A guy says to his girlfriend, “I’d climb the highest mountain for you. I’d swim the deepest ocean for you. I’d give my very life for you.”
She says, “Oh Honey, that’s so wonderful. But what I really need is for you to help me clean up the garage on Saturday.”
“Are you kidding? Now you’re just taking advantage of me!”
That’s an example of conditional love: love that is based on how well your needs and desires are met or how your appetites are fulfilled. Conditional love is based on how you look, how well you perform, what you possess, what you can give, if you behave, if you say, do, or become what others want.
Conditional love is everywhere. We’re so used to it, that when we hear God say, “I love you,” we naturally think, “I need to please God in order to receive God’s love. I need to read the Bible every day, to pray more intently, to pay more attention in worship, and generally to clean up my act.” We are so used to conditional love, that subconsciously most of us believe that when we please God, God will love us more.
It is not true. God’s love is not conditional. So no matter the circumstances of your life or the state of your heart, picture yourself loved. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans (5:6, 8), “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”
God loves us while we are still weak, powerless to make it on our own, unable to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. God loves us while we are still ungodly, irreverent, impious, and withholding from God what is rightfully God’s. God loves us while we are still sinners, separated from God by our attitudes, decisions, and actions. God loves us even when we ignore God’s commands, rebel against God’s will, and break God’s heart. God loves us unconditionally.
God proves God’s unconditional love for us, in that Christ died for us while we were still weak, ungodly, sinful, and rebellious. God did not wait until we cleaned up our act or proved ourselves worthy – not even God has that much time! If we measure ourselves according to God’s perfect, holy standard, we quickly realize that we can never live up to it on our own. Even with our best efforts, we would never be worthy of God’s love on our own, never deserve God’s love by our own merit. So despite our failed efforts and weak nature, God loves us anyway.
The proof is the cross. Christ died for us while we were still sinners – not once our good deeds outweighed our bad ones, not once we were basically good people, but while we had not the slightest interest in Him, and while we were powerless to save ourselves. In other words Christ loved us enough to die for us, not because we were righteous or good, but just because he loved us - unconditionally.
That’s Good News – for you and me and all people. Picture yourself loved, not because you are beautiful or talented or witty, but simply because you are God’s. Then picture yourself responding to that love in ways that please God and make God proud to be your Father.
Pastor Casey
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