True love

Deuteronomy 28:1 HCSB
"Now if you faithfully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all His commands I am giving you today, the Lord your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth."

Many of us know true unconditional love. Not the love between spouses but the love between child and parent. I believe it can be said that one or both of our parents have, at one point or another, shown love unconditionally- beyond our own understanding.  

Remember a time that your parent acted unconditionally toward you. How did it make you feel? Did it humble you? Did it bring remorse to your heart? Did you ever make that mistake again? Did you ever sin against your parent again? What did they do?

Forgiveness is an amazing thing. We are taught forgiveness at a very very early age. I believe forgiveness is the first step to unconditional love. After forgiveness is obedience.

Once we have been forgiven of a mishap and truly repented of it we don't want to do it again. We don't want to let our parents down again. We want them to be proud of us and know that we love them just as much as they love us.

Couldn't it be said that this relationship is the same between you and God?  He knows we aren't perfect. He knows that we are going to sin, make poor choices and fall from Him daily. He knows that we struggle. However, He has shown the ultimate form of unconditional love. He gave us His son for our sins, Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

He was God's son born of Mary. Jesus was accused of blasphemy and crucified. He died a horrible death. While in the desert after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he was given an out. Satan came to him and reminded him that he didn't have to do what God was calling him to do; he tempted him with lies. Jesus knew what God's calling was for him; fulfilling Old Testament prophecy--dying for our sins.

Matthew 26:28 HCSB
"For this is my blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins."

He knew it was going to be gruesome. Showing his humanity, he asked God to reconsider (in so many words).

Matthew  26:39 HCSB
"Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, "My Father! If it possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will."

Jesus wasn't all that different than you and me.
Jesus was born, like you and me. Jesus was a human, like you and me. Jesus believed in God, like you and me. Jesus lived on the Earth, like you and me. Jesus was tempted daily, like you and me. Jesus was tempted by Satan, like you and me. Jesus died, like you and I will. Jesus was resurrected, like you and I will.

See. We're not all that different. What is the difference?  Unconditional love and obedience.

I believe we have that unconditional love for our parents and we show it through our obedience. Even at 38, I am obedient to my parents. I don't think it ever stops. I see obedience from my parents toward my grandparents. It's innate in us from our infant/ child bonding moments. Our bonding moments with our parents begin at a very early age. Bonding happens through many avenues: love, food, fellowship, conversations, entertainment, educational moments, sorrowful times, joyful times, etc. Once that bond has been established obedience is easier. Once obedience is established disobedience is harder. We tend to not want to let our parents down.

Want to know something interesting. All those things I just said about bonding and obedience with our parents I have found to be true with God!

Once I began establishing bonding moments with God I found myself not wanting to be disobedient. I am still tempted and fall sometimes but I've found my repentance is similar to my repentance with my parents; I don't want to let Him down.

I challenge you to try it. Make a commitment to bond with your Heavenly Father. I promise once you do, you'll be amazed at the results. You'll be fulfilled and want to be Jesus-like.

I pray that you make bonding time a priority and that you will see what true unconditional love is!

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."