Unconditional Love

Unconditional love is a wonderful concept but sadly, not something we see very often. If we’re honest, we tend to put conditions on our love. I think oftentimes we don’t even realize we do it. Look at your own life. How often do you go out of your comfort zone for someone else? How far outside of your comfort zone do you dare to go? Sometimes we go a little bit out of our comfort zone and praise ourselves for the tiny step we’ve taken thinking we’ve gone far beyond our border of comfort. While the small steps are important, I encourage each of us to continually push the borders of our comfort. I’m speaking to myself as well. It’s easy to love those who think and believe like you do. It’s not as easy to love those who think and believe radically different than you. Of course, it’s easy to say we love them, but do our actions show it? Do we spend time with them? Do we listen to them openly so we can learn something from them, or do we listen just to use what they say to prove how we are right?

I have been on a journey of discovery this past while. A couple of years ago God dropped this phrase into my heart: beauty in diversity. There truly is so much beauty in diversity and if we are open, we can learn from everyone. God created us all in His image and likeness. If we only learn from those who are like us, we only see one small piece of God. If you think you’ve got God figured out, think again. If you want to know God more, get to know people more. Some people don’t even realize or believe they are created in God’s image. To some, God is a scary concept. As you get to know people and see the image of God in them, perhaps you’ll enable them to see the image of God in themselves as well. Choose to see the beauty in diversity. Choose to see the beauty in all of humanity, even those you don’t agree with. My journey has led me to building new friendships this year with people all around the world. Some of these new friends think like me in many areas, some think vastly different. Each one is so important to me and so important to my growth in Christ. Loving people without conditions can feel scary, but once you choose to do it, it is so freeing. I will say that it sounds easier than it actually is. Sometimes when our thoughts and beliefs are challenged by others, we have the tendency to just defend our thoughts and beliefs without actually asking ourselves why we believe what we believe. Do we believe it because it’s a truth inside of us, or do we believe it because we were trained to believe it? Those are good questions to ask ourselves. Ask yourself thought provoking questions and then be absolutely honest with yourself. The reality that is found within you is what will change your life and build others’ lives as well. I believe we’re in a time of digging deep, a time of discovering the depth of reality within us. It’s available to all, although many are too afraid to go beyond the borders of their comfortable thinking. When I read about the life of Jesus, He wasn’t one to stay in His comfort zone. He continually reached beyond the boundaries of religion into the depth of reality. His life and His unconditional love changed the world. What do you want for your life? Do you want to be comfortable or radical like Jesus? Are you willing to stretch the areas of your thinking that have become comfortable? Are you willing to truly love people as they are without putting conditions on them? I encourage you to dig deep, step beyond your comfort zone, build relationships with the people you’d generally be least likely to build relationships with. Be open to truly learn from them. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll discover.