Unconditional love is a concept that means showing love towards someone regardless of his or her actions or beliefs.
Conditional love is a concept that means love is shown on a performance only basis. Meaning if you do this, or act that way, or perform in some way that meets an expectation, love will be awarded.
Unconditional love is 'given freely' to the loved one 'no matter what'. Conditional love is 'earned' on the basis of conscious or unconscious conditions being met by the lover.
I know I have experienced both conditional and unconditional love. For sure, I am more fond of receiving unconditional love. But Im not so sure I always give out unconditional love.
Starting with my husband, at times he disappoints me, I should never let disappointment resemble my love for him.
Or with my children, when inconvenience occurs, I shouldn't respond with my angry eyes which doesnt show love at all.
With my family members, whether we agree or disagree with how we deal with life, that shouldn't affect the way I love them.
At times even with friends, they might not treat me the way I treat them, should I still unconditionally love them?
It seems the love that parents have for their children is as close to unconditional love as we can get without the help if God's love in our lives. We continue to love our children through the good and bad times, and we dont stop loving them if they dont meet our expectations. We make the choice to love our children even when we don't "feel" love for them. This is similar to God's love for us, but God's love transcends the human definition of love to a point that is hard for us to comprehend.
God is Love, and His love is very different from human love. God's love is unconditional, and it's not based on feelings or emotions. He doesn't love us because we're lovable or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because He is love. He created us to have a loving relationship with Him, and He sacrificed His own Son (who also willingly died for us) to restore that relationship.
God is Love! As such, true love -- God's love -- can be summed up in this passage of scripture:
"7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:7-11)
God is ready to pour out His love on us, and He wants to teach us how to love others as He loves us. I pray that we can be an example of Gods love by showing it unconditionally to our family and friends around us.
2 comments:
What a great post. I too have often thought about conditional versus unconditional love. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with others.
Audrey :)
Wonderful thoughts. I don't think I even had a concept of unconditional love until I had children. It seems that they can do some of the grossiest things to you, annoy you, and totally change any plans that you had for your life but in the end it doesn't matter. All you know is that they are yours.
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