Unconditional Love

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  I John 4:8

What is unconditional love?  It is loving someone regardless of his or her qualities or actions.  It is often compared to the love a mother has for her child.  Am I capable of giving someone unconditional love?  Do I have the ability to look beyond someone's faults and love them anyway?  These are all questions that I have asked myself over the years and I can't tell you how many times I have failed.  One thing that I have realized is that without God's help I am not able to love someone past their faults. In fact, over the years I have become quite good at 'keeping very good records of wrongs'.  Little did I know that doing this was causing more harm to me than good.  The part that I was missing was having a forgiving heart.  How could I say I loved my brother or my sister when I was so unwilling to forgive. 

Where does unconditional love begin?  First and foremost it begins with God for God is love.  (I John 4:8)You see God's love is not based on feelings or emotions.  It cannot be earned.  In fact we were created to receive God's love and to have an intimate relationship with Him.  He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die a sacrificial death in order to bring us back to this relationship.  Notice that I didn't say anything about a warm, fuzzy feeling or any kind of attraction. If that were the case I can only imagine how His love for me would be over by now considering how many times I have let Him down.  How many times I have hurt Him.  How many times I haven't been a good steward of my time and my God-given talent.  All things considered I would imagine that God might have kicked me to the curb by now. 

Secondly, unconditional loves begins with loving yourself.  Until you learn to love yourself you cannot begin to know how to love someone else unconditionally.  As I look back over my life I can recall the many times I let myself down.  It wasn't about what anyone else thought or what they could do to me.  It was my face I saw in the mirror every morning.  It was the face of someone who had great potential in the beginning, was headed on the right track and slowly but surely got sidetracked down a path of disappointment.  Even though I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior I did not have that personal relationship that grew out of life's hardships.  It wasn't until one afternoon, while I was wallowing in my own self pity, God spoke to me.  He reached down and wrapped his loving arms around me and I cried in His arms.  It was as if He were sitting right there with me in that hospital room.  He didn't care anything about my past mistakes.  I asked for forgiveness and forgiveness was granted.  It had been there all along. I simply had to receive it. 

Maybe you are in the middle of a troublesome relationship or maybe you are looking to start a new relationship...whatever the case may be the very foundation of the relationship must be built on God.  You must develop an intimate relationship with Him.  You must give him full access to clean out your heart and perform a transplant.  You must read His Word in order to reveal those things that are not like Him.  Ask Him to help You to forgive yourself.  To accept yourself , flaws and all.  No one is perfect but with God's help we are being perfected.  We must continuously allow God to work in us and through us.   As your relationship grows so should your love for others. 

Most Gracious Heavenly Father,

Thank you for your unconditional love.  A love not based on anything that I have done. In fact you love me in spite of what I have done.  Thank you for forgiveness.  Help me to see myself through Your eyes.  And more importantly help me to see other's through your eyes.  I want a love that is patient, a love that is kind, a love that keeps no record of wrongs.  Create in me a clean heart O God so that each and every day I become more like You.  In Jesus' Wonderful Name I pray Amen.