The Love Dare for Valentines Day

The Love Dare for Valentines Day

(Fireproof: Sherwood Pictures, Provident Films & Carmel Entertainment. A Kendrick Brothers Production. 2008)

On or near Valentines Day, many couples want that TNT explosive love promised with a Valentine’s card depicting a red heart, a vase filled with a dozen red roses, low candlelight, and a beautifully served meal. If the fire has cooled in your marriage, there are ways to bring the heat back.

When courting your mate, (husband or wife), you do certain things because you want to let them know they’re special. You treat them differently than any other friend or family member. The opening of your love life is on fire and driven with desire for the other. But, after the consummation of the marriage and the honeymoon is over, that differential treatment loses some vigor because you think you know all there is to know about your partner. You have the certificate tying you together, so what’s new to do? The brilliant, red-hot sparks of your first TNT love dwindles to routine. The heat is gone.

What you need is a new fire.

The movie Fireproof is about a self-reliant non-Christian man who believes his marriage is supposed to be a work of both partners equally. The wife has her own ideals and feels unloved and neglected. The two live in the same house but with two separate views and stories. They can’t seem to get together or agree on anything. Divorce is eminent. As the story concludes, the husband has discovered love is unconditional and the promises made in the ceremony exchanging vows mean just what they are to the giver and the receiver. Ultimately, he sees Christ needs to be in the center of his life to save his marriage and comes to know Jesus as his own Savior. The wife finally sees the loving man she thought she’d married all along. The love he and his wife share at the film’s end is the consummation of knowing God’s unconditional love of them. Although just a prop in the movie, the Love Dare book is an important figure in this transformation.

Here’s where you may argue that you do not want to become a Christian. Before you stop reading, you need to know that you can read the Love Dare challenge and continue your life as a non-Christian. Although each challenge has a Scripture and may ask you to pray to God, you are free to bypass these exhortations and adapt the dares to your situation. That is your choice, a freedom you can make of your own will, yes or no.

In the movie, the Love Dare is a gift from father to son; a handwritten diary giving daily ‘dares’ for falling in love again. The book is only a prop in the film and you only see and hear a few lines written as part of the plot and the affects it brings to the people in the story. In the writing and production of this film, Alex and Stephen Kendrick had an understanding what the true impact could be and so they completed the Love Dare book as a kind of companion for the movie. They wrote the manuscript that would become a New York Times Best Seller and a tool for saving many marriages and kindling TNT explosive love in many lives.

A book of 213 pages with 40 days of challenges, (dares), in the daily devotions, it roots out most marriage troubles.

As simple as the idea begins, the further you go, performing the tasks and understanding the Scripture meaning, it exposes your personality. In only a short time it becomes apparent the book is to transform you and not your mate, though that can very well happen and is really the true bonus at the end. Just like the movie.

This book can be done by both spouses simultaneously or one at a time. As in the movie, it appears to work best when the opposite spouse does not know the reasons their partner is performing the tasks. Your spouse may never know or understand when you complete some of the dares, since they are to be life transforming in you.

The Love Dare challenges you with a Scripture, and then gives you the task of performing the meaning, fulfilling the aspect of the Biblical command. The first ‘dare’ is to practice patience, with a positive attitude. It instructs you to refrain from saying or reacting negatively to your spouse, no matter what they do or say.

If you haven’t seen the movie Fireproof, or the Love Dare book, get a copy before Valentines Day and take the challenge. The ultimate goal is to have the deep love the fictional couple in the movie have when the credits roll. Since Valentines Day is approaching, this too can be your goal in your real marriage.

FIREPROOF: Never leave your partner behind

Other movies from this company:

Facing the Giants

Flywheel

Courageous