God’s love for you is unconditional. Human love is difficult to measure up against unconditional love because it is dependent upon how we really feel about someone. It is dependent upon that person either being who and what we want them to be or it’s dependent upon someone loving us in return. With that our love becomes conditional.
But God’s love is unconditional. Nothing you do or don’t do can alter it.
It is good to know that when we and God don’t see eye to eye, He does not follow up his love with “but”. I love you…”but”. I gave my son for you…”but”. He bled on the cross for your sins…”but”.
John 3:16 ESV
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And…hooray…NO “BUT”.
In a time of near recession, high unemployment, banks closing and the homeless population that is growing rapidly and now with families joining the ranks of sleeping in cars…does God hear us and does he still love us like the good book says?
Our grandparents and great grandparents fought for us to have the right to vote; to make a difference in our community; and we sit back only concerned about the fact that gas prices are going up and we do not take an active approach in our own lives. Struggling and trying to make ends meet, some not even having a paycheck to meet…does God still love us? …”but”…
Isn’t it good to know that when God does open a door whether financial or materially, isn’t it grand to know that God does so without saying…”I don’t like talking behind your back, …”but”..” or “because I am angry at you…”but”…”
God loves us so much that he gives us a clear and direct answer to our crime problem, our financial problem, our dysfunctional lifestyles and families…He says:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
You see, the ones who can and must make a difference in the land are the ones “that are called by my name”.
We cannot point the finger at offenders, ex-offenders, drug addicts, prostitutes, or anyone that do not look like us or live like us…but the finger points back at US.
We call ourselves…and we have the nerve to pretend that we pray. We kill each other with our tongues and speak things that others are not there to defend themselves… We use God as the big bad brother..if you do not do as I say…God will get you. NO!
Have you ever listened to yourself pray? Did it ever occur to you to think through and analyze your prayers, to examine precisely what you are saying? Do it sometime. Listen carefully the next time you or someone else is asked to pray. Then make notes. You might be convinced that those prayers did not make much of an impression on God.
Why do we pray amiss? Things like Unforgiveness, Gossip,Resentment, Moral Impurity,Bitterness, Selfishness, Criticism, Ungodly Relationships,
Wrong Judgments or Involvements are to blame.
Character attributes like these allows you to love…“but”. Because of these attributes, we break the 9th commandment…
Exodus 20:16 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”
How can we love when there is that conditional word…”but”. We speak things that are not true…”but”. God is not pleased with us and we get for “our” lack of obedience to God is…crime, murder, broken families etc…
God says that: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). That means that God is influenced by our prayers and He can and does answer them also.
Just think how our community will be affected if we started loving without the “but”. Just think how safe the world would be if we rid ourselves of the …”but”.
