Unconditional Love

I learn so much from my kids about God’s love for us.  I’ve heard other people say this very same thing, but I didn’t understand what they meant until I had kids of my own.

Of course, we have an unconditional love for them that we don’t naturally have for everyone, the same way God loves us.  They will always be ours no matter how many times they mess up; we will forgive, just as God does for us.  We hate to discipline them when they do wrong, but we must so that they will know right from wrong just as God does for us.  This morning, after dropping my daughter off at school, my 5-year-old son, asks, “Why do we have to give you a kiss every day before we get out of the car?”   My response was, “You don’t have to give me a kiss every day.  I would like a kiss every day, but you don’t have to give me one.”  He was then silent.  When we pulled up to his school, he peeked around the seat to give me a kiss.  I said, “You don’t have to give me a kiss if you don’t want to.”  He responded with, “I want to give you a kiss because I love you.”  It reminded me of how God gives us free will in our life.  He wants us to give Him a kiss every day because we love Him, not because we have to.  God doesn’t put a requirement on His love to us; let’s not put a requirement on Him to receive our love back in return.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  Matthew 22:37.

Sharon Hoskins