We often associate February with hues of pinks and reds, heart symbols, and chocolates. Valentine’s Day is a time when love is celebrated. So many look at cupid with his arrows or heart symbols as a representation of love. However, I’d like to draw attention to another symbol that represents love.

The other day, I took my little girl to a little girls’ accessory shop because she has recently had good behavior at school. I wanted to reward her. I told her she had a limit on the things she could get from the store. She went around and around the store before she zoned in on a pair of clip-on cross earrings. Right in the middle of the store, she started saying (rather loudly), “I want these Jesus Christ earrings!” How was I going to argue with that? We put the cross earrings on the counter and paid for them. She walked joyfully to the car to show her dad. Later that night, she was snuggled up next to me watching TV and out of nowhere she asks me, “Mom, did Jesus die on the cross for us?” I told her “Yes, he did.” She then asked, “Did the soldiers hurt Jesus?” “Yes, baby, they did,” I replied. “Well, Mom, why do we like the cross if it hurt Jesus?” That question hit me in the gut. But, I tried to explain to her in terms that she could understand that what Christ did for us on the cross was and is the greatest act of love in the history of mankind.

If you lived in Roman times, I highly doubt that you’d find many people (if any) wearing a cross symbol around their neck. Crucifixions were brutal and torturous. The very act of crucifixion was designed to cause maximum pain for a prolonged period of time. Victims would suffer a slow and torturous death while their hands and feet were nailed to a wooden cross. It’s not at all how people of that time period would describe anything loving. If anything, the act was filled with hatred. However, when Christ willingly laid down His life for us, He did so out of love. He knew that He would need to suffer and die for our sins so that we could experience true freedom. But, He overcame the cross and grave by rising again on the third day. Like my grandfather used to say, “He didn’t stay dead!” No longer are we bound to sin and shame. His act of love defeated death, hell, and the grave. We have a future and a hope—not just in this life, but throughout eternity. Christ’s death on the cross wasn’t pretty. It was painful. It was beyond agonizing. But, He gave us the greatest gift so that we could experience true love. The cross to the believer is the most beautiful symbol of love because it represents the love that Christ had (and has) for us. Before we knew love, we were loved by a Savior.

^{1 John 4:19}

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.