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It's the day after Valentine's Day.

The best thing about the day after Valentine's Day is getting into a duel with your best girl friends to see who can come up with the cheesiest pick-up line.

Did you hear any good ones yesterday?

But seriously, I probably would have said "Yes" to Greg if he ever did this:

Happy Friday, ya'll :)

Happy  Valentine’s Day  everyone! 

Our very own Dr. Liederbach has written today's post about one of the traditions surrounding the man for whom the day is named. Read on and remember the true spirit of our Father's Love. 

Rearranging Our Focus

Church Tradition records that in the year 269 or 270 AD (the historical record is unclear of the exact year) a young man living in the Roman empire saw something that changed his life – and influenced western Christianity for close to 1800 years.

While not a Christian himself and uncertain of his own beliefs, this young man saw something profound and intriguing in the lives of his Christian friends.  The mere fact that his friends where Christian made them objects of state-sanctioned wrath and persecution under the emperor Claudius. And yet, even while persecuted for their faith, their love and devotion toward one another and toward him was astonishing. 

Honored by their friendship, and intrigued by their faith, this young man voluntarily aided his Christian friends to such an extent that even though not a Christ follower himself, he also was eventually imprisoned.

It was there, while he was alone and afraid in a Roman jail, that his Christian friends visited him and this young man – whose name was Valentine - finally understood and embraced the Christian gospel.

It was not long after his conversion that the Roman officials presented Valentine with a choice: recant your faith and be freed or refuse and suffer the consequences. He refused.
As tradition would have it, he was then clubbed to death on February 14^th. 

Before he died, however, he is said to have sent a message to his Christian friends saying: “Remember your Valentine... I love you”

Source Unknown

Ultimately, no one is quite sure of the exact details of the origination of the Valentine’s day tradition, but one thing that is sure is that a Christian by the name of Valentine was martyred for his faith in the year 269 or 270.

The truly curious thing, however, is that a day originally meant to commemorate the simple, yet stunning faith of a Christian believer willing to sacrifice his life instead of denying his faith has been reduced to a day that commemorates trivial crushes with heart shaped candies and a rather strange, almost naked, bow and arrow toting, pagan Greek god named Cupid. 

Sadly, the pure message of the life-altering good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead as a way to offer payment for our sins and enable a new life based on faith in God and his promises has become little more than a holiday that serves as a litmus test of puppy love.  

Perhaps this Valentine day, amidst the heart flowers, cards, and guilt motivated purchase of candy, it might be a blessing to take a moment with your sweetheart and consider the real meaning of this special day.

Why would Valentine die for his faith? 

Perhaps Romans 5:8 holds the answer.  It is because “God demonstrates His love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

And that kind of love is so compelling, so stunning, so simple that when we “get it” it is worth living for… and it is worth dying for.

That makes a lot more sense than trying to get a diaper clad puny god to shoot a love arrow at one’s latest crush.

Picture from http://www.sxc.hu

Dr. Liederbach is a professor of Theology, Ethics, and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the Dean of Students, Vice President for Student Services, and a research fellow for the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture. His official short bio reads, "Sinner. Worse than you. Saved by grace."

Happy Monday, SEBTS ladies!  We are so excited to have Marlana Branning as our guest blogger today.  It is the month of LOVE, and we just said a few posts ago that we are going to talk about LOVE in some form or fashion ALL MONTH LONG. So in the spirit of LOVE, we asked one of our favorite SEBTS gals to post on this wonderful topic.  Here's the catch...it's not a typical post on LOVE. We don't want to spoil the fun, so read on to hear what our sweet southern girl has to say about the four letter word. 

It’s that time of year again: the time of year where L-O-V-E is in the air.

If you are single, you probably fall into one of two categories in the month of February. The first category is what I like to call the Bitter Betty category.

You might be a Bitter Betty if:

• You call Valentines day, “Single Awareness Day”.

• You roll your eyes more this month than any other time of year.

• You declare to everyone you know that you are going to “skip” the holiday this year and pretend it never existed.

• You gain more weight this time of year because you eat a pound of chocolate every other day.

• You are a self proclaimed “Single Independent Woman who needs no man!”

…you get the idea…

The other category you may fall into is what I like to call Sappy Suzie.

You might be a Sappy Suzie if:

• You watch every single sappy chick-flick ever known to man in the entire month of February.

• You ‘Ooo’ and ‘Ahh’ over every cute couple that walks by.

• You make it known to everyone how you wish you had a date for Valentine’s Day.

• You cry and wallow in self-pity all month wishing you had a honey to shower you with gifts.

• You have an entire fantasy in your head of what life is going to be like when your dream guy steps into your life, sees you for the first time, and falls madly in love with you

…you get the idea…

If I’m honest, I have fit into both of these categories throughout different seasons of my life. BUT, I am starting to question if there is another option. Do we have to fit into one of these two categories as godly single women?

I want to suggest that we need to look for something different this February. And really, it’s not that we need to look for something, it’s that we need to look for someone. My challenge is for us to look for a Single Satisfaction in our Savior Jesus.

Jesus states in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Why would we ever want anything but Jesus? He should be our single satisfaction. Those who come to Him shall never thirst or hunger again. I don’t know about you, but I want some of that!

In John 4, we see this same imagery of thirst when Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well. He tells her in verses 13 and 14, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

You see, Jesus satisfies us for eternity. It isn’t just a temporary thing. Relationships come and go. People disappoint us. Things disappoint us. But Jesus…He satisfies for eternity.

Louie Giglio said this at a Passion Conference:

“I want to invite you tonight to run with everything you’ve got into the embrace of Jesus Christ, to know that He will meet you there, to taste and see that the Lord is good, and to unite your heart to His in a love affair with the King of all creation, because here’s why… Our satisfaction and God’s glory are the same thing. Your satisfaction [means] God doing something in you that no one else can do. [It is] you getting what you need – you getting connected to God, filled, blessed, healed, restored, redeemed, alive, freed, put your own words around it…God is into you. You should be into God. And when you get into the God who’s inviting you to be into Him, you will then become satisfied in Him. Then He’ll be the thing glorified in your life.”

My question for us is this: Is God being glorified in and through your life based on your satisfaction in Him?

Whether you are a Bitter Betty or a Sappy Suzie, I want you to examine your heart. Where are you trying to put your satisfaction? Are you trying to satisfy the desires of your heart with a relationship? Are you trying to be satisfied by the fantasies of your mind? Are you looking for satisfaction in the fact that you are too independent to need anyone?

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” –John Piper

Marlana is an online student at SEBTS. She is currently working on her M.Div. in Women’s Studies. She is a Girls Ministry Director to Middle High and College age girls in a church in GA. She loves driving down country roads, going to the beach, and loving on her nieces and nephew. Her passion is teaching, discipling, and loving on teenage girls. Marlana is also the founder, administrator, and editor for OurSinglePurpose.com.

Sometimes we plan things and things go nothing like we planned! This summer has been case and point for that type of planning! 

I decided in April that I was going to move home for the summer and live with my parents so that I could serve at my home church and live life with the students there while they are out of school. I had been home for the summer a couple years back and mostly served my family and worked in our home, due to health issues with my mother. But this summer, I was going to take care of that ahead of time! I planned it all out, sat down with my parents, and asked them if I could live at home for the summer and their home be my base to serve out of. I made clear that I would not be at home as much as previous summers, and I would be able to help some, but that would not be my primary task for the summer. Can you see where this is going?! Looking back this is quite humorous! It must have been to my Heavenly Father who sees the whole timeline of our lives.

Within a few days of being home for the summer, I began to see that I was going to be serving my family more than I had originally anticipated. I was pretty okay with this at first.  That next week, I would have a whole week to myself to jump start my summer of ministry while my parents were away at the beach. Then one afternoon, my grandmother called and was headed to the hospital because she was really sick. Everything changed at that point, including my attitude! My plans had been thrown out the window! And without asking me!!  My first step of progress was to tell a friend, “I realize this is what God had planned for this week of my summer, but I DON’T LIKE IT!” 

Such honesty in the face of God’s Word quickly humbled me. I was aware of God’s loving discipline to his children for sinful attitudes of self-centeredness and complaining. God began to patiently teach me of his plans for me.  

Has my desire been to truly serve God or to tell God how I want to serve him?  To truly serve God is not writing out a description and restrictions on how I will serve him. 

My summer has not been what I’ve expected, but what great truth God has taught me about what serving God truly is! I have still been able to invest in the students’ lives like I had hoped, but that has been through real life-on-life discipleship. Those girls have seen my struggles and my failures! They have come over to a messy house with interruptions during our times together to care for the needs of my family. They have served with me. We have run errands and gone grocery shopping together. But honestly what better way to make disciples than truly living life together and seeing Christ has the center of it all! 

We are all in different phases of life! I am single but have a family with lots of needs due to prolonged sickness and changing circumstances. Many women have full-time jobs, are wives or moms, and have full, busy schedules that we try to control and plan. How much greater is our God than we are to plan our days! We expected to serve God in one way, but God had other plans. We can rejoice together in that God has a plan and a great purpose for everyday of our lives! Oh and what a joy that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are higher than our ways! 

Katie Kasey is a 2+2 (International Church Planting M-Div) student at Southeastern. God has given Katie the privilege of serving Him at North Henderson Baptist Church in Henderson, NC. She is excitedly preparing to serve God overseas with the IMB. Katie’s family is one of her greatest joys in life. She loves being a new aunt! She also loves using photography to encourage others and promote God’s glory among all people.