By Khutso Mokgehle
My husband, Chris and I have been married for 8 years. We will be celebrating our 9th anniversary in October 2023. Marriage has been nothing but bliss for us, our love for each other has matured like fine wine. I normally say that other couples brag about finishing each other's sentences, but my husband and I start each other's sentences (smiles).
One of the things we decided not to do very early in our marriage was not to celebrate Valentine's Day. A decision that I still believe was a good one. I will share the different reasons why we do not celebrate based on a few scriptures.
After reading this article, you will decide if you will celebrate the day or not.
1. Don't copy the world.
I remember when I was still in high school, Valentine's Day was being celebrated by young girls and boys, in most cases, these were young people who were engaging in sexual activities outside marriage.
That was what I knew. The day was filled with so much sexual immorality and that is something my husband and I decided we did not want to be a part of. We cannot join in with unbelievers to promote sin.
Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
I believe a lot of Christians might find this a bit extreme, but for us, it is not. As a married couple, if we celebrate this day, we are also indirectly endorsing it to younger Christians who might still be struggling with sexual purity.
There are many ways we can celebrate our love but still promote purity.
2. Knowing the origin
One of the reasons why we do not celebrate this day is because there is no solid evidence of the origin of this celebration. A lot of stories have been shared regarding the origin, we cannot verify any of the tales, but what I can confirm so far is that none of the tales have a God-glorifying, sexual purity story to it.
The valentine stories are just about fornication or adultery, and in as much as we might not confirm any of them, we have found none that resonates with us or with the Word of God, therefore we refuse to join into a celebration we have no idea about.
Ephesians 5:10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.
We could not determine if this pleases the Lord or not, therefore it is a no-go area.
3. Love is pure
My husband and I believe that marriage is pure, our love should be pure. God is the author of marriage, and His guidance will always be above any worldly ideas.
Based on our number 1 and 2 of our reasons for not celebrating Valentine's Day, we can safely come to the conclusion that that there is nothing pure, clean and holy about Valentine's Day. We have therefore excused ourselves from it and all activities around it.
Phillipians 4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
These are the reasons why Valentine's Day is just like any other day in our family except that our daughter was born on this day, so yes, we celebrate God for giving us a little princess on this day. That's all.
Happy Birthday Moloki "Lu" Mokgehle.
