Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (MSG)
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him...
1 John 2:5 (NKJV)
I have had the undeserved privilege as a person to have been loved unconditionally. But this occurrence in itself is a demonstration of unconditional love as I am coming to understand it. Unconditional love is unconditional, and it did not matter whether I deserved it or not in the first place. What's even more amazing than the whole idea of receiving such kind love is the source of it, Jesus Christ. I believe there has been no greater account of unconditional love manifesting on this earth than in the act of Christ giving His life for me and for all on the cross. It's amazing really; almost making no sense when looked at literally: why would the God of this universe even bother to be mindful of a mess like me? There it is again-unconditional love at work. I may not be making sense right now, but as you can probably already tell, I have been pretty worked up by this ideal. This partly due to the fact that I am beginning to realize that God's unconditional love towards me has manifested and is present through the people in my life. For instance, I know that my parents, pastors, family members have always loved my unconditionally. But lately, I have just been so amazed and overwhelmed at how unconditional love is being expressed towards me in my current relationship. And for this, I am ever grateful and thankful
Lastly, a close friend of mine told me last night that you can't really love someone unconditionally unless you love yourself in such a way first. I just thought that that was a pretty interesting revelation. And yea, this entry has been a scramble-fest as you can see, but what I want to really point out is that unconditional love is no ordinary love, coming from no ordinary source-God Himself. If you and I want to demonstrate this love to the people in our lives, we have to start at the source. Unconditional love is hard...but it is not impossible. There's indeed a bit of a learning curve to it, but I assure you that it's the only kind of love you really want to be throwing around...
