God loves us. If there has ever been a basic message in this world that is meant to draw unbelievers and encourage believers- that is the message; God loves us. The bible describes various ways that we know He does. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, While we were yet sinners, in due time Jesus died for us, Nothing can separate us from the love of God...
So many scriptures remind us of the unconditional love of God, but does being in relationship with Him have conditions?
SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIPS
I was talking to a friend the other day, we have been going through a list of relationship questions that we both answer. One question was about what makes for a successful relationship. They had a really good answer. When it was my turn to answer, I added a traditional twist. "Accepting each other and unconditional love." It sounded normal and even accurate but this is their response:
"I don't believe in unconditional love when it comes to being IN love. I believe to have someone stay in love with you, is an earned privilege. You can love someone unconditionally, but being IN love costs." -SM
By the time I finished reading their response, I understood something that I always knew, but never made mental consent of... Relationships cost! We all know this, but it seems like it is easy to forget when we only focus on the love. It is so much easier to love people on the street because you may never see them again. It is often easier to love people at church because you don't have to live with them. But when it comes to the people we are in a relationship with.... it costs. We expect more, we look for more and are often less patient with them because...well they know us and are supposed to be committed to us... for better or worse. When we are married or in a relationship, sometimes we think we have the prize and now we can chill out a bit. We think we can afford not to work on ourselves or pay much attention to the other person, because they should love us ...unconditionally; after all, we both said "I do." The truth is it costs to stay in a relationship, to grow our love every day, to forgive seventy times seven, and still gaze in another's eyes. Of course, I got to thinking and I realized this viewpoint helped me, but it had to pass the ultimate test. Does it measure up to what God has said?
GOD'S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
We like to talk about Agape Love: That is what we call 'the God kind' of love, it is unconditional. It does not matter what you do, how you act or who you are... God loves us! The bible tells us if we choose to make our bed in hell, God will still love us. Nothing can separate us from the Love of God, not tribulation or peril or sword... nothing. That is a truth that gives us so much peace an assurance that there is nothing we can do that will change God's love for us.
As a result of this information, many of us choose to assume that being in a RELATIONSHIP with God means that there are no conditions. There is no cost for His love, it is unconditional; but to be in a relationship with God... there are conditions. The bible reminds us that nothing can separate us from God's LOVE, but our iniquities can cause a separation from God HIMSELF. There is a price for being in a relationship with God, Jesus paid the ultimate price, we pay it daily to have fellowship with HIM. Here are a few conditions to have a great relationship with God:
- First: We accept Him and the price He paid
- We love Him and love others
- We feed on His word to stay strong and learn of Him
- We obey Him by serving others
- We communicate with Him and allow Him to communicate with us
I can go on, but those of us who know God and know how relationships work, you understand this. It costs us to live this life even though the price has already been paid and the vows have already been said. Love is free, but having a vibrant living relationship has conditions.
I would like to encourage you, stay diligent in your relationships, whether with people or with God. Don't allow time to go by that you don't examine the price or the input that you give to them both. Don't ignore the things that need to be addressed to make your union stronger. Knowing you are loved is great, it is liberating, but knowing you both are working to stay in a strong relationship makes the difficult times worth it.
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