A Series on Love: Part 2 -- "Unconditional, Absolute, No Strings Attached"

My mom told me the story once of an event that happened at the college she attended. The school had a mud football game and students would eagerly partake in the competition. Though my mom personally didn't play, she had a girlfriend who did. One time her friend came out of the mud pit after the game and gave my mom a big, wet, muddy hug. Mom did not quite appreciate this gesture of camaraderie. There was a reason she didn't compete in mud football and it wasn't because she was not an athlete!

Imagine, then, that a person willingly hugs you not minding the mud, or dirt or wetness or smell. They don't mind that their clothes get dirty in the process. Truly, they don't even notice all of the above.

Ayn Rand, author of the influential book Atlas Shrugged, stated, "To love a woman for her virtues is meaningless. She's earned it, it's a payment, not a gift. But to love her for her vices is to defile all virtue for her sake--and that is a real tribute of love, because you sacrifice your conscience, your reason, your integrity, and your invaluable self-esteem" (1.). Unfortunately, she missed the point regarding love. As John Piper wrote, "Mercy in the Christian sense is not "because of" vices, but "in spite of" vices" (2.).

"In spite of" is a powerful phrase. And it is what is called unconditional. The saying goes, "A friend is someone who knows everything about you but still loves you any way", in spite of our faults. It is the willingly bestowing of a hug to a person who is covered in the mud of life. Unconditional love is not based on actions because as imperfect creatures, we will fail. Our love is based on the absolute love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who never changes. "As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34).

Loving as Christ loved sounds good on paper but in action it can be difficult. If my younger siblings listen to me, don't touch my work, and do what they are told, then everything is just peachy. But if they ask too many questions, do everything they have been told not to do and interfere in my work...well, I get irritated, want them to go away, and am, sometimes, downright rude. My love is conditioned, based on appropriate, perfect behavior!

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:5). Not while we were getting our act together, not after we took a shower to clean off the mud, not when we realized the depravity of our souls but when we were dead in our sins. We didn't even know we were in the mud pit to begin with. Nevertheless, God in His unconditional, absolute, no strings attached love climbed into the mud pit to show us the way out. Not only that but he cleaned us off, too! The prophet Zechariah conveyed this writing, "Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you""(Zechariah 3:3).

Clothed in the richness of Christ's righteousness, loved unconditionally with our sins taken away, we, as Christians, are called to love as Christ loved us. To embrace each other, even when the other person may be in the wrong, even when the other person may be covered in filth. We love as Christ loved us, not because of our sins but in spite of our sins.

--HM

Endnotes:

1. Quote taken from article by John Piper, "The Hole in Her Universe". World Magazine: 27 October, 2007

2. John Piper. "The Hole in Her Universe". World Magazine: 27 October, 2007

A Series on Love: Part 1 -- "By This"

The Pharisees obeyed 613 rules above and beyond what God had originally prescribed in the Pentateuch. As if the Levitical system and laws given by Moses were not difficult enough to follow, they added another six hundred for good measure, just in case, to be on the safe side. When confronted by God himself, they could make no excuses. Christ said unto them, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices -- mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law -- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:23, 24, NIV). In perfecting the external, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees had neglected the internal and the eternal. What they had forgotten was to obey God and practice justice, mercy, and faithfulness; in a word, love.

In conservative circles, Christians are donning a unique and sometimes radically different look and behavior. Trends are occurring in these circles. Our girls wear dresses, have long hair, and bake bread from freshly ground wheat. Families have 10 children in homemade clothes (by their sisters), all homeschooled, who sit still for all of the church service and who obey immediately. We drive big conversion vans, have submissive wives, sons who are chivalrous, and girls who desire to be good mothers and wives, too. We don't date and we do everything as a family. The above is all good. In fact, it is great! On the other hand, we can not cling to these things to distinguish us from the rest of the world. Christ explained just after Judas left to betray him what separated the elect from unbelievers: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35, emphasis added).

So it isn't having 10 children and gentle wives and making homemade bread and having family worship every night and having children who obey immediately, completely, and with a happy heart and educating at home and practicing courtship and understanding tough doctrinal issues (pant) that signals to the rest of the world, "These are Christians!" No it isn't. In fact, Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 13 that unless our actions are bound up in and driven by love, they are meaningless.

We will be known by love because God so loved us with an "everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). 1 John 4:7 explains, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." "God is love" (1 John 4:16) and "love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Then are the above things (large families, obedient children and wives, home cooking, etc.) bad or unnecessary? Of course not but we can not detach the internal and eternal (love) from the external (actions). We were not saved through our actions but through the love of our Heavenly Father. As Jesus pointed out, we must practice action without neglecting the important matters of the heart. Then the world will know we are Christians by our love.

--HM