Unconditional Love
True love. Will you ever find it, and how will you know when you do find it? Will you know it right away or will it be gradual? Maybe you’ve asked yourself these questions. I know I have. It is hard to distinguish what true love is because society often confuses lust and love. Lust and love are not the same thing. Love is putting the other person before yourself. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “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. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Love is something that is unconditional. Many times you hear things like "I’ll love you if you do this," or "I love you when you do this." This type of love is only temporary and will not give you “true love”. So if we’re talking about conditional love, then there must be unconditional love, right?
God’s love for us is completely, 100% unconditional. He loves us all the time, even when we screw up and make mistakes. We know that we can go to God whenever we need to and He is always ready to listen to us. God is there when we need Him the most. Even though we desert Him, He loves us so much that He will never turn His back on us. God loves us so much that we can take all of our worries and our cares to him and he will lift us up. He will take all of our troubles away and make our burden light. He loves us, even though we are filled with sin and could never be perfect. God loved us so much that he sent His only Son to come and die to save us from ourselves and the devil. People tend to marginalize this and not fully understand how much of a sacrifice this was. He sent His ONE and ONLY Son to die for a sinful race. Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to do this, to die to save us. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” That is unconditional love.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: How often do you practice unconditional love? What specific ways can you practice the list of love attributes in I Cornithians 13? Have you ever been selfish when "loving" someone else? Do you ever take God's love for granted?
THINGS TO PRAY ABOUT: Ask God's forgiveness for not loving with unconditional love. Thank God for his unconditional love in sending Jesus to save us. Ask God for strength to love unconditionally.