By Angie Koenig

Untitled by Sylvia Tan via Pixabay. CC0 Creative Commons

You might think I’m a cynic when it comes to love; you’d be semi-right. I’ve been a single lady my entire life and before I understood how my singleness is actually a gift, I really hated February 14th.  There are certain parts of this day that I’m still not fond of—commercials guilting people into buying their special someone things to prove their feelings—that doesn’t really do it for me. Finding love though, true love, I’m all about that.

For many of us, finding true love might seem like a pipe dream.  If you feel that way then I have some good news for you, it’s not that true love doesn’t exist, it’s that many of us go looking for it in the wrong places.  If you’re having trouble finding love in your relationships on Earth, chin up buttercup, all the way up until your eyes—and heart—are looking towards Heaven.

Heaven came to earth when God’s only Son was sent to save us, and one of the most powerful messages our Savior gives us in the Bible comes in John 15:13: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”   We know that in the turning of just a few pages, Jesus will fully prove these words, and His love for us, hanging on a cross to save us all.  

While most of us will never have to go to the extreme that Jesus did to show our love for someone, we can still live out this mission of our Savior.  To love someone means dying thousands of little deaths in your lifetime, sacrificing yourself for their benefit. We are all called to this great love, we can all lay our lives down for our friends.  When we begin to understand that love is more than what society has tried to turn it into, our hearts can be open to how marvelously beautiful our self-sacrifice is.

Dying to self means a kind and compassionate word when we would rather give someone a piece of our mind; it’s a forgiving smile to the person who cut you off in traffic. It’s the tender caress given to a sick child, a meal for a friend in their time of need, or driving out of your way to lend an ear or a helping hand.  A thousand little deaths that give life to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit stirring within us, setting the world on fire with true selfless love.

As we enter into the Lenten Season and celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day today, a man who gave his own life to witness to love, let us remember that dying to self allows room in our hearts for the love and life of the Trinity to work through us.  Agape dear friends, may your sacrifice and love bring everlasting fruit to the vineyard.  

About the Author:

Angie Koenig is a passionate follower of Jesus working her way through life as a Millennial.  She is the youngest of nine children and embraces her role as a daughter, sister, aunt and friend.  Angie blogs about her love story with Jesus at www.spirituallyspokenfor.com.  Currently she resides in Eau Claire, WI where she enjoys anything that involves coffee.