In This is Love: That Our Perfect Hero Dies

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

I do not usually quote Scripture verbatim in this space, let alone a stand-alone verse without any context.  And you do not normally see impenetrable Christianese words like "propitiation" in this space either.  But with Valentine's Day being today, I felt the above definition of love, from the first epistle of the apostle John, to be apt.  

Not that there's anything wrong with mushy love, romantic love, passionate love, red hearts, chocolates, or roses.  But let these secular markers of love hearken us back to how God and the Bible define love: 

1. D-Decisive and leaving nothing incomplete or unaccomplished
2. I-Initiating and not waiting to be loved first
3. E-Extravagant and not offering less than the best
4. S-Sacrificial and not without cost

Only in the Christian narrative is love defined in that our perfect hero dies.  For us.  Let us live accordingly.