"Valentine's Day (February 14) in Japan is basically the day for women to give men chocolates or gifts. Women give chocolates to men in general, such as co-workers, bosses and casual male friends out of obligation. For example chocolates are given to bosses as a token of gratitude for a job.
These kind of chocolates are called giri-choco which mean chocolates given because they are token-gifts. Giri choco is cheap and can be bought at stores everywhere.
giri-choco, cheapiesBut.....when a woman has special feelings for a man, he receives honmei choco (prospective winner chocolate). Honmei choco is a superior variety of chocolate and can either be bought or handmade. A man who gets honmei choco from a woman. knows where he stands in her affections: at the top!
Here's a picture of Honmei Choco which means "sweetheart chocoloate" or as already noted, "prospective winner chocolate."
The Japanese custom of the women's Valentine-gifts of giri-choco and honmei choco, led me to think about "obligation-love" and "heart-love" towards God our Father, Who has first loved us.
Here is a taste of Honmei choco - love:
- It means that I really want to spend time with and for my Lord - I'm motivated by His great love in Jesus to put my trust in Him, obey Him, enjoy Him, to be thrilled by His ways and plans and holy character.
- I'm deeply, deeply interested in my heavenly Father and in Jesus and, by the Holy Spirit, want to get to know Them more and more and emulate, revere, worship and delight in Them.
- It means I treasure my Father and Saviour and aim at alligning my will with His, and that it is deep privilege and pure joy to know His promises and faithfulness.
- I serve Him with a first- love, joy and enthusiasm because - oh! - I value above all the One who gave Himself totally to me and saved and forgiven me completely.
- It means to love Him with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength - overjoyed that because of grace and Jesus I am His and He is mine.
- He is my one and only God, Friend, Saviour,Friend, Helper and Keeper.
Giri-Choco-love
it's a so-called love that drags its feet and half-heartedly and selectively "follow after" God.
"Giri-choco's - love" - ie obligation and token-love to our God is:
- An appalling insult.
- If we say we love Him, but bring Him giri-choco's/obligation-love, we are hypocritical and insincere.
- It is downright hurtful.
- Obligation without love reflects that I don't really care about God.
- There are repurcussions.
So............
Is it going to be honmei choco or giri-choco?
It's not good pretending otherwise: we are fallen people, who in this life cannot express perfect love and joy to our Father and to Jesus. We don’t even get it right in our human relationships. Our emotions vary, circumstances hem us in, disappointments wear us down. So, what to do, when we find ourselves in a place where we are tagging along with God just to stay out of trouble, just to soothe our consciences? If this is the case, we cannot face up to this disgraceful pretend-love for God, too soon.
What is at the root of our appalling lack of love, lack of joy and delight? Is it because something else has stolen or replaced Jesus as our love, our joy and delight? Is it because we have not given time to get to know Him in His Word and by His Spirit? One answer fits it all: we all, by nature, suffer with self-addiction.
Let us draw near to our God through Jesus in repentance and prayer over the things that have replaced Him as our source of joy in our lives and remember our first love again!
Japanese for love.Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
And love one another as you love yourself.
Ephesians 3
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—
that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
