season, but all year long.