Tuesday, February 2, 2016

What We All Long for the Most



You probably haven’t thought about this, and if you have, you probably have not expressed it, but deep down, you long to be very special to somebody—anybody. Most likely, you don’t care who it is, just as long as somebody loves you for who you are, unconditionally.

            In our society, the decision to love is often based on factors that are lacking in many: good looks, stature, social status, education, financial status, skin color, race, nationality, and so on. In other words, someone might love or not love another because of his or her nationality, skin color, profession, or how much they earn. When love is based on such things, it is conditional. What will happen when a big-earner loses the ability to earn that much? What happens when good looks fades with age and or poor health?  Does love then cease?

No matter how poor or unattractive we are, we all desire someone to go head over heels for us. That is where God comes in. He is that Person we are all longing for, to satisfy our deep-seated longing. But why is God that Person?

He love us unconditionally because He created us the way we are for His pleasure. He never decides someone is too unattractive, handicapped, or poor for Him to love. He loves us no matter what; He never disowns or stops loving us because something about us has changed. He loves us just as we are, and by choice!

God wants His love for us to bring us into a loving relationship (which we lost as a result of sin) with Him, and for our deep-seated need to be satisfied, we need to respond to that love—we have a responsibility in the matter. A relationship is not a one-way street: it needs to have at least two people to qualify as such.    

So, how do we respond to God’s love? We need to understand and accept  that we are sinners with no ability or resources to pay the penalty for our sins. The Bible makes it very clear, “For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God’s glorious standards” (Romans 3:23 NLT). We then have to ask for pardon through His Son, Jesus Christ, who died in our place. When we take this step, he forgives us and restores our previously broken relationship with Him, because, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NLT). 

To clarify God's unconditional love, let’s look at God’s reasons for loving the Israelites. “Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8 NLT). God’s love for the Israelites was by choice and by His faithfulness in keeping promises He had made previously. God loved them, no matter what they did! He punished them some of the time, but never stopped loving them. In fact, again and again, He pleaded with them to return to Him from their sinful wanderings.

This is the kind of love we all long for: love that is unconditional! Only God can do that. Only He wipes away our sins and never brings them up again. That is easy for Him to do, because  His love for us was by choice. He knew us inside and out; He knew we were evil, but that did not stop Him. Nothing in our future was ever going to surprise Him; we might hurt Him by our behavior, but not surprise Him. Being faithful is the other half. God has promised, “I will never again remember their sins” (Jeremiah 31:34 NLT). When we repent, He forgives and forgets, so our relationship with Him remains intact.


Have loved ones failed you? Are you left to wonder if anyone cares? Are you longing for unconditional love? Try Jesus, the Son of God, through whom God is reconciling the world to Himself (see Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18). He’ll love you beyond your expectations, transform your life, and at His appointed time, bring you home to Himself in Heaven. 

No comments:

Post a Comment