What's Love Got To Do With It?

Today I celebrate the 21^st birthday of my only child !!  What a wonderful journey life has been since his birth.  Today is definitely a milestone in our lives.

Myself…growing up was such a different experience.  I wasn’t raised in a Christian home.  The words, “I love you” were never spoken.  I didn’t even know what love was.  I don’t criticize my parents for this.  It’s just where they were in their journey.  They have had their own obstacles to overcome and I love them deeply.  J

As a teenager I accepted Jesus as my Savior, but it wasn’t until I was almost 25 that I began to have a serious relationship with the Lord.

David and I had been married for 3+ years when Nicholas was born.  I will never forget the moment I held him in my arms for the first time.  Finally…FINALLY…I understood what unconditional love was !!  I had lived a month shy of 27 years on this earth and really had no understanding of what love was.  It was at that very moment that God removed the veil from my eyes and showed me how He loves us… unconditionally !!  I didn’t love Nicholas because of anything he had done…or said…or given me.  I loved him simply because of who he was.  He was my son !!  This is how God love us.  He loves us for who we are…His son / daughter.  He doesn’t love us for what we do / don’t do, what we say / don’t say, how much money we give / don’t give to the church, etc.  He loves us for who we are.

There is such beauty in truly knowing that we are loved unconditionally by God.  It sets us free to be who we were created to be.

God gave His own Son, Jesus, so that He might have a personal relationship with us if we so choose.  He loves us that much.  John 3:16  Do you know that you’re loved today?  

To Love Unconditionally Does Not Mean...

To love unconditionally does not mean to agree unreservedly.

What comes to mind immediately for me is just how much God loves me unconditionally…but He loves me…not my sin. (Romans 5:8)  Because He loves me so much, He won’t leave me that way.  He shows me my sin through His word and the Holy Spirit and gives me a way to overcome it through repentance and the blood of Jesus.  He loves me but He doesn’t agree with everything that I do, think or speak…and He lets me know where I falter.   

So often in our relationships, many believe that because we love them that we must agree with everything that they do, think or speak. You see, living life that way would not be living a life that is true to the Word of God.

In John 8:1-11 while Jesus was teaching at the Temple, the Pharisees and teachers of the religious law brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery to Him and wanted to stone her. Jesus told them that any of them who had not sinned to go ahead and cast the first stone.  One by one they dropped their stones and left.  But Jesus, who had no sin, didn’t stone her.  He told her to go and sin no more.

In this situation, Jesus not only pointed out to the woman that she should not sin anymore, He pointed out to the scribes and Pharisees that they were doing something wrong as well.  Because He didn’t agree with those folks…whom He loved…didn’t mean that He had to agree with everything that they did…and…so it is with us.  We, as Christ followers, must learn to love those around us.  But, loving others unconditionally doesn’t mean that we have to agree with everything that others do, think or speak.  We need to learn to stand firm in what God’s word says which means that we must speak the truth in love.  We must have a backbone, but not beat folks up!  God would be doing us a disservice if He didn’t show us where we sin and call us to repent.  Why would we need God if He didn’t call us to a higher place with Him?  If we didn’t need Him, then that means that Jesus would have given His life for nothing!  Oh how we need Jesus!

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 

I encourage you to love others unconditionally as God loves us, but stand firm in what God’s word says about sin.  Just because we love others doesn’t mean we must agree with them unreservedly.    

So, I grew up in a family where the words...

So, I grew up in a family where the words “I love you” were never spoken.  One day someone asked me how I knew that my parents loved me if they never spoke it out to me.  I honestly didn’t know how to answer that question.

True love became real to me when my son was born.  From that point on, I understood what it meant to be loved and to love someone very deeply and unconditionally.  I will never forget that day! 

After that, it was very important for me to express my love to others.  Even as Nicholas was just a tiny baby and couldn’t speak words, I would tell him, “I love you!”  One day I was standing him up on the kitchen cabinet and telling him that I loved him and he said “I aau  oou.”  He was telling me that he loved me!  That was the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life!

That’s just how God feels about us when we tell Him that we love Him.  He is thrilled.  He wants to hear that from us.  But He also wants us to know that He loves us.  The realization of how much I loved my new born son allowed me to understand just how much God loves me…His child.  And…the truth of the matter is…He loves us more that that!  His love is immeasurable and unconditional.  Until that moment, I didn’t get it!

In the Bible, John said that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved.  He got it!  No…it wasn’t arrogance on his part.  He simply knew that he was loved by God.  The beauty of it is that He loves us all the same!

We love Him because He first loved us.   1 John 4:19

My prayer is that we all attempt to grasp just how much God loves us and that our understanding of how much He loves us grows and deepens daily.  Just knowing that He loves me and wants the best for me causes me to love Him that much more.  What an awesome God we serve!!