Something has been on my mind lately and I hope you don’t mind my fleshing it out here. Stick around if you’d like and if not, no worries. It’s been on my mind since it was mentioned in passing at a Ladies’ Breakfast we had here and it has just been on my mind and I can’t get it off. It’s the subject of love, which personally I think we need more of. More love. Stronger love. Love that brings about obedience and love that causes you to want to bring others to Christ and make sure that they are right with God in all areas of their life. We need more love.
But sometimes we tend to put conditions on our love. How come we do this? We are only willing to love someone if they happen to fulfill some of your needs, or perhaps if they make you feel good, or they like the same things as you do, or they hold the same opinions. In marriages, we love our spouse as long as they take the trash out when we ask them to or keep the house clean or make the dinner or fill other needs. We place conditions on ourselves and on others concerning their appearance or how they react to the way we function.
We are told many times in the Bible that the greatest commandment is love: loving the Lord our God, loving our neighbors as ourselves {and that means that we need to love ourselves in the first place too}, and we’re to love our enemies. Love is stressed so many times in the Bible and yet we find so many reasons why we shouldn’t love.
Does God place conditions on His love? Some might think that unless you’re a Christian, God doesn’t truly love you. This isn’t true. God doesn’t put conditions on His love. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8; God showed us how He loved us while we were yet sinners! Humanity had rebelled against God, disobeying His commandments and turning against Him in every which way. And yet while man did this, God still loved us all enough to send His Son to die for us on the cross to shed His blood – the blood that washes away our sins when we come to Him in obedience {Romans 10:17; Matthew 16:16; Acts 17:30,31; Romans 10:8-10; Acts 2:38}! There are no conditions to God’s love – He loves us regardless of what we have done! {That isn’t to say that there is no condition to salvation – that is proved within the verses listed above.}
So if God, who gave His Son to die for those who rebelled against Him and continue to rebel against Him can show us unconditional love and desire the best for us {that is, to be saved – 1 Timothy 2:4}, how come we can’t show the same unconditional love toward each other. Instead of holding grudges against each other for the smallest slights, or being way to sensitive so that every little thing sets us against each other… why can’t we just say, “We are all human, we all make mistakes, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are to love one another.”
I just don’t understand why we always insist on placing conditions on our love. And that isn’t to say that I don’t do this. I certainly do. And it is something I certainly need to work on. Let’s all love each other.
We often hear preaching on love; love your neighbor, etc. God is love and the source for love; we cannot express what we have not received. If the love of God is not in a soul, it is hard for that individual to love unconditionally. We must also understand that God is just, in His love, He disciplines. Out of His love, He commands us to not have anything to do with darkness. God does set rules and standards to His love, for Scriptures tell us that God hates the sinner (evil doer, workers of iniquity) (Psalm 5:5). We are also told that God is angry with the sinner (Psalm 7:11). In John 3:36 the wrath of God abides on the sinner. Romans 2:5 every time a sinner sins he stores up God’s wrath. It is important for a person to know what sin is and to know they are a sinner. This is often perceived as hate but it is only to show the need for Christ. 1Thessalonians 1:10 Christ delivered us from the wrath of God. 1 Timothy 1:10 tell us to use the law to show a sinner his sin. Only then can the love of God through Christ make sense. There are many in church who are not saved so they do not understand just how much love went to the cross, until they do this, love is not in them.
ReplyDeleteMrs. J.