There are many types of love. They are all special and unique and play different parts in our lives. Love is something we all chase after and desire.
Let’s start with a friendly type of love. Recently, a friend of mine did a huge favor for me, something I couldn’t physically do. My friend drove me to my son’s wedding, and it was wonderful. The bride was beautiful and my son was so happy. She did me a huge favor, but I know a friend’s love is conditional. If I started acting in a way that didn’t please God, I’m sure my friend would be upset with me.
Friend love can come and go. I recently had lunch with a former coworker and she said that no one from the job had reached out to her to see how she was doing. You think that your job friends are going to are being your friends forever but it often doesn’t work out that way.
There is the spouse type of love. It’s wonderful and intimate but it’s also conditional. One act of unfaithfulness can totally destroy a marriage. God wants for marriage love to be unconditional and totally forgiving, but often it is not when the love isn’t real.
Then there is the love that a parent has for a child. It’s almost completely unconditional. It’s the best type of love on this planet. Children and grandchildren receive love that is sacrificing and unconditional, to a point. Parents and grandparents give and give and give because they love and love so much, it’s so much more than a spouse can ever love their spouse. Earthly parents will do practically anything for their children, but sometimes children cross the line like in the case of drug abusers.
Finally, there is God’s love. God’s parental love is completely unconditional, and was totally self-sacrificing. We were all dead in our sin and on our way to hell. That didn’t matter. He loved us anyways. He sent a lifeboat for us so we wouldn’t sink. Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners.
This agape love is so crazy amazing. If we feel uninterested in God, He wants us anyway. Mess up again? He loves us anyway. Cheat on Him again and again and again? He still wants you. He will forgive you again and again and again and again. That doesn’t give us a license to sin. It just provides a path back to God. How crazy awesome is that?
There is nothing you can do to change the fact that God loves you. It is completely unconditional and unmerited. It’s not based on your works. You can’t do anything to make God love you more. He loves you even though you’ve cheated on Him with the gods of materialism and immorality. He still loves you.
God told the prophet Hosea to go get his wife out of prostitution and buy her back. He went back and bought her even though she didn’t deserve it because she had totally messed up. This is a picture of God‘s love and how He wants us to love each other.
We live in earthly tents for just a short while and we have the signatures that war against the spirit of God that lives in us. We can never live up to this crazy wonderful grace that God gives us in Jesus.
Have you ever been awed by the realization that you are a sinner but God loves you anyway? The Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe it in your heart, you will be saved.
If you’ve never talked to God before, He’s been waiting a long time to talk to you. Just start a dialogue with Him. Ask Him to forgive all the garbage in your life and thank Him for dying on the cross for you. Even if you were the only person on the earth, He still would’ve died for you because He loves you that much.
Start reading God‘s word, the Bible, and He will talk to you in a still, small, quiet voice. Those words are what I live for. When you experience complete love, your life changes. The cares of this world don’t seem as important anymore compared to the riches of knowing the God who spoke this universe into existence.
Seek the love of God and everything else will fall into place.
Following Jesus 