{"id":1155,"date":"2019-02-16T06:16:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T11:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2019-03-04T07:13:05","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T12:13:05","slug":"ctpress-february-15-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/2019\/02\/16\/ctpress-february-15-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"CTPress February 15, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I <strong><em>am <\/em><\/strong>writing this on Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am not a big fan of this \u201choliday.\u201d The idea of Valentine\u2019s Day is to make sure we tell our significant other that we love them. That\u2019s not a bad thing; goodness knows we need more love in this world. The problem, though, is that it seems to all come down to money (like many things). We give cards, gifts, chocolates; we go to dinner, maybe the movies, and maybe even a romantic getaway. There is no doubt that Valentine\u2019s Day has a positive economic effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the emotional effect can be something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People are imperfect, and along the way, we have all disappointed someone we love. None of us are exempt from that. This can have the effect of leaving some people questioning the entire concept of loving others. And for those who are single during Valentine\u2019s Day, the emphasis on couplehood leaves some people feeling more alone than ever.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are questioning your value or worth, if you are wondering if you are lovable or if anyone cares about you, I want to be absolutely clear about something: The answer is, \u201cYES!\u201d You are loved, and you are cared for. There is one who loves better than all of us, and he loves us without condition, and he does not disappoint. Notice how these scriptures describe God\u2019s love:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><em>For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)<\/em><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><em> But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)<\/em><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><em> Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35)<\/em><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><em> Therefore, as God\u2019s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)<\/em><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><em> This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)<\/em><\/strong><\/li><li><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is just a sample. There are over 600 other occurrences of the word, \u201clove\u201d in scripture, and most them are about how God loves us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friends, know that you are completely and perfectly loved by One who will never stop loving you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Happy Valentine\u2019s Day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">-Pastor John Bethard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friends, know that you are completely and perfectly loved by One who will never stop loving you. Happy Valentine&#8217;s Day! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/2019\/02\/16\/ctpress-february-15-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/FeaturePics-Single-Heart-Shape-Cross-Bitum031057-171118.jpg?fit=2816%2C2112&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1157,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions\/1157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ctpres.org\/ctpressblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}