by Helen Jesze 13th February 2026

Tomorrow, 14th February, is Valentine’s Day. People all over the world will be looking to see if the Post has brought them one or more Valentine cards. They may know who has sent the cards, or they may not. Perhaps a secret admirer has sent them or someone who just wants them to do some guessing! Many people will either be very glad or disappointed on this day.
Valentine’s Day is sometimes called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, however, some say its roots go back to pagan rites, especially the ritual of Lupercalia with many open sexual acts of immorality taking place.

Others say it originated as a Christian Feast Day to honour a martyr named Valentine. There are a number of stories which tell of various Saint Valentines who were martyred for their faith. One was imprisoned for ministering to Christians in the third century. Early tradition says a bishop or priest named Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer. There are claims he wrote her a letter signed “Your Valentine” as a farewell before his execution. Tradition also maintains that he performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry by the Roman emperor.

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine, many of whom were bishops in various churches and countries, but we won’t go into that now. Nowadays some of the Lutheran Church, Catholic Church and Orthodox Church have various ceremonies remembering these martyrs.

By the 14th and 15th centuries, 14th February became associated with romantic love, and by the 18th-century, it grew into an occasion for couples to express their love by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greetings cards, known as “valentines”. In later years, this has become a commercial enterprise, worldwide.
Considering Valentine’s Day got me thinking of Love and where it originally sprang from.

The Bible verse above says that “GOD IS LOVE”. It does not say He ‘has’ love, but that He IS love. If there was no Love, God would cease to exist, but that will never happen. As wonderful as the many types of Love there are, yet the greatest is God’s Agape Love for the world and every person who has ever lived and will live.

Jesus was God’s personified Love come down to Earth. His every expression, action and Word showed this Love to the people of Israel, and when He started to call God His Father, this was something unheard of to them. His love culminated in His perfect sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary to set us free from sin, and to make a way for all who believe, to live for ever in Heaven with Him.

Many of you, if not all, have taken Jesus as your personal Saviour, and we have experienced first hand in thousands of ways the wonderful love of Jesus and Father God. One of my songs says that “Jesus is the Lover of my soul”. Here are some of the characteristics of this divine Love and what our Lover has done for us:

When we are faithless, He will always prove faithful.
This Lover will never cheat on us.
He always has our good at heart and all His acts are towards that end.
When we have only known lust, He shows us a better way – the purity of his Love.

Agape Love is a healing balm for our wounds and heals our broken hearts.
When people, even family or close friends forsake us, His Love holds us fast.
Our Heavenly Lover constantly wants to communicate with us, to speak to us.
He will never bring up our past sins, but will remember them no more.

Our Lover is the Prince of Peace and will guard our hearts and minds with this peace.
When it seems we are lost in confusion, He brings us through, making the way clear.
When we are hungry and thirsty for more of Him, He will feed us with His Word
and quench our thirst with His Holy Spirit.
He has brought us out of the kingdom of darkness and death
into the Light of His presence and Kingdom of Life.

Everything stems from Him, for He is the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End.
In Him we live and move and have our very being!
He has replaced our filthy rags of sin, giving us a spotless robe of righteousness.
If we searched the whole world through, we could not find a Lover so true!

Well, my dear devotionalsjust4u!! Friends, so much more could be said about our wonderful Jesus! I don’t know if you will receive a Valentine card tomorrow. I certainly won’t, for my lover, George, has gone to Heaven. But my Heavenly Lover still remains with me and I am so grateful to be His child. One day we will see Him face to face and tell the story ‘Saved by Grace’. What a great day that will be! But until then, let’s walk closely with Him. Let’s read and obey His Loveletter – the Holy Bible – which is better than any valentine card, and hide it in our heart. Don’t forget now –

GOD IS LOVE and He loves YOU!!

His love is unlimited. He took my sinful life and changed it by the power of His Holy Spirit.
God has written the most wonderful Words – better than any valentine – His