Without Conditions

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”- 1 John 4:16

When I was a kid, I was given chores to do around the house. Those came with conditions, like if I vacuumed, I would get $5, and if I mowed the yard, I would get $10. Maybe you have done something in your life that came with conditions: a rewards program at Old Navy or Panera, chores of your own, maybe terms at a new job, but what about our relationship with God? Have we put conditions on that relationship? Have we sat and asked God for something and didn’t budge until He gave in to that condition? (I’m guilty on that one). Have we ever withheld love from someone because we felt justified and that they didn’t meet our conditions? (Also guilty). What we need to take a step back and realize is how grateful we should be that the love of Christ comes without conditions. His love is unconditional, here today, tomorrow, in our deepest depths and highest peaks. Love is our greatest commandment from the Father, to love Him firstly (Matthew 22:36-38), and to love others secondly (Matthew 22:39). He doesn’t make us jump through hoops to be loved by Him, again, as I said yesterday, that is His nature. So let us lay down our conditions and desires today and give Him the love, the adoration and devotion He is worthy of. And let us not withhold spreading the love of Christ in a world that needs Him more and more with each passing day. In a world that’s built on conditional love as the status quo, be the unconditional love that reveals the nature of Jesus to someone yearning for Him.