There are a lot of conditional things in the world that we live in. Everything comes with certain terms that need to be followed, but does this mean that our love is considered conditional? In conditional love the love is “earned” on the basis of conscious or unconscious conditions being met by a love, whereas in unconditional love, love is given freely to the loved one no matter what.
The word love is used in many different types of ways. For example, ” I love your dress!” or ” I loved that movie!” or ” I love you.” I tell everyone that I love them. I throw the word around because I want others to know that they are loved in anyway possible whether, it be a friendly love, a brotherly/sisterly love, a family love or an I’m in love with you love. The Bible states that we are to show the same love that the Lord has for us to one another. We are all human. We all struggle with showing compassion to one another when it is due. It is easier to avoid the wrong doer and scorn them behind their back and under your breath than to speak your mind to them in a loving manner and show the compassion and mercy that the heavenly Father has shown us.
John 15: 12-15
” This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no other than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if do you what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
When you love someone conditionally you tend to want to look, act and think in ways that fit our own expectations. We hold others accountable to our expectations for our affection. You love someone because of the way they love you. The way they dress, the way they smile, their body, their voice, their personality, their love for animals and the list can go on and on. These are all factors that make you feel the love that you have for that person. And these are not bad things. These are all things that attract us to a person –– but what happens when some of these conditions go away? It all depends. It depends because those qualities are what you fall in love with in the person, but if you love the person enough because of how strongly you feel about them to look past how they are, not just how they used to be, then the conditions are not really conditions.
Unconditional love makes you feel truly valued and worth it in the eyes of someone, whereas conditional love makes you feel like you are only being loved when it is convenient. When you love someone unconditionally you love them no matter what they say or do. You cherish every waking second with that person. Now, this does not mean you do not get annoyed, upset, mad or angry with this person, it just means that you love them despite all of that. You love the imperfectness of that person. When we love unconditionally and when we receive unconditional love we find hope. We find courage. I believe people can give an idea of what that looks like, but we can only do that because God loved us unconditionally first. People are still imperfect so in the end God truly is the only one who can unconditionally loves us, but as humans we can try and love the way God loves us. Unconditionally.
{1 Corinthians 13:4-7}
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
