Absolute Love
Absolute Love
Love…absolute love…love that has no bounds, no conditions, no pre-qualifiers – just pure, unequivocal, complete and unlimited love. Absolute love is an incredible feeling.
A couple of years ago our family was getting ready to welcome a new little one into our fold. Our oldest daughter, Jessica was expecting her first baby. It would be grandbaby #2 for me and Tom. Our first beautiful, bubbly and brilliant granddaughter, Macie, had just turned 5 and the thought of having a baby cousin was so exciting she could hardly take it. She attended vacation Bible School at the church where her Uncle Cam (Jessica’s husband) was on staff. Some of the members asked Macie if she was excited about the new baby on the way. She enthusiastically replied, “Yes!” She went on to express her deep desire for it to be a baby girl. She just knew the baby was going to be a girl. Then the church member asked, “Well Macie, what if the baby is a boy”? She never missed a beat. She replied, “If it is a girl, I will love it! If it is a boy, I will love it! If it is Mexican, I will love it. But, I really think it is going to be Chinese.” That my friend is love…absolute love...love that has no bound, no conditions, no pre-qualifiers – just pure, unequivocal, complete and unlimited love. Macie loved her cousin even before she knew her. She loved the baby with absolute love. Now, that baby girl – Abigail - is 2 1/2 and getting ready for a new sister. Has anything changed in the way Macie loves Abigail? Absolutely not! They run to each other every time they see one another. It is a beautiful sight.
This morning I was thinking how this is a perfect picture of how God loves us. He loves us with an absolute love. He loves YOU with an absolute love. His love for us has no bounds whatsoever. It is greater than we can comprehend. It is infinite. His love for us has no conditions, no pre-qualifiers. He loves us no matter what we have done, no matter how far we run away, and no matter how long it has been since He has heard from us. His love is pure, unequivocal and complete. And do you know what else? He runs to us every time we come to Him. He wraps His arms around us. He longs to be with us. Read this scripture and allow yourself to comprehend how much He loves us…
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Yes! We are loved with an absolute love!!! Accept it. Believe it. Rest in it!!!! No more searching for love in all the wrong places. No more being held in bondage because your dad, your spouse, your friend, your child, walked away from you. Rest in the great and absolute love your Heavenly Father has for you. YOU…just the way you are…YOU…with your flaws and mess-ups…YOU…with all your baggage, insecurities and fears are LOVED, LOVED, LOVED with an ABSOLUTE LOVE!!!!!
And do you know what else? We are called to love others with an absolute love.
In John 13:34 Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
Remember when Moses said, “Love your neighbor as yourself?” Well, Jesus raised the standard just a bit, don’t you think? Jesus said that we are to love each other as He loves us. Wow! So we are to love with an absolute love…love that has no bounds, no conditions, no pre-qualifiers – just pure, unequivocal, complete and unlimited love. It is not about how we feel. It is all about what we choose to do. Love is an action. People are broken and hurting. Sometimes we have people in our life that are difficult to love because they do not act very loving. But that does not matter. We are still called to love them with an absolute love. The only way we can do that is to follow Jesus’ example. We are to be crucified with Him – dying to our flesh, our feelings, our thoughts, our needs. Then and only then can we begin to love like He loves.
Absolute love…it is an incredible feeling. Accept it and give it. We can do it because He is alive in us.
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