“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
“Mom, Nate doesn’t love me! What am I gonna do?” Davey was fighting to keep back his tears. His little brother had been in such a good mood yesterday, but today little Nate did not seem to want to have anything to do with Davey.
“Oh, honey. Little Nate is teething. His gums hurt, and he gets really grouchy – really quickly.”
“But yesterday, he acted like I was his best friend!” wailed Davey. “He let me hold him, and he made all those vroom-vroom sounds he likes to make with my cars. Yesterday, we played all day together, and all I had to do to make him smile was just look at him! But today, he won’t even let me get near him! What’d I do wrong?”
“Davey, it wasn’t something you did wrong. Nate’s just a baby, and he has mood swings. But he doesn’t feel good. He loves you, and he’ll learn to love you even more. He just doesn’t like anyone right now.”
That is one hard thing about baby brothers and sisters. You never know from one day to the next whether or not they will treat you nicely. They are usually thinking about themselves, so their love for you is dependent upon how they feel that day. One day you might be on their “good side,” but the next day, you might be in big trouble with them.
Here’s some good news: God does not put conditions (rules) on His love. He does not stop loving His people for no good reason. In fact, even if we were to give God good reasons to change His mind, He would not. If you are God’s child, you can count on Him to keep loving you, no matter what.
Why is it that God can keep loving, no matter what, but human beings are not very good at that? Well, it has to do with God’s character. God IS love, according to the Bible. God’s love is never-changing, and God’s love is “unconditional.” “Unconditional” means it is not based upon what we can do to earn favor, and it is not based upon whether or not we mess up and lose favor with God.”
Davey’s little brother seemed to keep changing his mind about Davey. But if Davey is a believer, he can trust that God will never change his mind about loving him.
God’s love is not based upon whether or not we deserve it.
My Response:
» Do I deserve God’s love?
» Why is God’s love called “unconditional”?
» What is my love like toward my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?