Be Mine!
A Valentine’s Devotion

by Jane L. Fryar

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“I am the LORD your God. . . . You are my people.” Isaiah 51:15–16

Remember Valentine’s sweet hearts? No, not your seventh grade crush or high school prom date. I’m talking about those pastel candy hearts with messages printed on them, messages like
Cutie Pie;
You’re Swell;
The less-than-romantic, My Pal;
And the ever-popular, Kiss Me!

Remember agonizing over candy hearts as you chose just the right message to drop into the pencil holder on that special fifth grader’s desk, and then waiting and waiting and waiting for him or her to return to find it, read it, and guess you were the one who put it there?

Be Mine! How long has it been since someone hid that message in a prominent place on your desk, or workbench, or pillow? Be mine, Valentine! In the daylight of grown-up reality, the words sound like hopeless twaddle. We left them behind when we left fifth grade.

Or did we? Do human beings ever outgrow the need to belong, the need to have our lives matter to someone we respect, admire, love? Psychologists say no. Sociologists say no. Our own hearts—if we stop to listen to them, listen honestly—say no, and Scripture agrees.

Well over 100 times the Lord through the prophet Isaiah uses the term “my people.” The other prophets follow suit. How the Lord’s heart longed to draw to himself each individual who heard this message! How he longs to draw us to himself as well—and not just at Valentine’s Day.

Be mine!  Hear our Lord’s invitation, an invitation from his heart to your heart. He means it! He wants you to know his love—to know it intellectually, yes, but also to know it experientially. He wants you to feel it and to revel in the security it brings.

Still, when we pause to consider, we realize how unworthy we truly are to receive this invitation, this love. In truth, we do not deserve it, and we never will deserve it. Even on our best days we have loved God only halfheartedly. We have offered up thoughtless or lukewarm prayers (when we’ve remembered to pray!). We have ignored opportunities to show love to other people or have acted to help them only when we knew we might receive credit or gain prestige by doing so.

Be Mine! When we stop to consider our attitudes and actions, we start to wonder whether God really means what he has said. Can he truly have printed your name and mine on the envelope that carries this invitation?

Yes. He has. He did. His own Son, Jesus Christ, stretched out his arms on Calvary’s cross in a love that embraced all of us, each of us! Christ on Calvary, arms outstretched, bled and died so that our Father could call us “my people”—my sons, my daughters, forgiven and treasured in Jesus. Love like that takes our breath away. Love like that transforms our lukewarm love for others, making it burn more brightly and consistently.

“Be Mine!” says our Lord. “Yes!” we respond in the love his love has kindled.

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Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bile, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossways Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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