Valentine was a priest in Rome in the third century. During his time, Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families. The emperor outlawed marriage for young men to preserve his potential crop of soldiers.

Realizing the injustice of the decree, Valentine defied Emperor Claudius. He continued to perform marriages of young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, Emperor Claudius ordered that Valentine be put to death.

In 498 AD, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 to be St. Valentine’s Day to honor the memory of this man who stood for marriage.

There is no love without sacrifice. Those who truly love know this is a fact. We cannot pursue our own desires and priorities oblivious to the desires and priorities of the ones we love. To truly love is to lay down our lives, which includes our desires, ways, plans, hopes and dreams for the desires, ways, plans, hopes and dreams of the ones we love.

Paul gives us an incredible image in Ephesians 5:25-27. What did Christ do for His bride, the church? He laid down His life. “For God  LOVED the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life”  (John 3:16 NLT).

We now live in a day of great attack upon marriage. We must stand up for love that is pure, holy, perfect in God’s sight, and flowing through our lives every moment of every day. And we must be daily grateful for the love that our Heavenly Father lavished upon us through a manger, a cross, and an empty tomb.