Video of BT Daily: 5 Reasons NOT to Celebrate Valentine's Day
Here's five tongue-in-cheek reasons not to celebrate Valentine's Day. But can you find another?
Transcript
[Steve Myers] Here’s a little tongue-in-cheek discussion on 5 reasons not to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Number one: Flowers make you sneeze and they don’t last very long.
Number two: Pink does not make you look thinner.
In fact, number three: Pink’s a girly color that makes men feel wimpy.
Number four: Chocolate makes you fat.
Number five: Valentine’s Day is just commercialism by the greeting card companies to make millions of dollars.
Are those any reasons that you shouldn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day?
There is a more important reason, but it comes back to realizing what is
life all about. What is romance after all because Valentine’s Day is
supposed to focus on romance? And we often think of the flowers and the
candy and the meals out and all those kinds of things.
But you know what? Romance is sometimes vacuuming the house.
Romance is sometimes, yeah, cleaning the toilet or maybe changing a
diaper or two or maybe making his favorite dessert. That’s what real
romance comes down to so much of the time, real life. And sometimes we
get fooled by taking one day and trying to make something huge out of it
when in reality love is a daily thing. It’s something that we show
every single day of our life.
Christ Himself said that whatever we want men to do to us, we should
do to them. And it should be something that’s on going, not just a
onetime thing.
It reminded me of a passage that’s over in Ecclesiastes in Ecclesiastes 9:9. Ecclesiastes 9:9
says, "Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your
vain life, which He’s given you under the sun." So it’s all our days not
just one day.
And so you could probably come up with a longer list of reasons not
to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but you know they’re not all humorous.
There is another reason.
You know that many of the world’s holidays are focused and come from
roots of paganism. That’s where they’re rooted. Valentine’s Day is no
different, named after a Catholic saint. It’s rooted in paganism. Maybe
that’s a question you could ask yourself. What does God think about Valentine’s Day?
Check it out a little bit. Look at what Deuteronomy 12 has to say about it . Check it out. Do a little bit of research . You may be very surprised what you find. In fact, you’ll probably add one more big reason not to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
That’s BT Daily . We’ll see you next time.
Beyond Today Presenter, United Church of God Pastor
Steve grew up as the middle child in a close knit musical family from
the Midwest. His father was a big band leader and mother loved to sing.
She encouraged him often by saying "you can do anything you want with
God's help". His enjoyment of music increased as he earned a degree in
music education. He not only performed around the country but also
served with the USO around the world.
He was a successful businessman and a war hero. But then something went terribly wrong.
Things looked bleak for the fledgling American Revolution. After Bunker Hill the Continental Army seemed to lose every encounter with the British. The revolution was in need of a hero.
Ben, a Connecticut lad, was a leading merchant in the colony. He not only ran a successful mercantile, but owned a fleet of ships and was an accomplished sea captain. His sense of honor and business acumen gave him an aura of confidence. Acquaintances said he appeared arrogant, and he occasionally sought solutions through dueling.
As his business fortunes rose so did his resentment of British taxation. Smuggling was an acceptable means to evade taxation. Ben became an outspoken leader of the liberty movement. His articulate and passionate letters appeared in local newspapers.
When war broke out Ben was elected captain of the local militia. He promptly organized them into an effective fighting force and presented a bold plan for seizing the British forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. The plan was accepted and the expedition successful, although Ben was in constant conflict with fellow officers.
Because of the nation's lack of hard currency, Ben spent a large sum of personal money financing the campaign. Added to his financial hardships was the tragedy of his wife's sudden death. Ben contained his sorrow by dedicating himself to the revolution.
About this time Ben caught the attention of George Washington. The General saw through Ben's bluster and tactlessness and recognized him as a leader and good tactician. Ben had come up with a plan to invade Canada and make it a fourteenth colony. Washington gave him the pick of the army.
The hardships of the Canadian expedition were overwhelming. Upon reaching Quebec Ben's troops united with another column under General Richard Montgomery. In the ensuing battle Montgomery was killed and Ben wounded. During the harsh winter retreat, Ben's leadership held the army together.
Returning home, Ben found himself faced with charges because he had forced Canadian merchants to give food to his starving army. To his wounded pride this was a bitter pill. He demanded an inquiry, and, after an investigation, the charges were dropped.
Without a command, and on his own initiative, Ben constructed a small fleet of ships on Lake Champlain. In October 1776 he attacked and defeated a larger British fleet. A few days later Ben and a small group of men held off the British fleet from a scuttled ship while the Americans retreated.
By now Ben had been promoted to brigadier general. He was sure that he was next in line for promotion to major general. The Continental Congress, being politicians, felt that generals should be more evenly distributed from among all the colonies. New England, they felt, had more than its share. So the next major generals would have to come from the southern colonies.
Ben was livid and resigned in response to this decision. However, Washington convinced him to stay. Because Ben was instrumental in defeating a British force in battle, Congress was obliged to give him the promotion. But there was no army for him to command. Ben got into an argument with his commanding officer and was fired. He enlisted as a common soldier and was seriously wounded in the Second Battle of Saratoga.
As he recovered Ben was given command of the garrison in Philadelphia. Tired after having spent much of his personal fortune on the war effort, as well as having been wounded twice, Ben decided to enjoy the fruits of his labors. Ben lived extravagantly. It wasn't long until British sympathizers used his lifestyle to bring charges against him. He was commanded to appear before a court martial.
Ben was exonerated on all charges, given a mild reprimand to please the politicians, and given back his command. But this was the last straw. The young patriot, ablest of generals and loved by his men, became bitter, disillusioned, and it was at this point that Ben...Benedict Arnold...betrayed his country.
Mention the name of Benedict Arnold today and nobody remembers his victories and bravery, only the crime of treason.
The seeds of disillusionment
What causes a person to betray his own ideals? For a person to betray everything he loves and believes he must first feel betrayed.
Benedict Arnold felt stabbed in the back by jealous fellow officers. He had charges brought against him by British sympathizers. Congress refused to refund money he had spent out of his pocket for war expenses. Eventually, he convinced himself that the leaders of the revolution were incompetent and he lost faith in the cause of liberty.
Once we allow bitterness over another person's actions or words to set in we become consumed with self-justice. Arnold's disillusionment in the revolution was rooted in his concern with personal injustices both real and perceived. Always a prideful man, Arnold's pride became more important than his values.
Pride is a great deceiver. It makes us forget our goal and centers our attention on what we feel we deserve because of our own effort and sacrifice. It changes the focus from how we treat others to how others treat us. Issues are replaced with personalities. Character, the internal force to do right, becomes easily manipulated by a drive to be vindicated no matter what the price.
A wise man once wrote, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" (Proverbs:11:2When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. NIV).
When you feel betrayed
All of us have been misused or betrayed by a family member, friend, employer, organization, even a church. We can internalize the hurt caused by others until the memory of betrayal controls our thoughts and emotions. At times we allow the faults or abuse of others to weaken our commitment to our own values or even our faith in God.
A Canaanite woman came to Jesus asking for her daughter to be healed. Imagine her surprise when Jesus ignored her. His disciples asked Jesus to send her away. Jesus finally addressed her by saying, "It is not good to take the children's bread and give it to the little dogs."
If anyone ever seemed to have the "right" to feel betrayed it was this woman. Jesus, the one many claimed was the Messiah, had ignored her. His disciples were rude and seemed prejudiced against Canaanites. She could have become disillusioned, claiming Jesus to be a fraud.
Instead, she answered, "True, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." Jesus commended her faith and healed her daughter (Matthew:15:21-28[21] Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. [22] And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. [23] But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. [24] But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [25] Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. [26] But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. [27] And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. [28] Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.). The Canaanite woman's faith couldn't be swayed by the actions of others. She was too aware of her total dependency upon God.
If beliefs and values are based in spiritual reality, they can't be changed by the imperfections of people. Benedict Arnold felt betrayed by human beings. He responded by betraying his own values and ideals. He serves as a warning on the road to infamy.
Time to take a lesson from the greatest leader... Jesus Christ.
[Darris McNeely] So what's the point of President's Day? Every year at this time in the United States we have a three day weekend because of what is called President's Day, a federal holiday. A lot of people want to catch a sale: maybe furniture sale, auto sales. But because of that vacation, sales we lose the real meaning of what the day is all about.
Originally President's Day was divided into two days, the two birthdays, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, both falling in February. A few years ago a decision was made to combine it into one day and give everybody a three day weekend. But in the process as so often happens we lose the point of where did the day come from. What is the real meaning? What should we learn?
Here's my suggestion: no matter where you live because I recognize President's Day may not mean anything to you outside of the United States, but let's look at what we might pick up and learn as a point of leadership.
Wherever you are, whatever you're feeling about this, pick a leader male or female, not only from politics but from any area of life, and learn something about leadership. And here's the ultimate lesson in leadership I think that we can learn from the ultimate leader Jesus Christ, who when His disciples were jockeying among themselves about who would be the greatest, He looked at them and He said, "He who would be the greatest among you, let him be your servant" (Matthew 20:25-28 [25] But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
[26] But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
[27] And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
[28] Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
See All...).
Humility. Service. Hallmarks of any great leader no matter where they may find themselves. That perhaps is the point of President's Day and every day.
For BT Daily , I'm Darris McNeely. Join us next time.
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