My Beef with Unconditional Love
Before I begin anything, let me clarify that this is not some exegesis or expansion on some theological idea. But rather, the angle I will bring forward today is rather a more genuine real view on what unconditional love is. Another clarification, having an issue with unconditional love does not mean I do not embrace it either. So what do I mean when I say I have a beef with unconditional love? Let's figure it out together.
A friend once told me closest form of unconditional love with our eyes is through our parents. A baby born into the world. Can barely do anything other than poop and cry and make cute faces. Yet regardless of the inconvenience we bring to our parents as a baby they still love us. Generally no matter what we do, no matter how bad we are, no matter what we can offer to the table, our parents will love us unconditionally. Generally. Yes we do take account the outliers of abusive parents and what not. I'm talking about the general public. Even then, there are still some conditions am I right? The certain subtle expectations one places on their child. Asian children can definitely relate especially in terms of academics.
My beef with unconditional love is that as much as I get the concept. It doesn't make sense at all. I just cannot grasp it. You see for example the gospel, it states that Jesus died for me while I was still a sinner. Forgiveness is found through Him when I believe in the cross and I repent so that when God sees me he sees Christ in me that makes me spotless, sinless and clean. I still live in this fallen world and the I will still sin. But my position is understanding that I am a sinner saved by grace and that I depend on God to sanctify me. Not sinless perfection because we are human. The idea of it is awesome. But I cannot understand sometimes. So God will always be pleased with us? When we still sin? Is that how it should work? Because I think certain sins can just be gone and life would be much better. Oh so we continue to sin and repent understanding how amazing his grace is? God is....Coool with it because you know "Hey, I died for you when you were still sinners, and that is the whole point of the cross. Is that you will fail and it is going to be messy but I call you spotless and pure because of the work of the cross" Just like that? The point is not that I disagree or that I do not understand how salvation is a gift. The point is this idea of unconditional love is nonsense. Not nonsense as in crap or gibberish. but nonsense as in our logical sense cannot fully grasp the reality of it as of now.
Yes, one need not tell me about God's timing and God's ways which are way different form ours. I'm well aware of that. So ideally the idea is to continue trusting God and see where he takes us.
Maybe we can put in this way. Us humans when we think of truth, or how to define things we usually operate on one simple standard, 'logic'. Logic confined to only maximum 3 dimensions. You see, conditional love makes sense. I'll do this only if you do that. If you do this for me then I will feel compelled to do that for you. I feel so loved by you hence I want to give you a gift. However, unconditional love operates on the point where "I have seen all the mess and all your brokenness and I choose to stay. Do not worry, I ain't going anywhere". And if we are to operate in logic, wouldn't we honestly go...."Huh?" But the beauty of it is what does not make sense and goes against logic need not mean it is not real. Misconception in my personal opinion to validate truth with only what we can sense and to combine logic and truth together. Indeed truth has a certain amount of logic but the harsher truth is that our brains are limited.
Perhaps it is why Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 3 that the will know this love of God (Unconditional Love) that surpasses all knowledge (Logic for example) or in Phillipians 4 where the peace of God that transcends all understanding. To have at certainty in that unconditional love.
But let's put it this way, at least for me, my beef with it is that it is hard to fully comprehend the fullness of it. I would continuously want to experience this love that surpasses all knowledge to get the fullness of it. If I only relied on logic from my perspective, it has proven to not be sufficient. To talk of this love I must first stop making sense. I am still learning throughout all this. One step at a time.
A question I leave for all you readers and myself. How do we begin to appreciate something beyond our minds?
A friend once told me closest form of unconditional love with our eyes is through our parents. A baby born into the world. Can barely do anything other than poop and cry and make cute faces. Yet regardless of the inconvenience we bring to our parents as a baby they still love us. Generally no matter what we do, no matter how bad we are, no matter what we can offer to the table, our parents will love us unconditionally. Generally. Yes we do take account the outliers of abusive parents and what not. I'm talking about the general public. Even then, there are still some conditions am I right? The certain subtle expectations one places on their child. Asian children can definitely relate especially in terms of academics.
My beef with unconditional love is that as much as I get the concept. It doesn't make sense at all. I just cannot grasp it. You see for example the gospel, it states that Jesus died for me while I was still a sinner. Forgiveness is found through Him when I believe in the cross and I repent so that when God sees me he sees Christ in me that makes me spotless, sinless and clean. I still live in this fallen world and the I will still sin. But my position is understanding that I am a sinner saved by grace and that I depend on God to sanctify me. Not sinless perfection because we are human. The idea of it is awesome. But I cannot understand sometimes. So God will always be pleased with us? When we still sin? Is that how it should work? Because I think certain sins can just be gone and life would be much better. Oh so we continue to sin and repent understanding how amazing his grace is? God is....Coool with it because you know "Hey, I died for you when you were still sinners, and that is the whole point of the cross. Is that you will fail and it is going to be messy but I call you spotless and pure because of the work of the cross" Just like that? The point is not that I disagree or that I do not understand how salvation is a gift. The point is this idea of unconditional love is nonsense. Not nonsense as in crap or gibberish. but nonsense as in our logical sense cannot fully grasp the reality of it as of now.
Yes, one need not tell me about God's timing and God's ways which are way different form ours. I'm well aware of that. So ideally the idea is to continue trusting God and see where he takes us.
Maybe we can put in this way. Us humans when we think of truth, or how to define things we usually operate on one simple standard, 'logic'. Logic confined to only maximum 3 dimensions. You see, conditional love makes sense. I'll do this only if you do that. If you do this for me then I will feel compelled to do that for you. I feel so loved by you hence I want to give you a gift. However, unconditional love operates on the point where "I have seen all the mess and all your brokenness and I choose to stay. Do not worry, I ain't going anywhere". And if we are to operate in logic, wouldn't we honestly go...."Huh?" But the beauty of it is what does not make sense and goes against logic need not mean it is not real. Misconception in my personal opinion to validate truth with only what we can sense and to combine logic and truth together. Indeed truth has a certain amount of logic but the harsher truth is that our brains are limited.
Perhaps it is why Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 3 that the will know this love of God (Unconditional Love) that surpasses all knowledge (Logic for example) or in Phillipians 4 where the peace of God that transcends all understanding. To have at certainty in that unconditional love.
But let's put it this way, at least for me, my beef with it is that it is hard to fully comprehend the fullness of it. I would continuously want to experience this love that surpasses all knowledge to get the fullness of it. If I only relied on logic from my perspective, it has proven to not be sufficient. To talk of this love I must first stop making sense. I am still learning throughout all this. One step at a time.
A question I leave for all you readers and myself. How do we begin to appreciate something beyond our minds?
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