The Promise: Love
“For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:39
This world’s love and affirmation is based on certain qualifications or standards that we meet.
You are affirmed or accepted if you have a certain opinion about a certain topic.
You are loved only for your actions (or reactions), personality, what you have done or can do, and the list goes on and on.
The bottom line is that you and I must meet certain prerequisites in order to be accepted by the world around us.
Man’s love is conditional…… it has certain expectations.
God’s love is unconditional…. meaning He loves you. Period.
John 3:16-17 “ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Romans 5:6-8 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
When we didn’t love Him, He loved us.
When we ignored Him, He didn’t ignore us.
When we left Him, He didn’t leave us.
When we didn’t want anything to do with Him, He wanted everything to do with us.
When we pushed Him away, He was longing to be closer to us.
That is unconditional love.
We cannot put man’s limited, conditional standards on Christ.
When we fall or make a mistake, He still loves us.
We have a promise. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us.
Other people will try to limit who can be loved. But God’s love is limitless and shows no favoritism!
