Unconditional love is a universal need. Our hearts cry out for someone to love us without restriction. Someone who knows us completely and loves us as we are.
As weak, imperfect beings, we often seek love in harmful ways and feel desperate to find true acceptance.
Being aware of our own sinful choices and our bent toward selfishness, many of us doubt that anyone could truly love us. We think that if others really knew us, we’d be rejected. Because God is all-knowing, we may assume He couldn’t possibly love us. So many start a journey to earn or achieve that love.
We often believe the lie that if we do enough good deeds and work hard, maybe God will at least like us a little. Or we decide His love isn’t possible and spend our lives avoiding God or in wanton indulgence, thinking whatever pleasure we can find in this life is all that’s available.
Personally, I’ve all too often fallen into the trap of believing that I can work hard enough to earn God’s love. Or I’ve thought that just appearing to be better than I am somehow makes me good. All the while, God knows exactly how sinful I am and loves me anyway.
Our perfect Heavenly Father loves us with an everlasting, unconditional love and is constantly communicating that to all who will listen. He calls all who will believe and receive His love His beloved children. He shows His love for us in countless ways.
God Showed His Love by Creating Us in His Image
From the moment God took dust and created Adam, He has poured His love into humanity and sought a relationship with humanity. The first chapter of the Holy Bible records, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them…God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:27, 31a NIV).
He formed humanity in His own image, desiring connection with us. How much He must love us to make us like Him!
God showed His love by Giving Us This Magnificent Earth to live on and Rule
God lovingly created this beautiful earth and gave it to humanity to rule over. He gave every seed-bearing plant to Adam for food. He brought every marvelous creature to Adam to give it a name. Finally, not wanting man to be alone, He created a woman from Adam’s own flesh and gave her to him as a helper and companion. With love, He provided countless miracles of creation for us to enjoy.
God Showed His Love by Giving Us the Freedom to Choose
God loved us enough to give us free will. Real love is a choice. He could have created us to follow Him automatically. Instead, God allowed Adam and Eve to face the temptation to rebel and disobey, knowing they would sin yet desiring that humankind would choose to seek their Creator.
God Showed His Love by Recording His Words in the Holy Bible
What a miracle that Almighty God, Creator of the universe, spoke through men to record for us His words and thoughts. We don’t have to wonder what God thinks of us. We can read for ourselves from His unchanging, holy Word.
His unfailing love is declared throughout scripture:
“Then the LORD came down…And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin’” (Exodus 34:5-7a NIV).
“Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old” (Psalm 25:6 NIV).
“Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him” (Psalm 32:10 NIV).
“Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies…How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 36:5, 7 NIV).
“You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you… But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:5,15 NIV).
“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3 NIV).
“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV).
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).
God Demonstrated His Love Through the Life of Jesus Christ
While on earth, Jesus showed compassion, love, and grace to all. He healed all those who came to Him in faith. Kindness and grace poured from Him. When Philip, one of His disciples, asked to see the Father, Jesus replied, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9 ESV). Jesus embodies the love and compassion of God the Father.
Scripture reveals Jesus was “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3 ESV).
God Showed His Love by Offering Jesus Christ as the Perfect Sacrifice
What greater way could God show His love for us than by offering His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins? Imagine watching the perfect one you love suffering incredible agony for those who are sinful, weak, and evil. That incomprehensible love is what He offers to us.
Scripture teaches, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10 NIV). Jesus was God in the flesh, demonstrating His love. His death on the cross was the greatest act of love.
God Showed His Love by Conquering Death When Jesus Rose to Life
Jesus not only died to pay the price for our sin, but by doing so, He also conquered death for all who trust Him. God loves us by offering us eternal life made possible by Jesus. He provides an eternity free from sin, death, and sorrow. God promises, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…” (John 3:36 NIV).
God Shows His Love by Wanting a Relationship with Us
God wants our hearts, not just blind obedience. He wants our love. His revelation to John, beloved disciple of Jesus, includes these words of love, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20 NIV). God wants life and fellowship with us every day.
God Shows His Love by Sending the Holy Spirit to Live in Us
God so longs for a close, intimate relationship that He sends His Spirit to live in each believer. How do we grasp that? The Spirit of the Eternal God lives in each one who trusts in Jesus Christ. Paul, New Testament writer, taught, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV).
Our Father loves us enough to want complete intimacy with us so that we become one with Him. His Spirit is intertwined with ours.
God Shows His Love by Giving Us the Gift of Prayer
When we love someone, we long to communicate with them. We want to spend hours talking as we share the desires of our hearts. God commanded us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV). This instruction is not to give us a rule to follow, but because He loves us and wants a close relationship with us. He longs to hear our prayers and never gets tired of His children. He never ignores our prayers or cancels us, but instead, He hears and answers us.
God Showed His Love by Promising that Jesus Will Return for All Believers
Jesus not only demonstrated His love by being born as a man, but He has promised He’s coming again for all who believe in Him. He will return to right every wrong and establish a new heaven and a new earth. How He must love us to give us such an incredible future.
Scripture promises, “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28 NIV).
God Shows His Love by Desiring to Spend Eternity with Us
Our Father loves us so much that He wants to spend eternity with us. How do we imagine eternity? Never-ending love. Inexhaustible joy. All who have trusted Christ live forever with Him. Jesus is preparing a place so that we can spend eternity together: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3 NIV).
God’s Love for Us Is Unconditional
When I’m selfish and only want to take care of myself, He loves me. When I complain and gripe amid an incredibly blessed life, He loves me. When I ignore others whom He has commanded me to love, His love stays firm. When I won’t forgive, He forgives even my unforgiving attitude. That is true, unconditional love, and it’s mine and yours, thanks to Jesus Christ, who took responsibility for our sins and offered us His righteousness in return. When the Father looks at us, He sees us clothed in the righteousness of His beloved Son. God loves us perfectly, and His love never changes.
Photo credit: © Pexels/Leah Kelley
Susan Aken is a writer, wife, mom, and follower of Jesus. She is an Oklahoma native but has lived in Nebraska for years. Besides writing, she has a passion for special needs and prayer ministries. She enjoys time with family, reading, and nature photography. She loves studying and teaching Bible truth. She believes life is a journey and we’re all in different places. Jesus is everything to her and it’s all about grace. Visit her at susanaken53.wordpress.com or on Facebook.
