Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day--a special day for romance that was created to honor Saint Valentine, the patron saint of love, young people and happy marriages. One can't help but think of Romeo and Juliet in this instance. For those who fall into the "Love Stinks" camp, Saint Valentine was eventually beaten, stoned to death and beheaded for marrying young Christians and spreading Christianity.

Romeo and Juliet's romance ended tragically as well. Romeo, thinking Juliet was dead when she was asleep, committed suicide by poisoning himself. Juliet, upon waking up and discovering Romeo had killed himself, took her own life too with a daggar to the heart.

Jesus loved like no other on this earth and he was beaten, humilated and nailed to a cross.

What is the moral of the story here?

That Love stinks? No.

Faith

Saint Valentine had love and faith. Christ had love and faith. Those who persecuted them did not.

Romeo and Juliet had tremendous romantic love but they were weak in faith in the end.

"Where there is love, there is God also"

-- Leo Tolstoy

Great love requires great faith. If you want the love that can move mountains, it requires the faith that can move mountains. No matter how good and well-intentioned one is, we are all human and we will eventually disappoint and hurt the ones we love. Having a strong faith will give us the necessary forgiveness and patience. And being a true follower of Christ will guide in love because He was the greatest example of the love we will ever know.

Finally, love is not an emotion or feeling, love is a decision. God gave us free will, we can choose to love or not. A person's level of faith will be the greatest determinant of their ability to love. Apostle Paul told us the importance of love.

• Corinthians 13:13: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
• Corinthians 13:2: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Love can be fatal as the examples noted above. But there are many other things that one can die from. Just remember who will be remembered most.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day

© Michael J. Cox

Take Thou: Faith

Life can be difficult at times. We all experience anxieties and stress periodically. We all desire a stress-free, easy life filled with happiness. Guess what? Life is never going to be this way. It wasn't supposed to:

"We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God." -- Acts 14:22

And Thank God for it.

If you didn't have some bad days, how would you be able to appreciate the really great days of your life? If we weren't tested, how well would we ever know our Lord? How would we be able to prove our love for Him?

When we experience tough times in life, don't let it push you away from Christ.

• Romans 8:35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

The purpose of going through tough times is prove our faith and to build spiritual maturity:

• James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

So be careful not to fall into Satan's pit:

• Luke 21:34:"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.

As a pharmacist, I dispense plenty of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills. I believe that they are good for short-term use and for acute phases of depression and anxiety. But reliance and dependence upon them are unnecessary for most people and they can potentially be addictive. All drugs have side-effects. So don't let earthly things replace God and what He can do for you.

When you are stressed and full of anxiety or depression, you need to strengthen your Faith.

• Matthew 13:22: "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful."

We have something better than any prescription sleeping pill, his name is Jesus Christ.

• Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

We have something more powerful than any Valium tablet:

• 1 Peter 5:7: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.


• Philippians 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Feel down and out, depressed, or unable to function?

• Psalm 55:22: Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
• Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

When we have strong faith, we will have great Hope. Hope stands for: Helping Other People Endure

Christ gives us hope. Heaven and eternal life gives us hope. Show this hope to others.

When we have strong faith and hope, we can love others more.

What does Love stand for? Loss Of Valuable Energy

Losing Valuable Energy is necessary because LOVE is what makes the world go around as they say. We need to give this "valuable energy" to others in order to make room to receive valuable energy. Otherwise, we become spiritually constipated and eventually will become unhappy.

Getting through life is all: Faith, Hope and Love:

Faith is what gets you started.

Hope is what keeps you going.

Love is what brings you to the end.

~ Mother Angelica

In the Pharmacy industry, you'll often see the Rx symbol on signs and preprinted on prescription blanks. Rx is an abbreviation for the Latin word "Recipere" which literally means: Take Thou

So in life's trying times,

Rx: Faith

And Faith stands for, Forsaking All I Trust Him

Peace be with you,

© Michael J. Cox