Unconditional part 1
I know I repeat myself. That's on purpose. One of the (many) things my father has taught me is that one of the best ways to learn something is through repetition. And, quite frankly, I think there are some things--Spiritually speaking--that I am qualified to Rant about. So rather than straying outside of my lane, I'd rather just dive in deep to the things that fill my heart up. I don't have to preach everything. There are a lot of preachers out there. I just need to share what's in my heart. So, with that in mind, I'm going to drop a decent sized passage of Scripture today and then spend the next few days really diving into it. But before I do I want to say my piece about this idea. Ready? Ok. If it's not unconditional... it's not love. Look at Romans 8:35-39, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distrees, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, not life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, not things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I know there's a lot there. But basically it says, "God is love and He loves you." Period. The ultimate truth of the universe. The problem, of course, is that we look at ourselves and we see all the worst things we've ever done. We hear all the worst things people have ever said about us. And we believe that that's who we are. We believe that we are unloveable. But I've said many times that the people that are hardest to love are the people that need love the most. Because they aren't getting it. Because they're hard to love. There's no such thing as being "deserving" of love, unless you understand that EVERYBODY is deserving of love. That's why we were created. We were created to be loved by God and to love Him back by loving each other. Love is the whole point of the whole thing. And it's not something to be earned. It's a gift that is freely given. Nothing can separate us from God's love. Not even needing to earn it. We already have it. You can't be separated from something you don't have. That's where we have to start--I am loved. God is love and He loves me. Always has and always will. It's so important that we have the right foundation. If you're always searching for something (as if you want it, but don't have it) then you'll never be able to experience it. I'm telling you right now--look. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. If you need to start there, start there. You can't believe something you don't know. Knowing and believing is the Divine Order. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. So understand where we're starting. God has always and will always love you. He IS love. That's not just what He does. That's who He is. And His love is absolutely, completely, totally... unconditional!