Thoughts on Unconditional Love

"Love isn't something you have to deserve."

I found this line in a book I was just reading and it got me thinking . . . About a lot of things.  It's true, what it says.  Love isn't something that we have to deserve.  God is the ultimate example of that.  He loves us no matter what.  When I think about that . . . It's something that's really hard to fathom. But I think that's partly because I, and people in general, tend to forget that the opposite of this statement is also true . . . No one has to deserve our love. 

We live in a world where love is very much centered on what the other person can do for us.  What we can get out of our relationships with other people.  We're not supposed to love someone unless they love us back. But that's not the way God created us.  We are made in His image and likeness and that means we are meant to love as He does.  Unconditionally.  

That means loving people we don't even know.  Loving even the people who always hurt us.  Loving even the people who hate us.  Because in the end, they don't have to do anything to deserve our love.  Because love isn't someything you have to deserve.  It's something you have to give.  Freely.  Because that's what He does.  Because that's what He created us to do.  And our lives are meant to be spent doing as much as we can to become like Him.

So the next time you get the opportunity, try to show that love to others.  It doesn't have to be big or hard.  Give a random stranger in the grocery store a smile and "Have a good day."  Do a chore for someone in your family without being asked.  Or do your best to be charitable to someone who can't even stand the sight of you.  The details surrounding who you show it to or how you show it don't even matter.  What matters is that even though they may not deserve your love, you still give it to them.  And that you do it out of love for Him.