And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons either our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
God's
love for us in unconditional, it always has been and it always will be.
One of
the lessons we need to learn is that of unconditional love of others that are
our friends and family members. Too many times people walk around
"wounded" due to having anger or hurt feelings about things that have
been said to them by parents, friends or family members.
When you
question some of these verbal abusers they often say, "I was just kidding
you."
Or if you
confront them with it, years later, they often say to you, "I don't
remember that!"
All of us
have the need to be loved unconditionally, just the way we are. I once worked with a man who had two
daughters. This man was into "physical" beauty. He had so much pride,
so much ego and so much money that he thought he deserved to have only the best
looking women by his side. He constantly lamented the fact, in public, that his
younger daughter was not as beautiful as his older daughter. Once he said,
"My younger daughter has so much to offer, I just hope that one day a man
will love her that can get past her looks."
When the
department I was in had a picnic for all of the folks that worked there, I
looked forward to seeing this mans daughters. I was in for a shock. Yes, the
older one was blonde and a knockout. The younger one however was far from being
unattractive, not to mention the fact that she was sweet and not as standoffish
as the older one. I could not help but wonder what was wrong with this man's
standards that he couldn't see that fact.
Had the
man spoken blessing into this girls life, she would have been highly successful
in life, but his judgmental attitude unfounded on anything I could see,
probably led the woman in later life to a succession of failed relationships.
She probably went from one man to another trying to get the validation she
never got from her own father.
I never
watch much, "regular" television. Last night I turned it on about 15
minutes before the local news. There was a reality show on called, "Dating
in the Dark" I had no clue it existed prior to then, but apparently I
caught the end of the last episode, where people who had been dating without
seeing the other person, were finally getting to met each other.
The
comments made regarding the looks of the people, by both sexes after they met,
were so based on the physical attributes of the other person. I begin to think that it is no wonder
life is so hard for people nowadays.
In dating people look for "perfection." If they don't find it
in one person, they move on. No
emphasis seems to be put on the "inside" or spiritual side of the
person.
God has
been dealing with me lately on learning to love unconditionally, always. That
includes saying things that build folks up, not things that tear them down. I
mean, sure, we could all do a lot of "fruit picking" in the lives of
others. We could concentrate on all the things "we think" God needs
to deal with them about.
Psychologically,
people often try to correct the faults they perceive in others rather then
looking at things they could change in their own walk with the Lord. I also believe that some of the faults
we most often want to change in the lives of others are things we also need to
change in our own lives.
Or how
can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the splinter from your eye’; and
look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your
brother’s eye. Matthew 7:4-5
A lot of
Christian friendships are broken when one of the parties' involved thinks they
discern a fault in the other party that God wants them to point out to
them. God wants us to quit that.
The Holy Spirit will lead all of us into "truth" when the time is
right. God doesn't need me or you to do that.
When a
person is in emotional pain the very last thing they need around them is judgment
of themselves or their situation. What they need is unconditional love, the
kind that lifts through the difficult times. I don't care how close we think we
are to the Lord, and how much discernment we think we have, when a person is in
a lifeboat sinking they don't need a lecture on how they should have worn a
PFD. What they need is someone to lend a hand and pull them out, regardless of
how they got there.
We need
to learn to love ourselves unconditionally, also. We can overcome the careless,
critical things said to us by others, when we learn who we are in God and what
He thinks about us. God picked me and you to be His child prior to our birth.
He did that because He loves us and sees us as His perfect creation. He
designed us each, just the way we are, with skill and love. He doesn't want us,
or anyone else, questioning His creative abilities.
I once went through a
course called, "The Learning to Love Yourself Workbook." One of the
things I learned was that humans tend to demand from others what we are most
unwilling to give.
In the book the author says and I quote
"Isn’t that funny. We expect and demand someone to give us what we are not
willing to give. Unconditional love. If we expect that from someone to make us
feel safe and loved, wanted and desired, don’t we have to understand what it
is? Don’t we have to feel it for ourselves before we can accept or expect
anyone else to give it to us "
Today is a new day. Today
I want to quit judging people for their looks, their walk with God, or anything
else. All that matters is the soul within each of us, and we need to learn to
nourish that soul and build it up, as God wants us too. Words hurt and they can't be taken back
once they are spoken, no matter how much we try and convince someone "I
was only kidding." Today, I
am going to do my best to be a friend to all and to put my petty judgments
aside. How about you?
Father, Thank you for
loving us all unconditionally. We know what real love is, because of You. You
sacrificed your Son, to show us how very much we are loved by You! Help us to
love others we come in contact with today as You have loved us. In Your Name,
the Name above all names. Amen and Amen