On February 14, 2025, a Valentine’s Day Special Seminar gathered together attendees to meditate on the true understanding and knowledge of love.
Pastor Leah first brought up 3 questions, invoking attendees to reflect if they really understood love and knew how to love others. In highlighting the origin of Valentine’s Day stemming from the selfless sacrifice of Saint Valentine, the true love is explained in the Bible.
Firstly, there is a correct order of love where believers should learn from the Bible, beginning with a vertical relationship with God before extending love to others. Genesis 1:28 highlights that human relationships should be rooted in God’s love. When individuals abandon God, they often misunderstand His intentions, perceiving His guidance as a limitation on their freedom and thereby choosing to follow their own desires instead.
True love originates from God (1 John 4:8), and through Jesus Christ, believers can come to know and respond to this love. The great commandment in Matthew 22 teaches that receiving God’s love is essential before one can bear its fruits. Without this foundation, human relationships suffer, as individuals, being sinners, inevitably hurt one another and often fail to recognize love even when it is present.
Love is not merely a concept but a practice that must follow God’s order—first loving God, then loving others with His love. This principle extends even to the world, where issues such as global warming reflect a lack of true love and stewardship.
To truly understand love, one must return to the divine order, accepting it by faith and trusting in God’s guidance. Salvation serves as the restoration of God’s image within humanity, allowing individuals to recover the love that was originally intended by the Creator.
After the message was delivered, the attendees gathered for a meaningful ice-breaker activity, recollecting the instances where God’s love was revealed as well as from their loved ones. Concluding the event with reflections and a short time of prayer, the attendees received much grace and hope to keep meditating on being fruitful in love, growing deeper in the relationship of love with God and with others interpersonally.