““If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them…… But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to ungrateful and evil people. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:32, 35-36 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/luk.6.32-36.NET

God does not love the way humans love. Regrettably, we often think about God’s love the way we think about the way we love. We love others and continue to love them based on their response to us. People who are receptive and reciprocal to our love we continue to love, the newborn child possibly being the temporary exception. This is not how God loves us. God is love. His love for us is not based upon our response to Him, whether good or bad. God loves us no matter what, all the time, no matter what we do. Believing this is hard for us because after sinning against Him for the millionth time, we fear His love will grow weary of us. That is not the case ever. Humans would grow weary, but God continues to love us because He is love and never loved us based upon our performance. This makes God so great and why our response to Him should be ever-increasing grateful love. His consistent unconditional love displayed as a sacrificial love to reconcile us to Himself should elicit all the love we can muster in us. Loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength should become increasingly easier for us as we see the love of God for us that knows no bounds or limits. God does respond to us in love even when we are unlovely, making our response to Him easier to love Him. We demonstrate our love for God by loving others the way God loves us. We receive God’s unconditional love, so we are to give God’s unconditional love to others regardless of their performance. We love others because God loves us and fills us with His love so that we can love others even when they are unlovely like us.