Love Series | “Eros”
Happy Valentine's Day! Did you know that the first Valentine Day celebration occurred in Paris? How many million greeting cards would you guess will be exchanged today? My research comes up with 145 million. Does it surprise you that 20 per cent of pet owners give Valentine Day gifts to their pets? Legend has it that St. Valentine was a Roman Priest who performed weddings for soldiers forbidden to marry because of a Roman Emperors edict decreeing married soldiers did not make good warriors and thus young men could not marry. In an effort to signal single soldiers that he could help them St. Valentine wore a ring.
Whether any of that is true the St. Valentine story set the groundwork for establishing the day as a holiday for romantic love. I can't imagine that any of that legendary story comes into play today when you give gorgeous flowers and a romantic card to your Valentine.
This beautiful day is the perfect place to introduce into our conversation the second Greek word for love - EROS or romantic love. The Biblical meaning of EROS is the passionate healthy physical expression of sexual love between a husband and wife. While the word EROS is not used in the Bible the concept is there.
God created two perfect people Adam and Eve to be united and become one flesh (Gen. 2:24). I love the humorous observation that Adam is the only man who fell asleep single and woke up married. Jesus affirmed the concept of marriage in Math 19:5 when he said, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. Paul adds his affirmation to marriage in Eph 5:33 "Each one of you must also love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband".
I am aware that today is not a happy day for those with painful life experiences from romantic relationships. And I would not suggest there are easy answers for your pain but I do know that God will never leave you or forsake you.
Joan and I just celebrated 57 years of marriage in January. Not a perfect marriage but it is strong.
Modeling EROS love is the most powerful witness you can give to a confused hurting world.
And that's Hope on the Rise for now!
