UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

By Jemima Rayan

God is love. God has transformed our spirits in the image of love. Love is the first commandment Jesus gave us, yet it is something greatly missing in the body of Christ. We get so attracted to the power of God. But His power will not work without love because faith works by love. This love is the unconditional, 'agape' love.

Follow the example of Jesus

John 8:3-11, talks about the lady who was caught in adultery. The Pharisees and the scribes were ready to stone her. They asked, 'What do you think we should do, Jesus? What's your verdict? They thought, Jesus is not going to disagree with what Moses said. But Jesus did something strange. The Bible says that 'He stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger as though He did not hear'. He basically ignored them.

If we talk that accusing talk, Jesus is not going to hear us. He will ignore us too. He will do the same to us as He did to those accusers. Jesus is such a tremendous example for us to follow. God is love. He knows that we have made mistakes but still loves us. He always sees our potential.

John 3:17 says,' For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world'. Our God is full of compassion. When you show love, that is when people see Jesus in us.

The Bible says in Galatians 6:1, "When a person falls into sin, you who are spiritual should restore him with all gentleness." That gentleness goes a long way than condemnation. You will never go wrong living a life of unconditional love.

Allow the Lord to deal with People

We need to realize that as Christians, we are on the same team. You may ask but what about the differences? Let God deal with it! He is well able to take care of the situation and the people. God is able to teach them.

Their doctrines may different. There is not a single one in this earth whose doctrine is 100% correct. Our God loves variety. No two individuals are identical. No two churches are identical. God has allowed it to be like that because different kinds of churches can reach different kinds of people. We should never say they are wrong and we are right. It is so pitiful to see Christians stop having fellowship just because they disagree on petty things. There is such a cold war in the body of Christ that they cannot stand the other brother. Friends, start loving them in spite of who they are.

We must learn to be inclusive and not exclusive. Life is too short to get caught up in our petty differences. The Bible says in Hebrews 3:13, "Exhort one another daily." That word "exhort" means to encourage. And if we do anything other than encouraging and comforting others, that will hinder your walk with God. Give others the benefit of the doubt. Nothing does more damage than spreading bad news about others.

There may be people who don't treat you right. They may be disrespectful. Jesus said that we are to even love our enemies. He said if your enemy's thirsty, give him something to drink. Get him a 'chilled coke'. He said if he's hungry, give him a 'Happy meal'. Make him happy! He said if he wants your shirt, give him your coat as well. He said, by doing this, you will heap coals of fire on his head and the Lord will reward you (Rom 12:20)

Love sees the best in every person:

1 Corinthians, chapter 13 talks about love. Verse 8 talks about, how love believes the best in every person. Love overlooks a person's faults. We can find some good, even in our worst enemies, if only we made the attempt to.

We've got to be quick to show God's mercy. Psalm 18:25 says, 'With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful' .The meaning is that the Lord is merciful to those who show mercy. Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." And what we've got to realize in life is that at one time or another all of us are going to need God's mercy. We need to learn to be quick to show mercy to other people so that God will be quick to show mercy to us.

But have you noticed how the carnal nature is to point out each other's faults. We just say, They deserve it. Lord, 'give them their rightfully deserved punishment. They're guilty. They need to learn their lesson'. This type of attitude displeases God. It is against the very nature of our God.

When Jesus walked the earth, He showed love and compassion, even to the people who were not good to Him. He always saw the best in people. He encouraged and loved them.

We must make sure that you're living a life of unconditional love and looking for the best in every one. Just make sure that you're keeping yourself pure. And we've got to be extremely careful, especially as Spirit-filled Christians that we don't look down on or criticize somebody else just because they are different. They are never looked at as second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven. Just love them like Christ loved us.

May the Lord help us to live a life of unconditional love. Amen.