God's Love is Unconditional

The Lord make his face shine upon you.
Numbers 6:25

At one time or another, every woman has experienced an "I'll love you if ..." relationship. In a relationship like that, one lives on tiptoes, forever afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing and, in so doing, diminishing or voiding the love.

I'll love you if your GPA stays above 3.9.
I'll love you if you keep the house spotless.
I'll love you if you overlook my alcoholism or workaholism or self-centeredness.
I'll love you if you make my life worthwhile.

More subtle, but perhaps equally nerve-racking are "I love you because ..." relationships.

I love you because you're so beautiful.
I love you because you make me feel good about myself.
I love you because you're such a good cook.
I love you because we have so much fun together.

In relationships like those, we live on pins and needles for fear our GPA will drop or our housekeeping will fail to meet the expectations of the other person. If the conditions creating or maintaining love evaporate, so, we fear, will the love.

All Christians at one time or another find ourselves tempted to believe God's love for us is conditional or that it varies in degree, depending upon how "good" or "bad" we've been in
the days or hours before we come to him in prayer or worship. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Our heavenly Father's face always shines on us. Especially at those times in which we feel guilty, unworthy, unaccepted, and unacceptable—especially then, how important to remind ourselves that our Savior's love is always, always unconditional.

We did not become God's adopted daughters by being good or beautiful or smart or funny or excellent chefs. We will not lose his endless love or our position in his family by being bad or feeling ugly or acting thoughtlessly or burning the pot roast.

God's face toward us is always one of kindness and concern, and it will forever remain just exactly that! All this because of our Brother, Jesus—his cross and open tomb!