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God’s love is unconditional.  As I look back over the recent posts in this series, it seems that most of them lead to this conclusion. When I realized this, I thought about changing this post to something else.

But I just keep coming back to this.  His love for us doesn’t depend on us.  We can’t change His love for us.  God’s love is unconditional.

We have all been in that relationship where someone’s love for us depends on us making them happy.  Whether it was a parent, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a spouse.  If we don’t please them, they make us feel unloved.  If we don’t do what they want us to do, that love dries up real fast.  That’s not how He operates.  God’s love is unconditional.

Good enough or bad enough

We can’t be good enough to make Him love us more than He already does.  We can’t be so bad that He stops loving us.

Romans 5:8 (NIV)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He loved us before we loved Him.  He loved us while we were still His enemies.  His love for us was there in the full knowledge of everything that we had already done.  Likewise, His love for us will not change in the future as He already knows what that holds.

This is unconditional love.

Let’ face it.  We don’t experience unconditional love very often.  And when we do, it is life-changing.

Onto the “P”

However, since we have covered this so much in these posts, I want to concentrate on the “P” in LOOK UP. 

God takes pleasure in you.  When we become a child of God, He rejoices over us with singing!  He delights in us with shouts of joy.

Alright y’all, if you have children, think about that second you first saw your newborn baby.  How did you feel?  Did you want to shout with joy?  Or maybe just breakdown and cry?   Did you rejoice over your child?  And didn’t you become a warrior for that child?  (If you don’t have any children, you may feel this way about a niece or a nephew, a brother or a sister?)

I felt this way when all of my children were born.  Every single one of them. But, the time that stands out the most is when my twins were born. Not that I love them any more than the others.  But you see, the doctor suggested (rather strongly) that I selectively reduce my pregnancy.  Because I was older and there were two of them, it was a high-risk pregnancy.

Well, I refused.  But I was scared.  I can share that story with you in another post, but what I want you to know now is this.  After they were born, I laid in the hospital bed that night and wept over them. I was so thankful to God for them, I simply could not hold it inside of me.  I rejoiced in them.  I delighted in them.

God takes pleasure in you

If we feel this way, in our very finite, imperfect love, can you imagine the love God has for His children?  His perfect, unselfish, unconditional, pure love?

Check out Zephaniah 3:17:

Yahweh your God is among you,
a warrior who saves.
He will rejoice over you with gladness.
He will bring you quietness with His love.
He will delight in you with shouts of joy.”

Take time to read the above verse over a few times. 

He is a warrior who saves…..Yes, He has saved you through the atoning sacrifice of His Son.

He will rejoice over you with gladness… God is rejoicing that you have become His child.

He will bring you quietness with His love…Just like we would hold and quiet that crying child.

He will delight in you with shouts of joy…Really, is He that happy that we are His?  Yes!

The Message puts the end of this verse like this:

Happy to have you back, he’ll calm you with his love
    and delight you with his songs.

Rest assured

Rest assured in His love.  Know that He is rejoicing over you with gladness.  God takes pleasure in you.

When I first read Zephaniah 3:17, it had an incredible impact on me.  That the God of all creation rejoiced over me completely blew my mind.  Literally, it took a very long time for me to wrap my brain, much less my heart, around this verse.

It still floors me.  I mean really, can you possibly imagine God singing over you?  If His spoken word brought everything into existence, what does His singing do? Obviously, I’m still taking this one in.

But know this, God takes pleasure in you.

So let’s review:

L…God’s love brings life.

O…God’s love is over-the-top.

O…God is omniscient.

K…God is our Keeper

U…God’s love is unconditional.

P…God takes pleasure in you.

LOOK UP!

In a world that seems so upside down, a world where we hurt and are hurt, a world that can sometimes be so lonely, know that God loves you. He loves you with a perfect, unconditional love.  He will never leave you.

When you need love, before you go anywhere else, be sure to LOOK UP to God for a love that you can count on! 

He’s waiting.