Unconditional

On the front of the motorhome is a license plate Joanne found several years ago. It has a simple statement on it, “Tell the Kids I love them” God.

Love God, love people has been our battle cry as we walk through life. We must allow the Love of our Savior to shine through in all situations. Will it be tough at times, absolutely. When I’m tired, upset or busy is the time when the enemy will do his best to steal my joy and make me angry.

We always see this behavior right before we are to head out on a trip. It’s almost laughable anymore. This past week we’ve had problems with equipment, lost parts, wrong parts, errant websites and all around general dumbness while working very long hours as we prep the second unit for service. These are all trigger points for me, things that set me off.

While dealing with one company on a problem with their product, the person I was talking with was amazed how calm I was. He said I had every right to be upset and that most people would have been very angry and cussed and been screaming and so on and so forth. I simply said anger does not justify bad manners.

Our biggest defense against this type of behavior is recognize what is happening and then respond accordingly. If we allow the enemy to drive how we act and react in life, then he wins…that’s the last thing any of us want.

Blessings

Unconditional
TGIF Today God Is First NextGen
by Charis Hillman Brown

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34

What does it mean to have unconditional love and acceptance for others? The world seems to do a good job. The song “Born This Way”, a statement of unconditional acceptance by Lady GaGa has been on the Billboard Music Chart’s #1 spot for several weeks. But as Christians, even though it’s our command to love others, we seem to have failed miserably. This is evident in the world’s view of us as hypocritical and judgmental, nothing more than a political action group trying to push our agenda.

But Jesus is no respecter of persons, and He is no respecter of sins. He modeled unconditional love in the story of the woman who had committed adultery and was brought to Jesus in the temple courts. The Pharisees said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” Jesus had been kneeling on the ground writing in the sand. He said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” He then said to her, “I do not condemn you, go and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:1-11)

We need to love others, and also realize that their behavior is caused by a root of something else that happened long ago. Issues like addiction, pornography, homosexuality, and overeating have to do with lack of love in a person’s life or traumatic experiences that happened at a very young age. If we are really going to be Jesus to people, we need to show the type of love that Jesus modeled. That may include dealing with our own issues so we don’t come off as hypocrites along the way. We need to model what we say.

Jesus loves us before we change. Jesus loves us if we never change. He invites us to experience the fullness of His love by giving up our sinful desires, but His love remains the same.

Is there someone you could love unconditionally today?

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:35