{"id":1856,"date":"2016-02-11T02:46:25","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T08:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focuspressblog.com\/?p=1856"},"modified":"2016-02-11T02:46:25","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T08:46:25","slug":"phony-love-valentines-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/02\/11\/phony-love-valentines-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The Phony Love of Valentine&#8217;s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u2019s that time of year again, when businesses pull on the heart strings of couples to buy cards, chocolates, flowers, or jewelry\u2014Valentine\u2019s Day. This annual holiday is often symbolized with hearts and images of \u201cCupid\u201d shooting his arrow\u2014but the real symbol of this special day is the almighty dollar.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Last year, American consumers spent $18.9 billion dollars on Valentine\u2019s Day gifts for their loved ones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I love my wife\u2014and I don\u2019t need some marketing ploy to guilt me into purchasing flowers or chocolates. In fact, I enjoy buying her special treats and gifts when she is not expecting it, just because I want her to know I love her all the time\u2014not just when society indicates it\u2019s Cupid\u2019s turn for our wallet. Those who have been to our house know it is not uncommon to see fresh flowers in the kitchen all throughout the year\u2014not just in February. So this is not the rant of some guy who refuses to buy gifts for his wife.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">No, instead this is a rant that Christians start looking at love from a biblical perspective rather than a Hollywood version. Hollywood and those profiting from Valentine\u2019s business want the general public to view love as a mushy feeling that causes someone to feel warm and fuzzy inside. But real love is an action. Listen to the Biblical definition:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">Love\u00a0is patient, love is kind\u00a0<i>and<\/i>\u00a0is not jealous; love does not brag\u00a0<i>and<\/i>\u00a0is not\u00a0arrogant,<\/span><b> <\/b><span class=\"s1\">does not act unbecomingly; it\u00a0does not seek its own, is not provoked,\u00a0does not take into account a wrong\u00a0<i>suffered<\/i>,\u00a0does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but\u00a0rejoices with the truth;\u00a0bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Want to really spoil your wife? How about obeying the command that Paul wrote, \u201cHusbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,\u00a0that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word\u201d (Ephesians 5:25-26). Notice it doesn\u2019t say to love your wife if she cooks your favorite meal or if it is Valentine\u2019s Day. We are <b>commanded<\/b> to love our wives. Furthermore, how many of us are actually washing our wives with the water of the word? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Want another Biblical wake up call? Read Titus 2:4 \u201cthat they [older women-BH] admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children.\u201d Did you catch that? Older women are to teach younger women to love their husbands. Why? According to the view the media presents \u201clove\u201d is something you \u201cfall into\u201d if you wear the right perfume, clothing, or drive the right car, right? Yet, the Bible is commanding older women to teach younger women to love their husbands. Want to know why? Because friends, love is an action that requires work. Sometimes your husband may not be very lovable, and it is in those moments when older women are to instruct how to love him anyway! That\u2019s real love. It is easy to love someone who loves you back or who is kind to you. But what about someone who is having a rough month, is sick, or knows all your faults?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Hollywood would not like the real picture of love, because the picture painted by Scripture is a selfless love. The beautiful picture we are given is Christ and the church, and the text reminds us that Christ gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25). Real love is about lifelong commitment\u2014not some short-term fling that you can announce on Twitter in an effort to gain attention. And real love is about loyalty. Jesus Christ would never cheat on His bride, the church. And we are to follow His example.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Yes, Valentine\u2019s Day is coming. Isn\u2019t it time we demonstrate to our spouses and children what real love is all about? Take some time to read together Ephesians 5, Song of Solomon, 1 Corinthians 13, and Titus 2. It\u2019s way past time for our children to understand what real love is all about, and not base their relationships on some phony Hollywood version. Yes, I may shell out $5-8 on a card, and I may even purchase a special gift for my wife this year. But my real gift to her is what I\u2019m trying to do the other 364 days in the year\u2014and that is to love her the way Christ loves the church.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>By Brad Harrub, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s that time of year again, when businesses pull on the heart strings of couples to buy cards, chocolates, flowers, or jewelry\u2014Valentine\u2019s Day. This annual holiday is often symbolized with hearts and images of \u201cCupid\u201d shooting his arrow\u2014but the real symbol of this special day is the almighty dollar.\u00a0 Last year, American consumers spent $18.9 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,52,26],"tags":[145,68,25,284,765],"class_list":["post-1856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-family","category-marriagehomosexuality","tag-brad","tag-love","tag-marriage","tag-relationships","tag-valentines-day","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Phony Love of Valentine&#039;s Day - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/02\/11\/phony-love-valentines-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Phony Love of Valentine&#039;s Day - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s that time of year again, when businesses pull on the heart strings of couples to buy cards, chocolates, flowers, or jewelry\u2014Valentine\u2019s Day. 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