Unconditional Love of God

Unconditional love sounds like something we can only imagine.  Who wouldn’t want someone to love us for who we are? We are full of flaws, jealousy, sin, hate, envy, vindictiveness, and are overall shallow. I could go on about how mankind has certainly not been kind to one another.  However, we have our moments when we are full of love, compassion, empathy, generosity, and overall kindness.  We are complex and full of contradictions.   However, God is not.  He is faithful in His love for us.  There are at least one hundred Bible verses about the unconditional love of God.  They are led to Jesus dying for everyone.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16-17

We gravitate towards love unconditional quotes in the Bible because they allow us to feel accepted. They allow us to focus on how we are loveable despite all the evil we do and think throughout the day. Unconditional love makes us feel better knowing that we serve a God that can love us with all our flaws. The unconditional love of God is an affirmation that we are good enough.

We desire God’s Unconditional

Unconditional love is what we desire.  It allows our hearts to soar.  However, what is God’s, unconditional love?  It must cost something.  We must have to do something, be something, or change in a way to make ourselves acceptable.  I can’t imagine ever having this kind of love only to lose it eventually. Hence, I must know the true meaning of this kind of love.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

The meaning of God’s unconditional love

God’s unconditional love is Agape love. Agape love meaning can be found with a quick google search. ‘In the New Testament, the fatherly love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God. It is the highest form of love requiring nothing.’  Basically, it means God loves us and we love Him back and it has no conditions. However, we have not always maintained this reciprocal love that God shows us.  We are the ones that tend to put conditions on God.  Such as God if I get this promotion, this raise, or get this person to love me, it will truly mean you love and care for me. It appears that from the human side God must always prove his faithfulness or unconditional love.

Agape love could also be loosely defined as charity. Something has been given without any thought for gain.  Therefore, Agape love is unconcerned with the self and concerned with the greatest good of another. Agape love requires faithfulness, commitment, and sacrifice without expecting anything in return per Christianity.com. This translates into how God loves us unconditionally.

I, God love you unconditionally…

God’s, I love you unconditionally meaning is so much more than an emotion or feeling. God’s unconditional love is not brotherly love (phileo), erotic love (eros), or even a type of family member love (storge) it is a love that transcends all understanding. It is a sacrificial love where God lays down his life for us not expecting anything in return.  This is demonstrated when Jesus died on the cross for us so that we may live.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34a.  Therefore, we can expect to be in paradise one day. This is what defines unconditional love. However, this love only works if we believe this love exists. We must accept this type of love to be truly saved. Therefore, there are no conditions for God’s love. There are, however, conditions to be saved.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—

Ephesians 2:4-5

Unconditional love of God and being Saved

God’s, I love you unconditionally meaning is just love that must be accepted. It is free and available to all. It has been done and is finished. However, there is a condition for salvation.  You must believe that Jesus died on the cross and is risen and seated on the right.  The crucifixion was for all mankind. This is the act of unconditional love of God. Hence, there is no conditional love where God is concerned.

However, there is a condition to be saved. We must believe that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and is seated on the right side of God. We must repent of our sins and make every attempt to sin no more. First, you must claim Jesus as the son of God to have a place in heaven. The place that Jesus has prepared for us.  “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” John 14:2.  

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Conditional love

Conditional love would require that we do something for God first before he gives us His love.  However, God does not work that way.  He loves us as we are and promises to work with us to help us to become more like Christ.  That is the job of the Holy Spirit.  The helper that Jesus promised to send when he returned to the Father. We need everything from God. God needs nothing from us.

He does not need anything from us because He is self-sufficient. God would exist whether we did or not. He is our creator and has always existed. This is probably the hardest thing for a man to accept about God. God does not need our help. God exists for Himself.  The man was created by God for His glory. Therefore, he needs no conditions to love us.

Therefore, come as you are and accept the Unconditional Love of God.  God’s love is filled with grace, mercy, and salvation. If we were to provide a conditional love meaning it would be where we would need to fix ourselves first before receiving God’s love.  We would have to try to follow all the commands in the Bible.  However, this would be impossible because all of us have broken at least one. The Bible says that Jesus was without sin, thereby He was the only one capable of being the ultimate sacrifice for all sin. Can we return this type of love? Can we foster unconditional love for God?

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Unconditional love for God

Only those chosen by God can pursue God to love Him. Only those chosen by God can pursue God to love Him. “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:14 How we show God our love is by loving others.  We should strive to be patient and kind to others and make sacrifices for their well-being whether they deserve it or not. Our goal should be to elevate others rather than intimidate or instill fear in them. We should always look for the good in our fellow man rather than find fault. There exist redeeming qualities in all.  If not, Saul would never have become Paul. Thereby, writing the bulk of the New Testament. Jesus saw something in him and used it for God’s glory.  God is a person that sees us for who we are and for whom we will become.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another

1 John 4:10-11

God as a person feels, thinks, enjoys, loves, desires, wills, and suffers just like us. When he makes Himself known to us, we become familiar with the person He is. He speaks with us through the Bible, through others, using our minds, our feelings, and our willingness to obey. His ability to interact with us with an exchange of love is at the heart of the New Testament. To have found God and continue to try to walk in His ways is unconditional love for God. Hence, this is how we experience God’s, unconditional love.

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:2

Seven Great Bible verses about God’s Unconditional love to memorize

1. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16
2. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
3. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1
4. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
5. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
6.  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39
7. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, Deuteronomy 7:9

Recap

• God’s love is unconditional
• Jesus died for everyone
• Unconditional love is Agape love
• We are all good enough for God’s unconditional love
• Conditional love requires us to do something for this love
• God does not need anything from us
• We should pursue God for His love by loving others
• We have been chosen to receive this unconditional love of God

Additional Reading:

Why Jesus Is Important

Surrender To God

Faith, Hope, and Trust

Love, peace, and joy,

Sabrina