As Valentine’s Day approaches, our culture turns its attention to love. Store shelves fill with cards and candy. Restaurants fill with couples. Social media fills with carefully chosen words and images meant to express affection.
Love, at least this time of year, feels warm and easy.
But this week I’ve been reminded of another kind of love — a love that isn’t sentimental, isn’t simple, and certainly isn’t easy.
It’s hard to miss how divided our world feels. Even moments that are meant to entertain or bring people together can quickly become lines in the sand. Conversations escalate. Opinions harden. Labels get assigned. Before long, it feels as though we’re being asked to choose sides in conflicts we didn’t even go looking for.
And into a world like that, Jesus says something startling:
“Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) He goes on: “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Matthew 5:46). Kingdom love is different. It crosses boundaries. It refuses to mirror hostility.
Paul echoes the same call: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14). “Repay no one evil for evil” (Romans 12:17). “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
This does not mean pretending differences don’t matter. It means refusing to let anger rule our hearts. “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you” (Ephesians 4:31). “Let your gentleness be evident to all” (Philippians 4:5).
Why? Because every person bears God’s image (Genesis 1:27), and because this is how Christ has loved us. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return” (1 Peter 2:23). On the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34).
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
So perhaps this Valentine’s Day, we practice a harder kind of love. We pray for someone who irritates us. We speak with kindness where we could speak with sharpness. We refuse to reduce people to positions. We “pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Romans 14:19).
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly” (1 Peter 4:8).
In a divided world, that kind of love will stand out. And it will look like Jesus.