Welcome to Weekly Topic Saturdays!
Hello all, I pray that your week was filled with joy and love. Welcome back to those who have been with me here at A Golden Dream. For my first-timers, a great big hello there, if you haven't already please check out my previous posts when you get a chance.
Please don't hesitate to join the conversation, there are no right or wrong answers or questions. I'm not proclaiming to know everything, I am simply just discussing and picking topics on things that I personally have gone through and that I know would help someone.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John 4:16
This is the month of love where everyone is getting excited for Valentine’s Day. There are people buying flowers, bears, chocolates, and gifts galore for their loved ones. But love is way more than that, it is way more than what money can buy. Love is about what comes from the heart, it is about what comes from within. In this week's Motivational Monday #25: Love is a Powerful Word, we talked about the spiritual definition of love and what it means to love someone the way God intended for us too.
For many of us, our love has limitations on it, our love has terms and conditions. We make people work hard for our love. We treat love like it is a sweet treat, we dangle it in front of someone's face and the moment that they mess up we snatch it away. Why? God doesn’t do that to us. His love is unconditional, it’s limitless, it’s everlasting. Why do we put limits on our love? For some of us, our toxic trait is that we don’t know how to love properly. Let’s take a deeper look!
Words to Make Note of:
Conditional:
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8
The definition of this word means having one or more conditions or requirements that need to be met before continuing.
Too many of us have too many conditions on our love. We are quick to give someone an ultimatum. It is not love if someone has to meet a list of requirements. Having conditions on love is like telling someone, “I’ll love you if…” Imagine if God told us “I’ll only love you if…” God cares for each and every one of us no matter what or who we are, despite our faults. We don’t have to compete for his love, he gives it freely. There is no checklist. God waits patiently for us to come to him and open our hearts to him.
We have to stop placing conditions on our love for God as well. It is not fair for us to tell God “If you will do this, then I’ll do that.” We have to stop treating God like loving him is a contractual agreement that can be voided at any time. It is the same for people. Love isn’t a contract that you can void.
Unconditional:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Romans 12:9-10
The definition, according to webster, of this word means without terms, limitations, or requirements.
The bible tells us to love each other unconditionally, no matter who the person is or what they do. To many people shun others because of their life choices. We have to remember that it is not our place to judge others, only those who are made perfect can judge, and none of us are perfect. We should celebrate our differences and embrace each other because that is what God would want us to do.
Unconditional love is loving someone even when they hurt you, betray you, curse you out, cause you pain, pray against you, talk down to you, and so on. It is holding no ill will even when you have to leave them where they are. Think about when Jesus walked the earth before he was strung on the cross. He was faced with all kinds of ridicule, hate, pain, adversity, betrayal, and so much more. Through it all he kept his head high and loved them despite their faults, he didn’t allow their faults to change the way that he treated or loved them.
Setting boundaries is important for the success of any relationship; they are meant to be a clear representation of what is and is not okay. Boundaries are meant to help us individually take care of ourselves by protecting our inner peace, joy, sanity, and/or happiness because it gives us the permission to say no. It doesn't matter who the person is; they could be family, friends, close friends, siblings, or perfect strangers. We all have different comfort levels and when someone behaves in a way that crosses our boundary we have to forgive them, make the line clearer, continue to love them, and take care of ourselves. Without the use of clear boundaries, it can leave us feeling resentment, taken advantage of, burnt out, misunderstood, and so on.
And God Spoke All These Words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.“You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Exodus 20 1-17
Think of God in this situation. God loves us wholeheartedly and unconditionally he says so many times throughout the bible. Now think of his commandments, there are 10 of them, listed above. These commandments that God set are his boundaries. When we cross his boundaries he forgives us and corrects us with discipline but he never stops loving us because we are his creations. Like any normal parent would love their child God loves us and does everything within his power to make sure that we are taken care of if we let him. In his commandments, he states that he loves us all and will continue to love us even if he has to correct us. God asks that we confess to him our sins so that we can be forgiven.
Questions To Consider:
Does your love have limitations?
Does your love change based upon who you are interacting with?
Why do you think that God loves us unconditionally? Do you think that his love has limits?
Do you have boundaries? Is it hard for you to keep them?
Do you know how to set, and recognize when your boundaries are being crossed?
With Love, remember that what unconditional love, boils down to, is love without strings attached. It's offering your love to someone freely without wanting anything in return. It is giving them the love that you yourself would want to receive. It is providing them with the love that you have never been given. It is loving someone so completely that they never have to question it, you never have to say the words “ I love you” out loud because your actions speak louder. Your unconditional love is not based on what they do or don’t do. It is loving them and wanting nothing more than to see them happy, excel, prosper, grow, be healthy, and so much more in life. It is limitless.
~Just Breathe...A Golden Dream~
Amen.