Sometimes people speak of "unconditional love," and they present it as an all-encompassing thing that blindly accepts everyone, not just where they are in their walk but their inappropriate behavior.
God indeed loves us.
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1
The unconditional part is that He will continue to love us regardless of what we do. He loved us first. He loved us while we were sinning against Him. God will love us, even after we sin against Him.
HE LOVED US FIRST
"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19
God is the initiator of love, and without Him, we cannot love. "...love comes from God" 1 John 4:7b
God showed us this love by dying on the cross to atone for sin so that we may be forgiven, receive Salvation, and be called the children of God.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John 3:16-18
HE LOVED US WHILE WE WERE SINNERS
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
This scripture is one of the reasons we know that works will never earn you Salvation. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That action is how God demonstrated His love for us because, according to I Corinthians 13, love is all action, not feelings or words, but action.
GOD'S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR US DOES NOT PERMIT US TO DO WHATEVER WE WANT
"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Romans 6:1-5
God indeed loves us unconditionally, and we should love others similarly. However, God's unconditional love is not a license to sin, treat others horribly, or behave sinfully without fear of retribution.
God loved Adam and Eve as He forced them to leave Eden for their sinful behavior.
God loved Cain and even tried to speak with him before he killed his brother Abel, but after, God kicked him out of the land.
God loved Moses, but when Moses was disobedient and struck the rock instead of speaking to it in Numbers 20, Moses would never see the promised land.
God loves you and me, but we are mistaken if we think His unconditional love allows us to do whatever we want unconditionally.
If we claim to belong to Christ, we must realize what we do matters to God. If we believe God accepts our sinful behavior because of unconditional love, we are deceiving ourselves.
Unconditional love does not mean unquestioning acceptance of sinful behavior.
Jesus said, "go and sin no more," meaning repent from your old life now that you belong to the kingdom.
"you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." I Corinthians 6:8-11
If we claim to belong to Jesus, our behaviors must change because God loved us first. God loved us while we were sinning. And God will continue to love us while preventing us from entering God's kingdom.
Unconditional love does not mean unconditional acceptance of sinful behavior.
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