Stop Jesus Juking Valentine's Day!

Christians, please stop Jesus juking Valentine’s Day! 

It’s okay, I promise you, Jesus will still love you even if you don’t call him your valentine. I hear so many Christians, every year on Valentine’s Day, justifying their celebration of the holiday with phrases like, “Jesus is my ultimate Valentine!” or “God’s love is all I need!” and the especially terrible one, “I don’t need a person! God is my valentine!”

I am by no means against celebrating Valentine’s Day. I think it’s a great day that can be used to be intentional about showing the people around you love. I just wish people would act like they do on Valentine’s Day on a regular basis (but that’s another rant for another day). But there is nothing wrong with celebrating Valentine’s Day. But so many Christians act like there is! It’s like they feel guilty for celebrating a secular holiday or something and so they try to justify it by Jesus juking it. As if they have to remind everyone else that sure, we may show love to other people on Valentine’s Day, but we especially remember how much God loves us.

Most of the time this is done by single Christians trying to appear satisfied with their singleness. “I don’t need a person to be my Valentine! I have Jesus!” I am glad you have Jesus in your life. I am glad you realize he loves you more than anyone else ever could. But for goodness sake, stop using Jesus as a mask to cover up the fact that you are clearly not happy with your singleness! If you were really satisfied with being single, you wouldn’t feel the need to constantly remind people that you don’t need a significant other anyways. You might actually feel at peace with wanting, but just waiting, for the right person to come along. Not to mention, if you want to focus on Jesus’ love, why are you only calling him your valentine and talking about how much you love him on the holiday?

It is unfair to God to use him as a substitute for someone else. God is not a substitute for a valentine. God is love! God is not the person you go to because you couldn’t find anyone else. He deserves much higher authority and respect in your life than to be remembered once a year on a holiday that makes you feel lonely. Maybe if you tried to love God as much as you do on Valentine’s Day, you wouldn’t feel as lonely when the holiday came around once a year. Don’t make God a substitute for a person. Love God first and foremost in your life and then if someone else comes along, great! But don’t treat God like a substitute! You should have a relationship with God and place him at the center of all your relationships. Don’t pencil him into your life once a year on Valentine’s Day so you can call someone your valentine. Love God and let him love you every day of the year, not just on Valentine’s Day.

It’s okay if Jesus isn’t your Valentine. Because God is so much bigger than that! He is so much bigger than a title that lasts for a day. He is so much bigger than a name that infatuated people give to someone they may not even be with the rest of their life. His love is deep and high and wide and long. Jesus doesn’t need to be your Valentine because he wants to be so much more than that in your life. It’s not wrong to use Valentine’s Day to remember God, who is love, and how much he has done for us. I am not saying that’s wrong! But don’t cheapen the role that God is able to play in your life by only focusing on his love once a year. God doesn’t have to be your valentine because he is your God! He is your father, your provider, your protector, your deliverer, your friend, your savior, your everything! And certainly, don’t feel guilty for celebrating Valentine’s Day.  It’s okay to show love to a person too. When God is at the center of your life and you are focusing on him in your everyday, you won’t feel so guilty for taking a day to focus on another person as well.

Make God your center, love him every day of the year, and stop Jesus juking Valentine’s Day!

(Also, 1 Corinthians 13 is about exercising love when using spiritual gifts. It’s a painful exhortation to the Corinthian church, please stop making it a fluffy, gooey, touchy, feely passage about loving your significant other and take it for what it is meant to be: a reminder of how to love to body of Christ every day!)