Hello everyone! I'm just gonna continue last week's post about love, and I'll tell you how I'm doing on my little "learn to love" journey. Today, we're gonna talk about how Love is Unconditional . Now, I'm not gonna lie, this is probably the hardest one for me to talk about. Love is unconditional. That means that there are no conditions (duh). You shouldn't expect anything from anyone because you love them. You should love them whether they're mean to you, or whether they think you're the best thing since sliced bread. When you truly love someone, the way God loves us, circumstances, distance and time don't matter.
As a recap, many of you know that I've recently gone through a couple hard situations. In these situations, I've felt God calling me to live out His love through specific things in my life. I've often found myself writing in my prayer journal late at night and (in no uncertain terms) telling God that I do not want to love these people. Through telling God how I feel about it, He's been gently reminding me that He loved me even when I hated Him, even when I did everything He hated, and had every reason to hate me (Romans 5:8-10).
So what right do I have to withhold God's love from other people? Even people that I can't stand to be around or people that hurt my feelings? God loves everyone...even people that do detestable things. His love doesn't see race, social class, gender, college degrees, height, weight, whatever keeps you from loving people. He doesn't see you as just someone He made awhile back just to abandon later in life. He sees you as someone made in His image to worship Him (Genesis 1:27).
From the beginning of time, God has loved you. He knew all of the terrible things you would do, and He knew that Jesus would have to be payment for your sin. He knew all of the terrible things you would think, and He knew that He would ultimately be the one who sacrificed the most for you. He knew that love would become a messed-up social experiment, rather than something that lasts forever. He knew that we would get hurt and beat up and knocked down in pursuit of the love this world has to offer.
As for me? I'm done chasing the love this world has to offer. It seems pointless to me to give my heart to people or things or ideas that will have no meaning later. That is not to say that I'm going to give up, be a nun, and never talk to a boy or quit my favorite activity or not follow my dreams. That would be ridiculous. God doesn't call us to be some kind of holier-than-thou super-Christian. He calls us to do two things: Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) and love Him with all your heart, soul and mind (Mark 12:30).
If you think about it...when you love God with all your heart, soul and mind, can you possibly conceive hating someone else? When you love other people, do you desire to hurt them with your words or actions, even when they hurt you? It's HARD, y'all. It's not an easy task to love difficult people. Last week we talked about praying for them. Have you done that this week? I have! Let me tell you, it has not only helped change my attitude toward them, but the entire situation seems to be brightening up. God has a way of changing your perspective - you can choose to embrace all that He has for you, or you can choose to live in fear of being hurt, and ultimately a purposeless existence. If you don't love other people, no matter what their background, can you really say that you love God?
(*note* I'm not saying that if you've been hurt by someone and you're having trouble forgiving them or dealing with the situation, you're not a Christian, or you don't love God. That's not what I'm trying to say at all. I'm just saying that you should examine what the root of your problem with that person is, and forgive them. Sometimes that means you can't put yourself in a position where you can be hurt by them again. Sometimes that means that you have to remove them from your life for awhile. God calls us to love people no matter who they are - but He doesn't want us to be stupid. For example, if a wife is in an abusive relationship with her husband, DUH, she should leave him. It will likely take a long time for her to heal from the emotional and physical pain he caused her...but with God's help, she can choose to forgive and move on, or she can choose to wallow in pity for the hand she's been dealt.)
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