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.
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