Unconditional LoveWhat can we say about God’s love? We can say that God’s love is unconditional. God does not say, “I love you, if…” There are no ifs in God’s heart.
God’s love for us does not depend on what we do or say, on our looks or intelligence, on our success or popularity. God’s love for us existed before we were born and will exist after we have died. God’s love is from eternity to eternity and is not bound to any time-related events or circumstances.
Does that mean that God does not care what we do or say? No, because God’s love wouldn’t be real if God didn’t care. To love without condition does not mean to love without concern. God desires to enter into relationship with us and wants our love in return.
Let’s dare to enter into an intimate relationship with God without fear, trusting that we will receive love, love, and always more love.
Unconditional Approval
We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn’t approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God’s love. Evil does not belong to God.
God’s unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us return to God’s ever-present love.
Broken Love
Living a spiritual life calls us to claim that eternal love for ourselves so that we can live our temporal loves – for parents, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends, spouses, and all people who become part of our lives – as reflections or refractions of God’s eternal love. No fathers or mothers can love their children perfectly. No husbands or wives can love each other with unlimited love. There is no human love that is not broken somewhere… No human love is the perfect love our heart desire, and sometimes human love is so imperfect that we can hardly recognize it as love.
When our broken love is the only love we can have, we are easily thrown into despair, but when we can live our broken love as a partial reflection of God’s perfect, unconditional love, we can forgive one another and enjoy together the love we have to offer… We must trust that the source of all love is God’s unlimited love, and that this love is not far way from us but is the gift of God’s Spirit dwelling within us.
Taking Small Steps of Love
The knowledge of being love in an unconditional way, before the world presents us with its conditions, cannot come from books, lectures, television programs or workshops. This spiritual knowledge comes from people who witness to God’s love for us through their words and deeds. These people can be close to us, but they can also live far way or may even have lived long ago. Their witness announces the truth of God’s love and calls us to act in accordance with it…
How can we choose love when we have experienced so little of it? We choose love by taking small steps of love every time there is an opportunity. A smile, a handshake, a word of encouragement, a phone call, a card, an embrace, a kind greeting, a gesture of support, a moment of attention, a helping hand, a present, a financial contribution, a visit – all these are little steps toward love.
Each step is like a candle burning in the night. It does not take the darkness away, but it guides us through the darkness.
Suggested readings:
Joel 2, 12 - 13
Psalm 1, 1 - 2
Luke 5, 31 - 32
Leviticus 19, 17 – 18
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