Love is Unconditional, but What is Love?

God’s love is unconditional. We use the word love to describe many things. For instance, someone can love their spouse, their children, their car, and even pizza! But what is love?

Love is more than just a feeling.  Feelings come and go like the weather. Love however, is more enduring than feelings. Love is a representation of your beliefs and values. It is an expression of your sincere thoughts. Jesus made this point when He said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

Who and what you love depends on what you believe. If you believe that someone is valuable, then your actions will show that you love them. But love is not just actions, it is a conviction that something is good. Your actions represent what you really believe about someone.

Our beliefs tend to be based on what we have experienced. For example, someone who loves pizza do so because they have learned through experience that pizza tastes good. This type of love is very shallow because it is conditional. If you love something based on good experiences, it is very likely that you will stop loving it if you have bad experiences with it.

This shallow love is the type of love that we tend to show to one another. We love our families and friends because they are, for the most part, kind to us. Very rarely will someone show love to just anyone, and almost never does anyone show love towards their enemies, or towards people they do not like. Our love is conditional.

Unlike the world’s love, God’s love is unconditional. 1 John 4:8 says that, “God is love” and so He loves us because it is His very nature to love. We as humans are finite, temporary, beings and this is why our love is very limited and often weak.

God on the other hand, is infinite, and since God is love, His love is therefore infinite! Furthermore, we know that He loves us because we are His creation. Genesis 1:27 tells us that, “God created man in His own image” and because we are His handiwork and we bear His image, He always has, and always will love us no matter what!

God’s love for us is so great that He was willing to come down to us in human form, feel our pain, bear our burdens, and pay the ultimate price for our sins. Jesus was willing to become one of us in order to show us and teach us the true meaning of love. His love is unconditional.

He taught us that the two greatest commandments are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Jesus lived out both of these in His life through His obedience to the Father in all things, and through His willing sacrifice of Himself on the cross. Because of love, Jesus was willing to die for us so that we might spend eternity with Him.

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