February 14 is marked as Valentine’s Day but why do people celebrate this occasion? According to factmonster.com, Valentine’s Day was adopted from a pagan festival. The holiday's roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Pope Gelasius I recast this pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine's Day. Which St. Valentine this early pope intended to honor remains a mystery but according to one of the legends, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death.

But did you know that the bible is against pagan festivities? In 1 Corinthians 10:20 (New International Version) it reads:

No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

On the other hand, love should not only be celebrated in one time of the year but should always be present in our lives. In 1 Corinthians 14:1 (The Message), it reads:

Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him. But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you're letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you.

This love does not only refer to the love that we give to our loved ones but also the love for others. Proclaiming the truth and letting others know the truth is the best love that we can offer. But what is this truth all about? The truth means the teachings or the words of God as written in John 17:17 (The Easy-to-Read New Testament):

Make them ready for your service through your truth. Your teaching is truth.

Written by:
gURBI