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Unconditional Love
by Victoria Boyson
www.boyson.org
Unfortunately, we live in a very wicked and vile world which seems to make righteous men and women its target. If you have a desire to love as Christ did, then be aware that you will be a target for a world that loves to hate. Our human hearts were never meant to endure the onslaught of painful assaults against us that many receive today.
In this world we live in, forgiveness appears as a weakness and trust as a vulnerability. Our Lord told us that in the last day there would be great deception. He knew that righteousness would appear to many as being evil, and that which is evil would find great acceptance by myriad of people.
So how does a human heart survive under the pressure of such odds against it? How do we overcome the oppressive desire to hold on to the wounds and grievances one might experience in this life?
Fragile Love
Our human love was not created to face such obstacles and our love fails us time and again. You may be at a point right now where you feel you do not have the power within yourself to continue to love
those who have mistreated you. Well, my answer is to relax and stop trying to achieve something that is simply impossible for you to do on your own.
You see, our human love, when repeatedly crushed, will fail us.
There is no question about it, our love is not capable of enduring continuous heartache and attack. If you feel as though you have failed in your love walk, relax - because you probably have. Your love will always fail you,
that is why the Lord said to take His yoke upon you. "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Mt. 11:30).
God knows how fragile our love is - that is why He supplied us with a replacement: His Son! "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" (John 3:16). Jesus came to give us life, a rich full life (see Jn. 10:10).
His Yoke is Easy
How can we experience life to its fullest if we are reliving the pains and injustices of the past. Well, we simply cannot. So, the Lord provided, in His great mercy, a way to experience the abundant
life provided for us by Christ, even while being mistreated. And you will find the provision for your pain by taking on His yoke. Remember, He said, "My yoke is easy..."
The Lord did not mean that
His yoke was easier for Him to carry. No, my goodness it was quite the contrary. His yoke was not easier than ours, it was substantially greater than ours.
If the yoke He carried did not make the difference, then
could it have been the strength of the ox? You would never put the same size yoke on a baby ox as you would a full size adult. But if you had only one size yoke, you would need to get a bigger ox to make the load easier to
carry. Our burdens are easier and made much lighter by the size of the ox we use, a bigger ox makes the yoke easier. God is big enough to carry any sized burden we would require of Him.
A Love Transplant
If
your human sized heart does not have the capacity to love unconditionally, then you need a bigger heart - one that is big enough to carry the burdens of your pain. Many of you have experienced the pain of rejection, the
sting of divorce, or the seemingly endless pain of the death of a loved one.
What you need, my friend, is a "love" transplant. Yes, I mean a love transplant. Exchange your love that is full of inadequacies,
with God's love that can make all things new again. God never intended our natural human love to carry us through all the painful experiences of life. That is why our hearts become so hard.
We try to protect
ourselves from pain by shutting out love. We shy away from relationships because we have been hurt in the past. We say to ourselves, "I'll never open myself up to be hurt like that again!" We refuse to trust
anyone, and as soon as we do start to trust again, the enemy is there to see that we are wounded once more.
By exchanging our weak love for God's love, we enable ourselves to enter relationships with even those
whom we suspect will eventually hurt us. His love can take it. We know in advance that any relationship can cause pain, but we find ourselves relying on God's great love to protect our hearts even in the midst of painful situations.
The Lord's love is much greater and stronger than ours. If we are to fulfill the plans the Lord has for us, we will need His love, not our own. We can prepare ourselves for the pains and hurts of life by putting on His love.
God loves much more than we do and if we ask Him, He will give us His love for others, a love nothing can destroy. Whenever we cannot love, God can give us His love
Unconditional Love
The Lord spoke to us in John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." The Lord Himself has unlocked the keys to unconditional love for us. His love is greater and is sufficient for the pain you feel - your love is not. Take His yoke upon you - ask Him to give you His love for those who have wounded you. Be still and let Him do it. You will see that the people who you could not bring yourself to speak with have become the target for God's ceaseless love flowing through you.
What I am asking you to do, I have done myself. When I felt the crippling affects of painful words spoken like daggers into my heart, I failed in my attempts to regain my love for them. I asked God to give me His love for them and a miracle took place. Love was born in my heart. Unexplainable, unreasonable, unconditional love.
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NEW Book by Victoria Boyson