Accepting the Unconditional Love of Your Heavenly Father

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Even in the Midst of Your Disappointment God Still Loves You

If human love does not carry a man beyond himself, it is not love. If love is always discreet, always wise, always sensible and calculating, never carried beyond itself, it is not love at all. It may be affection, it may be warmth of feeling, but it has not the true nature of love in it.

Meg Meeker, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know, quoting Oswald Chambers (New York: Ballantine Books, 2007), 59.

This quote from Oswald Chambers speaks profoundly to me about a human’s inability to love unconditionally. Can a person love someone beyond themselves?

Jesus answered the lawyer who asked Him to identify “the great commandment in the law,” by first explaining it is to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matthew 22:37-38.) He then set forth the second commandment, which is “to love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39.) Jesus did not expect us to love beyond ourselves. Yet, as our heavenly Father, He does exactly that.

A Love That Goes Beyond Oneself

Our heavenly Father loves each of us with an everlasting, unconditional love (Jeremiah 31:3). I think the apostle John said it best: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” (1 John 3:1.)

Jesus suffered and died for us on the cross so that we may have eternal life (John 3:16). What a demonstration of a love that reaches beyond Himself! That love exceeds what any earthly father could offer his children. And that love extends to you and me.

Although nothing can surpass the sacrifice made by Jesus on our behalf, God continues showing His love to us by calling us His children (1 John 3:1). How amazing is that? He is not just talking to the church corporately. He is talking to you and me individually. You and I are God’s children if we have received Him and believed in His name (John 1:12). The mere act of calling us children demonstrates God’s love, a love that goes beyond Himself.

And it keeps getting better! We aren’t just children, but we are heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17). What does that mean? It means that everything Christ has a right to, we also have a right to because we are joint heirs with Him. He gives us His glory (John 17:22), His riches (2 Corinthians 8:9) and all things (Hebrews 1:2). That inheritance is everlasting because it is incorruptible, undefiled, and it does not fade away (1 Peter 1:4). It is unconditional!

An Unconditional Love That Reaches You and Me

When each of us consider our own lives, we likely remember things we’ve done of which we are not proud. In fact, we may actually be very ashamed of some of those things. Although we may have disappointed ourselves and felt as if we have reached the limits of the love of our own earthly parents, we have never disappointed our heavenly Father. (For more information about our inability to disappoint God, see Stop Feeling Guilt and Shame for Disappointing God Now! at Confidence in God.)

Do you know what our heavenly Father does when we’ve messed up? First, He patiently waits until we turn our eyes to Him. He does not want any of us to be lost, but wants us to turn to Him in repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Then He assures us that we need not fear because we will not be put to shame, and we will forget the shame of our youth (Isaiah 54:4).

I remember one day I was lying on my bed and reached for my Bible, which I had not done for some time. I was only eighteen years old, living on my own and had already lost my way. I had begun living a life that I knew was not pleasing to God and contradicted His teachings. And yet there He was like a good father, assuring me with His Word again, drawing me back into His unconditional love. And I knew His love was constant and He would help me turn my life back around to walk with Him if I would just accept His love.

Although I had an earthly father who was absent for the majority of my life and unable to love me the way Oswald Chambers described love, there was God offering His unconditional love to me. And He bestows it on you as well.

Unfortunately, there are many fathers who are physically present in their children’s lives who are unable to love anyone beyond themselves. But God offers His love to His children . . . and He extends it to you!

Confidence in God’s Unconditional Love

No matter what we have done, God loves each of us. Even if we’ve made some pretty bad decisions, living in a way that is inconsistent with God’s Word, He loves us and still wants to draw us near to Him. We can be confident in God’s unconditional love and need only accept it.

Adapted from Hey Dad, It’s Me! Discover the Father Who Loves and Protects You, to be published in October 2021.