My four-year-old son constantly wants to prove that he loves me more than I love him. He tries to measure his love by using various numbers to describe it. A few months ago, it started off with him loving me "thirty seventy hundred". It has now grown to him loving me "one million seventy!" It would seem to be a game the way we go back and forth, but I realize he is very intentional about choosing what he considers to be the biggest number. He really wants me to know just how much he loves me. It is a simple example but got me thinking of a very profound truth. Do you know how much God loves you?

God's love is unconditional. In Jeremiah 31:3 we read, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." His love for us is so great that He gave us His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in our place. Jesus paid the price for our sin. A price that we would never be able to pay on our own. In Him we have the gift of eternal life! We have been adopted into God's family and are now His children. When we receive God's love, His command is that we share that love with others.²

Today, in the United States, Valentine's day is celebrated. A day when people show their love and friendship to one another through cards, messages, flowers and gifts. However, Valentine's Day should not be the only day we show love to one another. God wants us to love others daily! In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." It is not an option to love. As Christians, it is a commandment that God has given us! God has shown us what true love is and we never have to doubt nor question how much he loves us.

I encourage you today to be intentional in how you show love for others. Not only towards your family and friends, but to all those we encounter. We may be the glimpse of Jesus they so desperately need.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, your love is incomparable and so great that my mind struggles to fathom it. Thank you for loving me with an everlasting love. I pray that you would use me to share this love with my neighbors. Please put people in my path today who need to hear of your love, kindness and forgiveness. Thank you for calling me to be your child. I love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen."

1.       1 John 3:1 (NLT).

2.       John 15:12.