Since we just celebrated Valentine’s Day, I thought we’d talk a little about love. The first thought that comes to mind is kindness. Kindness is how we show love. Love and kindness always go together. When we are kind, we are showing love. When we are patient, we are showing love. When we speak words of encouragement, we are being kind and showing love. When we are friendly, we are being kind and showing love. When we call someone on the telephone and visit with them, we are being kind and showing love. Even sending a “thinking of you” card falls into the category of showing kindness and love. So, it seems to me that perhaps kindness is one of the purest forms of love because it includes everything that has to do with life.

However, we must realize that any acts of kindness and love on our part that are ONLY based on our good merit can be temporal or subject to change. That’s because people can change their mind quickly if they are measuring their commitment to do these things by their own merit! Doing anything in or by our own merit is doing them in our own righteousness, which is nothing but that of filthy rags (Isaish 64:6).  Not a pretty scent in the nostrils of our God! Human Beings need a deeper resolve than themselves to be continuous and consistent in showing love and kindness. We need God.

To be quite honest with you, we cannot talk about love without talking about God’s kind of love. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:8 that “God is love.” Not that He just has love but that HE IS LOVE. God showed us His love when He sent Jesus to die on the Cross for the penalty of our sins. Jesus showed us His love when He sacrificially gave His sinless life for our sinful lives (John 3:16-17). God is consistent and constant with His love for us. Malachi 3:6 tells us that God does not change. Hebrews 3:8 informs us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God’s love is everlasting. Hallelujah!

Our love must first be a commitment to God with a desire to bring glory to Him. Anything short of wanting to bring Him glory, has a basis of a self-seeking attitude that is subject to change in unpleasant circumstances. We need God in our heart so we can be constant and consistent in showing loving kindness to others.

I encourage you to consciously think and look for opportunities of how you can show God’s love and kindness to others each day.