TODAY, February 14, is Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Valentine. Ironically, some Christians scoff at it, not knowing that Valentine Day actually originated as a Christian feast that honours a martyr named Valentine. As it evolved through the years, Valentine Day became a “significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world,” according to Wikipedia.

Whether what is being celebrated today is erotic love or agape love, self-sacrifice is an important ingredient in true love. After all, St. Valentine was a martyr, and martyrdom is self-sacrifice.

As Liddell and Scott (1901) wrote, in Christianity, agape love is “the highest form of love…the love of God for man and of man for God” as contrasted with filial love, brotherly love, or self-love. It embraces a profound sacrificial love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance.”

One of the greatest love stories ever told is the story of Jack and Rose in The Titanic, a re-enactment of the sinking of RMS Titanic, a British passenger and mail-carrying ocean liner operated by the White Star Line. The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after it struck an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States.

As many of us who have seen the movie film know, Jack had to sacrifice his life in order for Rose to survive by opting to stay in the freezing water of the ocean, barely clinging onto a floating piece of wood, while Rose, his love, sat on the floating wood piece until the rescue team aboard The Carpathia arrived.

Jack chose to freeze to death for Rose to live because the only piece of floating wood within their reach on the North Atlantic Ocean, described as “the middle of nowhere”, could not support both their weights. It was after The Carpathia arrived that Rose discovered that Jack had frozen to death in order for her to live.

Compare Jack’s sacrifice with the recent action of an Ondo State socialite and businessman who killed his wife in Akure and later committed suicide. The state police spokesperson, Funmi Odunlami, confirmed the incident. It was alleged that the socialite caught his wife in bed with one of his security guards. Is that true love?

What the Ondo State socialite did happens often all over the world in variations. Almost on daily basis, news of men and women, boys and girls, who lost control of their emotions and killed their partners whom they claimed to love, appear in the media. But love is neither for emotionally immature people, nor for people who are selfish.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Ultimately, the best example of love, regardless the type, is that exemplified by Jesus, the Grand Master of love.

Happy Valentine’s Day!