The Greatest Love of All

This post is by Janine Muniz.

After another Valentine’s Day, everywhere we look are chocolate hearts, little bandit bears claiming they have stolen the heart of the recipient are on clearance, and that little flying diaper-wearing boy, who threatened us with heart-shaped quivered arrows returned home. Then there was “Galentine’s Day,” an Anti-Valentine’s Day, where romcoms and sips of wine were enjoyed with one’s single friends which gave them a way to create fond memories. . 

It was a day I would utter “bah humbug” despite its appearance being more suited for Christmas time. Why must it be that one day a year that love for one another is expressed, whether through gift or affirmation? These pondering sometimes left me feeling lonely, the opposite of what most people feel on this day. Little did I know I did not have to feel this way.   

My feelings of loneliness were not necessary. There was something I overlooked. Aside from the love we share with a significant other, family, and friends, I realized there was a love that surpassed them all. It is the love we receive from our heavenly Father. It being the greatest love of all: Agape Love. In its original Greek, Agape means the fatherly love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God. It is a love shared between us and God. What makes it different from earthly love is, it is not something we earn through our words or actions. He has chosen us to receive this fulfilling love and gives it to us freely and unconditionally.

1 John 4:10 reads, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  In other words, we do not deserve this love that God gives us, and He does not accept our reciprocation of that love. What joy it brings to our hearts that our Father would love us this way! How fortunate we are to love someone as great as our God.

This epiphany of my heart changed the way I looked at not only Valentine’s Day but love itself. While I share different forms of love in my lifetime, none will fill up my heart other than the love that God gives to me. 

This year I wasn’t as grumpy as I usually was on Valentine’s Day. Instead, I looked to Jesus’s example in living out Agape Love. Out of love for me, and all of us, God sacrificed His Son. Jesus had every opportunity to abandon the plan He was asked to complete. However, He followed the directive from our Father, knowing that His death on the cross would illustrate not only the love the Father has for us, but also the love felt for humanity.   

So, if your Valentine’s was a little lackluster, don’t fret. You will always have a special valentine. God, our eternal valentine.

How have you experienced Agape love in your life?

Janine Muniz has an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) and is working on her first novel. She has written anecdotal stories and opinion pieces on different topics when she was a writer for SNHU Odyssey, a student-run writer’s platform and featured on Sweatpants & Coffee. When she’s not setting her newest idea to paper, Janine is a planner enthusiast, loving all things kawaii. She lives in a full house with her three boys, two cats, and two dogs in Ronkonkoma, NY.

Photo by Rinck Content Studio on Unsplash