From young we are told that the love of God is "unconditional". We are taught that God loves us despite what we do and regardless of how sinful we are. Unconditional means "without conditions", ie. God does not place any conditions or criteria on us before He loves us. But examine this concept with me for a while. Do we really accept that God loves us unconditionally? After all, shouldn't we expect God to get angry at us when we sin and to punish and vindicate his wrath upon us? If I sin repeatedly and wilfully defy God time and time again, isnt there a limit to His tolerance? Can I really expect Him to bless me given my shameful deeds? These are thoughts we all commonly think about God. And it is not surprising that we go through such a thought process when we think about God because this is what we have experience from those in authority in our lives, whether our parents, our teachers, our bosses or even our church leaders.
Human love is, for the most part, conditional. It is conditional in that we subconsciously impose certain conditions on another before we will love and accept that person. Even in the most giving of relationships, ie. parent to a child, spouse to spouse and between best friends, even with the best intentions, we still struggle to love someone unconditionally. Even the people who love us the most get angry at us sometimes. In a society like Singapore, the problem is compounded because of the strong emphasis on meritocracy and performance. Only the worthy are rewarded. Only the meritorious promoted. If you dont make the grade at each stage of the education system, you are classified, labelled and rejected. To be accepted, we have to perform. As such, when we think about God, we superimpose this view of love on Him. This makes it very difficult to believe that He loves us unconditionally because such an idea goes against our experiences in every one of our human relationships.
The truth that must be asserted here is that a conditional view of God's love runs contrary to the very heart of God. Here we must make a distinction between anger, discipline and love. In our human experiences, when someone is angry at us or disciplining us, there is very little or no love involved. Discipline motivated by anger is vindictive and often abusive. As such, we have come to treat anger and discipline as mutually exclusive with love. Love cannot co-exist with anger and discipline. We have all had authority figures who say they are discipling us because they love us but often such discipline is often motivate by the expression of vengeful anger rather than genuine unconditional love. This scars our belief that any discipline can ever be loving. Yet only in the heart of God is love pure enough to co-exist with anger and discipline. God may be angry at our sin and may even be moved to discipline us at times, but the hard to believe truth is that every action, every move of discipline is movitated by pure and genuine love. There is a total absence of vindictiveness or vengefulness in the anger or discipline of God. Every action is motivated solely to achieving what is the best, and most beneficial and the highest good for us. For the thoughts of God towards us are selfless and compassionate. His love is at once inexhaustable, extravagant and indulgent. For what God would give His life for a world who persist in hating and rejecting Him? We can sin, but we can never sin ourselves out of His love and acceptance. It does not mean He will not discipline us, but His extravagant embrace will never loosen and the passion of His heart will never wane. Listen to the pain in His heart of love...
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
But the more I called Israel,
the further they went from me.
They sacrificed to the Baals
and they burned incense to images.
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
it was I who healed them.
I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love;
I lifted the yoke from their neck
and bent down to feed them.
"Will they not return to Egypt
and will not Assyria rule over them
because they refuse to repent?
Swords will flash in their cities,
will destroy the bars of their gates
and put an end to their plans.
My people are determined to turn from me.
Even if they call to the Most High,
he will by no means exalt them.
"How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboiim?
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.
I will not carry out my fierce anger,
nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man-
the Holy One among you.
I will not come in wrath.
Hosea 11:1-9