Unconditional Love

If you have a dog you love you know something about unconditional love.  A dog seems to be loyal regardless of how you treat him.  You can holler and scream and mistreat your dog and he will still be loyal to you.  You can ignore and belittle him and he will still act like he loves you.  Some people say they think more of their animals than they do people.  I don’t think a dog can really understand what love is, I think what is inbred in them is loyalty.  To humans love and loyalty go together, so that may be why many people say that animals love, but I think because they are so loyal that we may mistake it as love.  

I want to talk about unconditional love today.  I was reading a book I have this morning called, “199 Reasons To Be Thankful,” written by Janice Hanna, and I was reminded of God’s unconditional love for his people.

What is unconditional love?

Unconditional:  not conditional or limited : absolute, unqualified

Love:  1.  unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of

               another: as the fatherly concern of God for humankind   

          2.  brotherly concern for others

          3.  a person's adoration of God

God loves us because God is love, it is His character.  God loves us not because of our performance or our outward appearance, He loves us because He chooses to, no one can comprehend the love of God.  

Paul spoke to the Ephesian Church about this subject saying this on bended knees in Ephesians 3:14-20, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us..”  

We should pray that we would know God’s unconditional love more and more each day and also pray that we will love him like Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God,” and remember Paul’s words in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Praise the Lord, we can never be separated from God’s love, this should be an encouragement to you.  God bless you and have a great day!!