Love without Condition

Do you know you are loved without condition or limitation by God?


Our pastor asked this question a couple weeks ago at church. And my first answer was "yes." But sometimes it is a choice to believe that rather than a feeling. These days I feel loved by God because I feel His presence and His acceptance in my grief. I wouldn't say I am angry with God that Dad is gone. But I wish it weren't so. I wish the last year had a different tone, a different theme. I struggle with feeling alone. I struggle with the pain of loss and grief. I struggle some mornings to even get out of bed.


And I know God knows all of that. He does not begrudge me my pain, my experience. He stand with me as I walk this road. I choose to trust Him on a path I don't always enjoy and would not have willingly chosen. It helps that God has given me the opportunity to pour myself into something worthwhile this year. I know He is with me in the joy of my work and the pain of my grief. He has purpose in using both for His glory. I know God loves me because He stands, unchanging, in the face of my ever-changing moods, the highs and lows, the tears and laughter. He is constant. His love is constant. I am grateful for His love, for His acceptance. And today I am thankful for His constancy.

Inspired by.... unconditional love

My favorite part of the Christian message is the vast, limitless, and unconditional love of God. It is what drew me to Christ in the first place as a teenager and it anchors me to the faith even today. 

I love the section of the Gospel of Luke when Christ talks to the other thieves being crucified with him - the one thief mocks Christ, but the other confesses his sin and confesses Jesus' role as Messiah and Christ offers the thief some thing eternally greater than a simple rescue from the cross - eternity with Him.

That example of love challenges me to love others well and to strive to love them without condition.