Unconditional Love – Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.
Do you get along beautifully with everyone except one person? Does this person treat you with rudeness, disrespect, and unkindness? Have you convinced yourself that the ruptured relationship is entirely the other person’s fault?
I have known such a predicament and spent months feeling victimized, chronicling my good works and the returned abuses, before I allowed the Lord to teach me a superior way.[1] By the world’s standards, my self-pitying response was justified, but Christ died to set me free from the pettiness that would bind me,[2] free from me-focused indignation, free from anger, free to love even in the face of rejection and misunderstanding. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will show you how to love. Take these steps, and watch love reign.”[3]
First, I had to realize that my angry response exposed my refusal to entrust the situation to the Lord. Was He no longer able to care for me? Were the hairs on my head no longer numbered;[4] did His banner of love over me no longer preserve my spirit?[5] Gloriously, His love is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He had not forsaken me, rather He was leading me to cover over the other person’s transgressions with unconditional love.
Second, I had to acknowledge that I was not faultless, for I contributed to the brokenness between us by the critical, unloving nature I displayed as I pushed back. By my defensive and harsh responses, I was fueling the flames of dissention and sinning grievously against the Lord.
Third, I had to choose to love regardless of the circumstance; I had to lay aside the acrimony, slander, and malice in my own heart and embrace kindness and forgiveness.[6] I needed to live a 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love, trusting that my Father in heaven, who performs miracles without number,[7] would heal the relationship. God did not need me to defend myself. Rather, He called me to display “a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in His sight.”[8]
Are you struggling in an angry, tempestuous relationship? Try the exceedingly excellent way of love. Bring the disquietude within you and conflict around you to the Lord, and watch with joyful anticipation as He miraculously brings order out of chaos and love where anger and hatred reigned.[9]
Allow the Lord’s love to control you, and marvel as He
changes your heart, teaching you how to love.[10]
[1] 1 Corinthians 12:31
[2] Romans 6:22
[3] John 15:9-12 (paraphrased), 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (paraphrased)
[4] Matthew 10:30
[5] Job 10:12
[6] Ephesians 4:31-32
[7] Job 9:10
[8] 1 Peter 3:4
[9] Psalm 5:3
[10] 2 Corinthians 5:14
