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Is God’s Love Unconditional?

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“Is God’s love really unconditional? The phrase unconditional love is not even in the Bible!”

Ever heard that one? How about this one:

“God’s love is unconditional, but…”

Statements like these make me shake my head in wonder.

What do you think the word love means?

Is God’s love unconditional? It must be, otherwise it is not love. There are no ifs, buts, and maybes when it comes to love.

“But ‘unconditional love’ is not in the Bible.”

Sure it is. It’s in plenty of places.

In scripture, the love of God is captured in the noun, agape. God is the source and definition of agape-love.

According to that well-known chapter we read at weddings, agape-love is patient, kind, and not self-seeking. It is not easily angered and it keeps no record of wrongs.

Agape-love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Agape-love never fails.

Sounds like true love to me.

The love of God in action

In the New Testament, two verbs are used to describe the manner in which God loves. The first verb, agapao, means to be well pleased or fond of or contented with. It is the unconditional love God the Father has for his Son, for the whole world, and for his children.

Which means God loves you the same way he loves Jesus (see John 17:23).

The second verb, phileo, means fondness or affection. It is the affection that God the Father has for his Son Jesus and the disciples. It is the friendship Jesus had for his good friend Lazarus and the wretched Laodiceans.

Yes, those Laodiceans.

The love of God is also captured in the adjective agapetos which is usually translated as beloved. The word means dearly loved, esteemed, favorite, and worthy of love.

This beautiful word beloved captures God’s heart for you. Your heavenly Father is fond of you. You are his esteemed favorite and he is well pleased with you. He looks at you with a feeling of deep contentment knowing that you are his dearly loved child.

How religion distorts the love of God

Manmade religion portrays God as capricious and his love as variable. “Sometimes he loves you, sometimes he doesn’t.” But the gospel of grace declares God’s love for you is constant and shadowless.

Religion prostitutes the love of God by putting price tags on his affection. “You have to earn God’s favor.” But the gospel of grace declares that God loved you while you were a sinner and nothing can separate you from his love.

Religion demands that you impress God with the fervency of your love, but the gospel of grace inspires you to trust in your heavenly Father who loves you without limit.

Everything that is good about the good news is good and true because your heavenly Father loves you.

He always has and he always will. God never changes.

How do I know that God loves me unconditionally?

The cross is the proof.

Jesus knew the name of every soldier who beat him, every person who mocked him, and every Pharisee who thought he was the devil. Yet he still went to the cross so that they might be reconciled to God.

The wonder of the cross reveals God’s unconditional love for us.

God did not wait for us to repent or get cleaned up before he loved us. While we were in the filth of our sin and self-righteousness he came and hugged us.

God will never make you jump through hoops to earn his love. He won’t love you any more if you succeed and he won’t love you any less if you fail. If you lead millions to Christ or none at all, he will love you just the same.

There is nothing you can do to make him love you more, and nothing you can do to make him love you less.

His love endures forever.

For scriptures and Greek definitions, check out the entry for “Love of God” in the Grace Glossary. Image: Prodigal Daughter by Charlie Mackesy

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Who’s Your Daddy?

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When our first child was born, there were some complications and she had to spend a few days in a special care ward.

She was kept in an incubator and the only way I could touch her was by putting my hands through holes in the side of the incubator wall. She was only a few hours old when I came to her, stroked her, and asked her a question.

“Who’s your daddy?”

I didn’t expect her to answer, so I answered for her.

“I’m your daddy, and I love you.”

It thrilled me to tell her this again and again.

“Who’s your daddy? I am. It’s me. I’m that guy. I’m your father, you’re my baby, and I love you.”

The communication was all one-way but that was fine with me. I couldn’t shut up. I had just become a father and my heart was fit to burst.

This little girl belonged to me and I belonged to her.

There were many things I wanted to tell her, but the first and most important thing she needed to hear was that I was her daddy and I loved her.

The most important question

The most important question you will ever ask is, “Who is my father?” Your answer to this question will influence every other question of life.

Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here?

Get the father question wrong and you will miss it on every other issue. Your identity will be muddled, and you will have no lasting security.

In your legitimate desire to define yourself, you may settle for inferior choices such as career or ministry. “I am a doctor.” “I am a pastor.”

But the truth is you are much more than what you do. You are your father’s child.

But who is your father?

Jesus answers the most important question: “Who’s your Father? God is your Father!”

Our Father in heaven … (Matt. 6:9)

What is God’s name?

The saints of the Old Testament had many names for God, but Jesus gave us the best name of all:

Abba, Father. (Mark 14:36)

Abba is not the name of a distant and mysterious God. Abba is a word of familial intimacy, not unlike Papa (which is how the Message Bible translates it). Abba is your heavenly Father who cares for you and longs for you to know him.

Why did Jesus come?

Jesus came to reveal God the Father to you. He came so that you might know who you truly are. He came that you might experience the abundant life of living as the apple of your Father’s eye.

Your heavenly Father is for you. He has tilted the universe in your favor.

With a Father like this, how can you fail?

Jesus said, “Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:28). What is the name of God that Jesus wants to glorify? He just told us. It’s Father. He has other names, but this is the name he wants us to use when we talk to him.

Near the end of his life, Jesus prayed,

Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known … (John 17:25–26)

Jesus is in the business of making the Father known. Yet many don’t know God as their Father. Like the saints of old, they see him as Lord but not Abba.

It’s as if Jesus never came.

What is God like?

A.W. Tozer once said:

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

Your picture of God is the single greatest influence on your life. Define God and you define yourself.

For instance, if you imagine God as a terrifying punisher, you’ll be fearful and guilt-ridden. If you see him as a semi-deaf sky-Santa, you’ll be a superstitious worrier. And if you believe God to be distant or dead, chances are you’ll act as a little god of your own little world.

Your view of God matters, but what is God the Father like?

He is exactly like the Son. Or the Son is exactly like the Father (Heb. 1:3). God is like Jesus. Not roughly so, but exactly so.

Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). If you ran into God the Father at a party you might mistake him for Jesus or vice versa. That’s how similar they are.

This similarity makes it easy for us to dismiss the silly caricatures of manmade religion. Since Jesus is not a semi-deaf sky-Santa, then neither is God. And since Jesus is not a terrifying punisher, neither is God. Your heavenly Father is exactly like Jesus.

A Father like the Son

God the Father and God the Son don’t have separate agendas. God is not in heaven recording your sins while Jesus is forgiving them. Nor is he giving you sicknesses so Jesus can heal you.

The Father and the Son are exactly alike, they’re on the same page, and they have the same heart.

Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

The bad news of the orphaned life says, “You are on your own and nobody cares.” But the good news Jesus proclaimed says, “You are not alone and your heavenly Father cares about even the smallest details of your life” (see Matt. 6:31–32).

Perhaps you are asking questions like these: Who am I? Why am I here? Is God angry with me? Good fathers love it when their children ask questions, but you will never get good answers unless you see God as your good Father.

Who am I? You are your Father’s dearly-loved child.

Why am I here? Because your Father loved you into existence. You are his dream come true.

Is God mad at me? Nope. He rejoices over you with singing.

Can he forgive me for the things I’ve done? He already did.

Does he love me for who I am? He thinks you’re great! You’re a one-of-a-kind special and he delights in you.

Will he disown me if I sin? Never. Would you disown your own children?

What does he expect from me? He expects you to settle in his love and flourish in his grace.

Whether you are in the pigpen of dead works or the special care ward for broken people, you need to know that your heavenly Father loves you like crazy. He reaches down with love in his eyes and healing in his hands to ask you one question:

Who’s your Daddy? I’m your Daddy, you’re my child, and I love you.

This is the good news an orphaned world most needs to hear.

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Extracted from Paul’s book Who’s Your Daddy which you can get for free by signing up as a subscriber.

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727. “This Is Love: Not That We Loved God, but That He Loved Us”

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Following up on last week’s program about the New Covenant command to believe in Jesus and love one another … Under the law, it was considered one of the greatest commandments to put forth all of one’s strength and effort to love God and each other. The entire law revolved around this and yet nobody had ever done it before the cross.

In this New Covenant Jesus has established, what is so different about our love for God and for each other compared to the old way? John admitted nobody had ever really loved God … the gospel is not built upon a foundation of our love for God - once again it was about what God has done by giving us His Son and demonstrating His love for us - and the results are the difference between light and darkness.



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Three things people get wrong about the Laodiceans

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The Laodicean church is probably the most infamous church in history.

Preachers use it as an example of how Jesus deals with slack Christians. “Jesus is angry with these guys and he’ll be angry with you unless you get on fire for the Lord!” Demonstrating their expertise on the subject, they refer to an ancient aqueduct that brought lukewarm water to the city. “Just as that water made people sick, you make Jesus sick when you fail to perform.”

Yet there are three things people regularly get wrong about the Laodiceans:

  1. Contrary to what you may have heard, Jesus did not rebuke them for their lack of zeal
  2. There was no aqueduct bringing hot water from Hierapolis or cold water from Colossae
  3. Jesus didn’t hate the lukewarm Laodiceans; he loved them

Are you surprised? It’s all true! Jesus’s acceptance of us is not earned through enthusiastic participation in church activities; most pastors only know the aqueduct myth because they heard it from someone who heard it from someone; and despite their poor behavior, Jesus deeply loved the Laodiceans. But don’t take my word for it. Look at how Jesus closes his letter to the Laodiceans: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline” (Rev. 3:19).

Those whom I love.

Commentators typically dismiss the Laodiceans as the worst of the seven churches. If so, the good news is that Jesus loves even the worst of us. The Laodiceans were a pompous pack of poseurs. Smug, rich, and full of themselves, they likely had few friends. Yet here is Jesus, the friend of sinners and poseurs, extending the hand of friendship. It is an astonishing display of grace.

Jesus loves the Laodiceans

Jesus’ letter to the Laodiceans is one of the greatest love letters ever written, yet many don’t see it. They hear the rebuke and they picture an angry God who’s out to punish nonperformers. Read the letter to the end. Hear Jesus speaking to “those whom I love.”

A reader once told me the Laodiceans were disgusting and useless, and perhaps they were. But they were also loved, and this makes all the difference. Many people don’t realize this. It’s like they haven’t read the whole letter. Jesus loved the Laodiceans. That’s why he died for them. That’s why he wrote to them.

This love for the Laodiceans is so inexplicable, so unreasonable, that some imagine Jesus is no longer speaking to them. “The last few verses of Revelation chapter three are for the other six churches.”

But that won’t wash. The Spirit is speaking to all the churches, even the wretched and unlikable ones. Words of correction may be directed to certain individuals, but God’s love is for every single one of us without exception.

The Laodiceans thought they merited God’s love on account of their all-round awesomeness and good works, but love that is earned is not love. Jesus shatters their illusion by revealing their wretchedness. Then he says, “I love you in your wretchedness.”

That’s love.

The letter to the Laodiceans makes many people frown. “Look at those awful people. God hates them and I hate them too.” Yet this letter ought to make us smile and jump for joy. “If Jesus loves these guys, he surely loves me!”

Christ’s letter to the Laodiceans is sometimes interpreted as Exhibit A in the Manual on Church Discipline. “Remember what Jesus said to those lukewarm losers.” It ought to be recognized as one of the greatest displays of divine grace. “Remember that Jesus loves Laodiceans!”

What does it mean to reprove and discipline?

“To reprove is to punish,” says the grim-faced preacher. “Jesus punishes those he loves.”

He does no such thing, and why would he, since he has borne our punishment on the cross? To penalize the Laodiceans, or anyone, would be to diminish his own costly sacrifice.

To reprove means to convict or expose. To discipline means to disciple or train. These activities are connected because one of the ways our loving Father trains us is by turning on the lights and exposing the dangers around us.

The Laodiceans were heading the wrong way. Jesus spoke sharply not to shame them but to save them and turn them around. By revealing the bankruptcy of their self-righteousness and the depths of their wretchedness, he hoped they would come to him for grace.

Pride is a prison. It diminishes us and severs our connection with others and the Lord. The illusion of self-sufficiency fills our mind with falsehoods. “I don’t need anyone or anything.” Thank God for the true and faithful Witness who speaks truth to our lies.

When our conceits have deceived us and our successes have seduced us, thank God for a friend like Jesus.

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Extracted and adapted from Letters from Jesus.

Paul’s new book, The Chocolate Gospel, is available on Patreon now.

Discovering True Love

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John is known as the apostle of love. Let’s look at some well-known verses in one of his letters.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God….
—1 John 4:7-8

Unfortunately, this scripture has caused much confusion. We think this means that we should love other people so God can love us, and if we love others, it proves we love Him. Then He can love us back. No! This is what I call a dyslexic verse.

This verse says: If you know God’s love for you, only then will you be able to love others, and when you love others, you understand God’s love for YOU! You can only share or give what you’ve received.

I John 4:9 and 10: “In this was manifest ed the love of God toward us (This is how the love of God is shown toward us). Herein is love (this is what love is), not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (parenthesis mine)

When “the love of God” is mentioned, people think they need to do something because that’s what we’ve been taught. But it says the love of God is “toward” us. This is about how He responds to you, not you to Him!

God is not concerned about whether or not you love Him. What is important to God is: Do you know that He loves you? You can put on your mask and say the right things, but God sees your heart. He wants you to know that HE LOVES YOU! Once you know He loves you, loving Him is no problem. Understanding His love for you is what brings peace and changes you!

Most Christians have heard about the love of God, but few believe it. It’s easy to believe that He loved the world. But we question it as individuals. We find it difficult to believe that He loves us in spite of our shortcomings. Our shortcomings and failures actually cause us to believe we are separated from the love of God.

This is my charge to you today. Don’t just listen to what His love is about, believe it. Start persuading your heart of His love toward you today. Don’t wait a moment longer. Your very life depends on you understanding His great love.

Love: The Foundation

The truth that most people seem to ignore is, love is the foundation for everything that God did.

John 3:16 is a wonderful reminder of this.

“For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (KJV)

I John 4:16 tells us that “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

Love is not something God does. Love is who God is. Therefore, no matter what God does, Love is doing it. It makes no difference how or when you come into contact with God, you will be contacting love. There is never a time that God is not love. Have you ever opened your Bible and found that God has changed His mind, said He doesn’t love the world and takes back everything He’s ever said and done for mankind? No! He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Jesus Christ is [eternally changeless, always] the same yesterday and today and forever. —Hebrews 13:8 (AMP)

Blessings,
Arthur Meintjes

Agent Romanoff and the Furious Love of God

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  One of the greatest mistakes we can make, is we undervalue the love of Almighty God. We put his wild, reckless love in a box of undersized belief and we bury it under a temple of tradition. God’s love is this. God’s love is that. We think we have it all figured out. Except we don’t. We have not even scratched the surface of his love for us. Love, like the God who gives it, is far greater than we know or imagine. Every year, I glimpse a new facet of God’s love and I am freshly amazed. Some years ago I realized God’s love and grace are hyper. Lately I am learning that his love is aggressive, fierce, and sometimes furious. Furious love. Fierce grace. These are not adjectives that come to mind when we picture Jesus meek and mild. But there was nothing meek and mild about the cross. A hundred years ago, the poet GK Chesterton coined the phrase “the furious love of God.” I define furious love as relentless love that will never quit. It is a never-say-die love that rescues us from those things that seek to harm us. It is a love that [...]

695. Love Is Better Than Law

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In the third chapter of Galatians, Paul stated “the law is not of faith.” We’ve progressed to Galatians chapter 5, where the apostle attempts to encourage these people to avoid the pitfall of going from the freedom of grace back into the law of works. They had been bewitched and deceived into another gospel that really wasn’t the gospel at all. If they were going to choose the system of written commandments (such as circumcision), they would be obligated to keep the entire law - all 613 commands. Those who were attempting to be justified by law (works) had fallen from grace. Paul went on to admonish not to use their freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. So how does one walk in the Spirit and avoid the desire of the flesh? It’s done apart from the law of works and it’s rooted in the perfect love of God which was manifested through Jesus Christ… this is where we abide as believers inside of a New Covenant.



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600. Looking Back – How We Crossed the Grace Bridge

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On the celebration of the 600th Growing in Grace weekly podcast, Mike & Joel reflect back on how they transferred from various forms of religious legalism found in much of Christianity, to the grace of God and unconditional love found in Jesus Christ. This is their story, but it’s not their song… It’s just blessed assurance.



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Does God Love Me When I Sin?

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I heard a pastor of a large church tell his congregation, “God hates you, God is sick of you, God is frustrated with you, God is weary of you.” And why is God in such a dark mood? Because of our sin and apathy. Jesus went through hell for us, but we can’t even show up to church on time. I wish sermons like this were rare, but they are not. Religious manipulators love to frighten those Christ died for because those who are afraid are easier to control. The truth is God loves you like crazy. He loves you when you’re up and he loves you when you’re down. He loves you when you get it right and he loves you when you get it wrong. Whether you’re preaching condemnation from the pulpit or receiving it in the pew, he loves you. “But Paul, does he love me when I sin?” Aren’t you listening? Haven’t you seen the cross? The proof of God’s amazing love is this: that it was while we were sinners that Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, Phillips) You need to settle this in your heart. God loves you. Period. Whether you’re in the zone [...]

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