For those of you who are currently in a romantic relationship, I hope you had a meaningful time of celebrating your relationship on Valentine’s Day (or sometime this week).
I understand that this day could feel overly commercialized in today’s culture with all the flowers, cards, chocolates, dine-outs, and other gifts, but marking a special day to express our love tangibly through gift giving, acts of service, and words of affirmation is not a bad idea.
I’m not an expert on romantic relationships by any means (just ask my wife), but I do offer marital counselling to strengthen marriages as a part of my job, and here is a go-to text for me to reference from the bible: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).
Now, the author isn’t talking about romantic relationships per se, but he imparts wisdom on what Christlike love looks like in the real world — counting the other person more significant than myself.
In a world where this idea of “you need to do what makes you happy” dominates our culture, God asserts that the most noble kind of love is where you humble yourself to look to the interest of the other and to serve the other person rather than yourself. In fact, the bible says that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another (John 15:13). Self-sacrifice marks the epitome of true love.
Whether you’ve purchased gifts or written poems to express your love for your significant other, I hope you will also demonstrate your love by counting your partner more significant than yourself.
