Tough Love.

"I love you and there's nothing you can do about it."

I heard this quoted on Scrubs today and it made me laugh. It was said by a gospel preacher in a lighthearted, fun way (of course, it was scrubs) to a congregation of people, but it was said with a confidence that it was the truth. He had a big grin on his face that made you believe that whatever you did, no matter how much you rejected him, no matter how much you might hurt him, he'd still stand there with that same grin, loving you, until you relent and give him a big hug - and he'll just carry on loving you.

*This is just how it played out in my head*

But this is how God loves us.

God loves you and there's nothing you can do about it.

The amazing thing about Gods love for us is that it is unconditional. That means he loves us without condition. There is nothing that we have to do or can do to earn His love. Not only does he love us unconditionally, His love is relentless. His love never fails and never gives up. So no matter how many times we may fail or dissapoint, reject Him or give up on Him, He'll never give up on us, He'll never stop loving us. Some of us need to realise that it is not actually possible for God to stop loving us. If God were do anything other than love us, he would have to go against His very nature and give up being God. Rest assured, He'll never do that.

Equally, some of us need to understand that this isn't a love that we can walk all over. God is far from a push over - you can't pull the wool over His eyes. If we have a real understanding of His love for us, we can't help but love Him back! Imagine someone telling you they love you and that they'd give everything for you - would you turn your back on them? Thats all He wants - a people that He can love and who will love and obey Him in return.

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people." Jeremiah 31:33

He'll never force us to love Him, he won't put pressure on us or manipulate our hearts. He desires a genuine love from His children and so He will love us until we can't do anything but love Him back.

So what if you already know all this and I'm just preaching to the choir?

Well, how about being like that gospel preacher on scrubs?

How many people could you stand infront of and say;

"I love you and there's nothing you can do about it?"

We're called to love as God loves. We love because He first loved us.

There is not a single person in this world who is worthy of Gods love, yet He's made us worthy by choosing to see us through the blood of Jesus. So we can't ever stand infront of any person and deam them unworthy of Gods love because we've all fallen short. It is simply by God's grace that we are able to know such a love. Therefore, there is not a point when someone can do something so awful that God would stop loving them and why should we do any different? If we want the world to know and see Gods love, we need to love with Gods unconditional, relentless love.

There is nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you.