Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

daughter to do her homework and obey her teacher. This is what I do because I love her and want to prepare her for the future. She'll need to do things she doesn't always want to do. If I gave her everything she wanted, I'd be creating a monster. We already have too many monsters walking around in grown up bodies. It is this misunderstanding of what love looks like that has gotten our world into such a pickle. God is Agape. The Greek word agape describes a love that is unconditional. It is not a 'you give me what I want, then I give you what you want' kind of love. God's heart is always towards us. He always wants the best for us. We are on his mind. He is thinking about you and me. But He doesn't love us because of how cute we are. He doesn't love us only when we do well. He loves us through our ups and downs, our ins and outs and everything in between. His love is not based upon an expected return, it's based upon His nature. Don't look for an explanation why God loves you. He is motivated by Himself. This is hard for us to understand because it is generally unlike us. We live in an 'I scratch your back; you scratch my back' world. One reason our world is so broken is because we have so many broken relationships. When things get rough, we move on. Whether it’s a marriage, a friendship, or a church, all of us can look upon our history and find brokenness. But God made a covenant with humanity from the very beginning. He has continued to make covenants throughout history. He made these covenants in love and He will not break them. He will not walk away, even if we do. He is always true to His word. This doesn't mean there is no consequence to rejecting His love. When we begin to get an understanding of the nature of His love, we can turn to Him whatever the condition of our heart. If we measure His love against the way we love, we will