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I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Psalm 116:1
God loves us unconditionally. That final word that He loves us freely without anything we did to provoke it is the word of constant hope to often failing Christians. Unconditional love is beautiful. But the truth is that we don’t love that way. We can’t. We try to love our children that way, our spouses that way, and one another that way, but it is terribly difficult. Inevitably we have conditions. It has to be a fruit of the Holy Spirit when we love that freely because that is the way our God loves.
Look how unapologetic the psalmist is. He loves God because God hears him. That startled me when it was first pointed out. I had not thought of it that way before, but it makes perfect sense. We can’t love our God unconditionally! We don’t have to! The truth is that we never would have to. He has met all the conditions for real love in the sacrifice of His Son. And He has heard you cry out, and will hear you when you cry out today.