Shortly after Christmas, the stores cleared the shelves, put left-over Christmas items on sale, and restocked for Valentine’s Day. If you took a casual stroll down any number of aisles, you would find yourself surrounded by the symbols of love: candy, cards, flowers, and hearts.

Capital One Shopping Research reported that “consumer spending on Valentine’s Day 2024 totaled $25.8 billion.” The site also stated that “over 140 million Americans shop for Valentine’s Day.” That is a lot of people spending a lot of money to show their love to one another. But can the real symbols of love be purchased from a store shelf? Are there some things that money can’t buy? Can expensive gifts serve as substitutes for true love?

Maybe in addition to candy, cards, flowers, and hearts, the real symbols of love for one another could be respect, kindness, and courtesy. These would have a much longer shelf life and are much more appreciated.

Actions and attitudes that flow out of true love are really difficult to resist. Like the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:23: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” they endear us to one another (NLT). When that love is genuine, that love will last.

In Romans 12:9-10, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”

What does it really mean to love like that? How is genuine affection demonstrated in real time?

For the answer to those questions, we would have to go to I Corinthians 13:4-7. This is what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about real love.

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

Those verses describe real love, true love, genuine love. But that kind of love seems impossible. We exclaim, “Even if I wanted to, I could never love like that. I don’t have the capacity to love like that. I just don’t have it within me.”

The truth is, none of us have it within us until we realize how much God loves us. Once we experience His love, then we cannot help but love like that. His love becomes a part of our spiritual DNA; it shapes who we are. We become a new creation in Him.

I John 4:16 tells us that “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” Verse 19 of that same chapter reads, “We love each other because he (God) loved us first.”

God demonstrated His love for us by sending “his only begotten Son” to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins (John 3:16). That is love! Then He sent His Holy Spirit to live within us. With God living in us, He fills us with His love, so we can love as He loves.

I John 4:7 states: “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.”

Happy belated Valentine’s Day!

Rev. James R. Pentz, assistant pastor, New Covenant Assembly of God, 1270 Pinchtown Road, Montgomery