“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Hebrews 13:4
Today is Valentine’s Day! And I thought it would be good for us to take a closer look at why we observe this holiday, especially considering all the foolishness and perversity that surrounds our modern celebration. Is Valentine’s Day worth celebrating as Christians? Celebrations are important. The antithesis between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of heaven is present in the way we observe every holiday. As Christians we should always know why we celebrate the things we do. To start, we must find out…. Who was Valentine?
Interestingly, the information we have about Valentine is scant and varied. If we filter out many of the unsubstantiated legends at a minimum it appears that Valentine was a late third century priest during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Typical of the Caesars Claudius was cruel, unpopular, and had difficulty populating his army. Claudius believed marriage was the problem, so he outlawed marriage in the empire hoping to renew interest in soldiering.
Valentine understood the importance of marriage to the church and in violation of the emperor’s law continued to marry Christian couples. It was for this, for boldly preaching the gospel to the emperor and for aiding persecuted Christians, that he was beaten with clubs and beheaded on February 14th. Sounds like an awesome hero of the faith to me!
Marriage is always under attack by the enemies of the gospel. The enemy knows how important godly marriages are to the health and prosperity of the church and the advancement of the kingdom of heaven. Valentine stands as a great defender of marriage and a witness to the truth of Hebrews 13:4.
It is for this reason that we have chosen February as Marriage and Family month at CCM. We encourage everyone to see Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to support, celebrate, and promote biblical marriage and family in our culture. Of course, it’s also a wonderful day for married couples to rejoice in their own spouses and celebrate the gift of their own marriage. So, yes, absolutely, Valentine’s Day is a worthy day for Christians to celebrate. And in celebrating it biblically we silence the ungodly noise of the world around us.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn