UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Unconditional love is love without conditions, love freely given, an act of the feelings irrespective of one’s will. “For God so loved the world”: Unconditional love originated with God who demonstrated the willingness to love His creation without preconditions when “He gave His only begotten Son” to die for the sins of mankind. So we – you and I and every person that will ever walk planet earth -- know beyond any doubt that God loves us unconditionally. Unconditional love can, likewise, be expressed between people.

It is important to understand true unconditional love separates the object of love from his or her behavior. God’s unconditional love for us does not condone our behavior or demand our obedience. Ditto our love for other people: In particular, our unconditional love for other people does not demand or require that we accept, condone or enable behaviors and lifestyles we find morally or otherwise objectionable. We love a cute, playful little puppy and make him a part of the family. When he urinates on the floor we do not stop loving him, but we do set about to modify his objectionable behavior through training. The problem is some puppies are harder to train than others, requiring discipline, and some never learn. Ditto people! The world would have us believe we must accept, condone and enable a person’s objectionable behavior in order to love them unconditionally. This is a lie directed at separating people – in particular Christians – from their moral compass, the Word of God.  

We live in a time when relational issues affect so many Christian parents and grandparents who find their integrity as Christians under assault by relatives and friends who seek to force acceptance and support for their ungodly lifestyle under the guise of unconditional love. “If you really love me unconditionally you will accept me as I am.” But this is the world’s way to love unconditionally: The Bible warns not to be conformed to the ways of the world. (Rom. 12:1-2) Saints, if we really love someone unconditionally we will be true to our convictions and truthful to them about the consequences of their choices, even if we know they will reject the message and the messenger. We must love them unconditionally while holding them accountable for their bad choices, allowing them to reap what they have sown without intervention, as hard as this may be. Unconditional love is tough love that stays the course, holding lost loved ones up in prayer continually, that they might find their way out of the moral fog that clouds their mind and find their way into the marvelous light of Christ’s love. God expects nothing less of His blood bought saints.

There is a post condition to God’s unconditional love, we must one and all accept the gift of saving grace released to mankind in His ultimate act of unconditional love… the Cross of Christ. Those of us who accept will bask eternally in His unconditional love in the paradise God has personally prepared for us. Those of us who don’t accept will spend eternity in unending torment separated from God’s unconditional love -- a choice of our own choosing – even though God will continue throughout eternity to love us unconditionally. Such is the unconditional love of God…

TOUGH LOVE IN ACTION