On Sunday, which was of course Valentine’s Day, I shared a short poem before my sermon. The poem—in both a goofy and I hope serious way—critiqued the sappy view of love we have in culture today. And I hope it encouraged us to look to God’s love as the model of true love, whether we are single or married.

If you’d like to hear all of the introductory comments about the poem, which I think would be very helpful, you can listen to the first nine minutes of my sermon below.

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Roses Are Red, A Tired Cliché
Benjamin Vrbicek

Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Sugar is sweet. And so are you.

Are these our poems? “Violets are blue.
Sugar is sweet”? I guess that’s true.

Our poems are lame, in culture today.
Romance is cheap, like pots of clay.

We need much more—old truth made new.
God sent his Son, a love rescue.

Think how better, our poems could be,
If from above, this love we’d see.

The flame of the Lord flashes,
Love neither quiet nor quaint.
Its heat dashes and smashes
The sappy portraits we paint.

Loves draws lines in wet cement.
In the furnace of trials,
Marriage vows harden and set.
And love, though strained, still smiles.

Now of singles: in culture today,
“Singles are weird,” so they say.

Not in Scripture. Paul wanted more,
Singles to serve, so love will soar.

Jesus is real. Single was he.
His church his bride, trust him and see.

Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Love more than sweet? God’s love for you.

Faithful God stays, with love like glue.
When Gospel meets, sinners like you.

* Special thanks to my wife, Brooke, for help with a few of the sticky lines.

OTHER POEMS