Relationships between men and women can feel conditional at times. You may feel that if you don’t do something to his or her liking, their level of love and affection for you might decrease. Most of us realize that relationships involve give and take. The optimum balance would be 100% from both partners, but if we’re honest, it doesn’t always turn out this way. In fact, you might have been in relationships where you did most of the giving, and he did most of the taking. Not cool. That’s why it’s so invigorating to know that our Heavenly Father’s love isn’t like that. His love is unconditional and He loves us no matter what.
We don’t have to be perfect, but as God’s children, He requires us to have faith and trust in Him. Even when we do things that fall short of His love and grace, He still loves us the same, and it is important we understand that only He can give us a love like this. It is also important for us to love others through the same love that God gives us through Jesus Christ. Most of us love according to our own ideas about it, but that isn’t enough glue to hold a relationship together. God’s love is the glue, and our attention must be centered on Christ continually. We must make him happy by following his example, and nothing in life is more important than this.
All of us have probably witnessed actions of some women that are desperate to be loved. Their desire to be loved is so consuming that they will forgo all sense of reason for the sake of having the attention of the man in their lives. This is motivated from fear, and not love. Any relationship worth having will require a lot of work, it’s true. It can be very challenging at times to not become consumed with the other person, but we must put ourselves in check continually. If we keep our eyes on the Lord, He’ll help us navigate through the tough times. When we take our focus off God, our priorities are out of whack. That’s when our relationships spiral downward. Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 6:33 that we must seek God and His righteousness first, above all else, and when we do this, God will reward us with blessings. So, we can’t seek another person first, or place anyone above our love and devotion to God. We can’t think that a man has the power to make us whole and complete, because no human being can do that. We must look to God; He is our Source of all goodness and blessings.
Heavenly Father doesn’t stop loving us when our emotions are all over the place. He comforts and teaches us. We see this in Isaiah 43, when the Children of Israel got out of hand, and wouldn’t walk in the ways of God. They were stubborn. They lost their zeal for Godliness, and treated Heavenly Father horribly. This landed them in a ton of trouble, because their priorities shifted away from God, but He did not abandon them. He told them in Isaiah 43:1(NLT), “But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.”” God continued His love and care for Israel even though their actions didn’t deserve it. Romans 5:20(NLT) says, “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.”
God looks at our hearts, and they must be anchored in Him. We really have to be careful in our relationships with men. We should recognize that no one, not a man or anyone else, has the ability to give us the kind of unconditional love that fills the emptiness in our souls. Only God can do this. God loves us all unconditionally, and when our focus is on learning to love as He loves, our relationships with others will blossom, because they will be centered on Christ and not on ourselves.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Centered on Christ”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2018. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.