What does unconditional love mean to you? I am confident I had little to no understanding of this concept, until recently Matthew 5:46 "If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much." What I have noticed is that my love has been finite, defined as: bounded or limited in magnitude or spatial or temporal extent. At any given moment in relationship, I can and have been able to turn on and off my love, like a faucet of sorts. For example, when in the throws of disagreement or disappointment with someone I have declared I love, I can feel hatred, resentment, and the desire to retaliate...love disappears in these moments and I have wondered, where did it go? How can I say I love someone and than, depending on the circumstances, have it replaced with something all together, different? Are these emotional relatives, related by marriage? They cannot possibly be blood relations? Love and hate cancel one another out and cannot, do not, co-exist in the same time and space continuum. They are quite distinct and when one is present, the other has no room to be, it cannot enter in. Given my experience with love, I have always wondered about the unconditional variety, doubting the possibility of it really existing. Love is an abstract concept but when it is demonstrated, it becomes concrete, factual or at least, this is the feeling one gets when love is received, and when love is given. It becomes tangible, palatable. The unconditional part is the challenge because it is easy to love when it is reciprocated. It is easy to love when hearts and minds unite. It is easy to love when their is laughter, common ground to share, affinity of spirit. It is not so easy when divisiveness rules, when feelings are trampled and when space and time extend as though miles are being added by the minute, separating you from the one you love. This is when love is tested for its tried and trueness. This is when I, when you, get to practice NOT taking love for granted. I think of God as Father and the unconditional grace filled love that covers each of us everyday. He loves when we are unloveable, divisive, argumentative, disobedient, dismissive and childish. As a child of God, I am appreciating the patience of my Parent. As a parent of a child, I am appreciating the love that only God can teach and I have learned, it is beyond condition and exists under all and every circumstance, Titus 3:3-8 "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." Gods love is a fact I have felt. How about you Dear Reader, have you felt His undeniable love? Unconditional love is no fable, it is real, it is learnable and it is ours to appropriate through Christ.
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