The Experience of “Unconditional” Love

We often are guilty of saying we love someone …

• If they do what we say;
• If they act how WE think they should act;
• Because we have to since they are my spouse, children or relatives;
• Because the Bible says I have to.

This is love “with conditions” or strings attached.

I always wondered what “unconditional” love felt like. Although I believe my parents love me unconditionally, I always and still do feel a sense of obligation to measure up to this.

I believe I have gotten a true “taste” of this…and it feels incredible!

Cases in Point:

I am blessed to have a host of people who I love and who love me. However, it has taken this “health challenge” for me to experience the depth of “Unconditional Love.”

#1 - Although I am managing MS and am determined to remain as independent as I can, a church member and couple have taken our church theme “Working Together as a Team in 2015” to heart. They decided that I didn’t need to stress myself and have strategically picked me up and taken me to worship at our 7:45 a.m. service for most of this new year. It is approximately 35 minutes out of their way each way. It requires them to get up around 5:00 a.m.

Yet, they do it so freely, so effortlessly…expecting nothing in return. I feel so in-debt to them, yet it’s one they will not allow me to repay. They don’t complain about it, lecture me about my health, advise me, rush me or stress me…they just exude pure love on me. I get “tears of gratitude” in my eyes every Sunday. They are modeling for me what I strive to be to others. They are teaching me a new level of love that I think I have given, but never felt worthy to receive.

#2 - I also reflect on my 78-year-old cousin who religiously picks up and brings home my 98-year-old grandmother to go with her to church. Whenever we thank her, she smiles and says, “No, I just want to thank you for trusting her care to me and allowing me to be a blessing to her because it also blesses me.”

Isn’t this the kind of love that Jesus Christ had for us? He died a horrific, agonizing death on the cross to erase our “debt” of sin…one in which He doesn’t require us to repay.

The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV):  4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails...

Romans 12:9 (NKJV): 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV): 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

John 3:16 (NKJV): 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Matthew 22:37 (NKJV): 37 Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Memorable Quotes:

“Love people for who they are and not for what you want them to be. That’s where the disconnection starts."

Love is not "if" or "because". Love is "anyway" and "even though" and "in spite of.”

“Love is an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person. To love somebody isn’t just a strong feeling. It’s a decision, a judgment and a promise.”

 “The most beautiful people are those who can love without expecting it in return.”

 “Love is the absence of judgment.” – Dalai Lama

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."

 “I crave a love so deep the ocean would be jealous.”

 If you want unconditional love, then give it…