No one comes to the Father except through me.” 12 That “way” is Jesus, who said himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. God demonstrates his unconditional love for each of us by providing a way for every person to be made right.
He does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. So through Christ’s life and death, he perfects us. So for God to bring us into a relationship of reciprocal love with him, we have to change. Most people would agree that nobody’s perfect. None of us deserves that kind of sacrifice-but each of us needs it. 11 For God, love is something done-not just felt or claimed. How did God love the world? He sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to die for us, to save us from the consequences of our mistakes. 9 John tells us, “This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” 10 “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” wrote the Apostle Paul. The Bible rarely mentions God’s love without speaking of how that love is shown. And so he loves every man, woman, and child. God loved the whole world and those in it from the very beginning, and he did so because love is an expression of his nature. God’s overarching love for the world he made and the people he created is absolute. The Bible tells us that God loves “the world.” The Apostle John wrote, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” 7 John did not say God so loved “certain persons in the world,” or God so loved “only those who knew of him and decided to love him back.” No, God loves everyone. So let’s take a look at what God’s love does mean. It is not enough to say the words with no understanding of what they might mean. Such things must be carefully considered when we speak about the unconditional love of God. Love is used in a vast array of contexts.ĭoes love mean we always accept and approve? Does loving mean being warm and affectionate? Nonjudgmental and tolerant? Is it possible to love someone but disagree with them on fundamental issues? Can love suffer injustice with no hope for resolution? If you long for someone to change their harmful behaviors, does that mean you do not love them? I do not think it means what you think it means.” 6Īnd what about the word “ love”? Talk about a word that gets thrown around.
#Unconditional love definition movie
We might even find ourselves protesting, like Inigo Montoya to Vizzini in the movie The Princess Bride (when Vizzini keeps repeating “Inconceivable!”), “You keep using that word. If we do not state clearly what we mean by “unconditional” and we toss the word around in any context, confusion is certain to ensue. If God’s love is “unconditional,” does that mean that God has no standards whatsoever and willingly tolerates any and every abuse against him? Or does “unconditional” simply mean that there’s nothing the receiver must do to earn God’s love?
And, because the meanings of the words we use matter greatly, the answer depends in part upon an agreed understanding of terminology. Neither yes nor no, if taken at face value, is wholly true or wholly false. Rogers’ neighborhood.’” 4,5Īs with so many philosophical questions, these either/or answers simply don’t go far enough. So it can’t be true that you can sin all you want and God will just keep on loving you no matter what. Someone of this school of thought might say, “The Bible says that God hates sin.
3 If you are not righteous you do not deserve (and will not receive) God’s love. God is holy and his standard is absolute righteousness-perfection, even. You can relax, bask in his smile, and let the basically good, real you emerge.” 2 God smiles on you even if you don’t jump through any hoops, because you have intrinsic worth. Someone who believes in this “no strings attached” kind of divine love might say, “Deep down you’re okay God accepts you as you are-warts and all.
1 So he’s going to love you no matter what you do. God is a loving God in fact, God is love. Want to start an interesting conversation among friends-or an endless argument among theologians? Ask this question: Is God’s love unconditional?
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