As a mother, I love my children unconditionally.
There is no mistake they can make that will cause my love for them to fail. On the toughest of days when more time has been spent breaking up fights than handing out hugs, I slip into their rooms after they are sleeping and kiss their peaceful little heads with my heart bursting with love for them. On those days, I’m just as thankful for them and in love with them as I am on the good days.
I often approach the Lord as if His love isn’t as strong for me as the love I have for my children. When I’ve…
- neglected quiet time
- lost my temper
- raised my voice
- or have been outright disobedient
…I convince myself that He can’t possibly love me the way He does on the days when I’m playing to role of “Good Christian”.
There are two problems with this thinking.
- It makes it harder to approach him in prayer. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, I hide from Him because I’m sure that he can’t stand the sight of me. The more time that passes without spending time with Him, the more I convince myself that the divide is now too great for His love to reach across.
- The second problem comes once I do return to Him in prayer. I grovel and berate myself for weeks to come before His throne. I continually apologize for my wrongdoings and beg for His forgiveness even though He willingly offered it the first time I asked. Moving on happens only after I’ve sufficiently beaten myself down for every sin.
His love for me is deeper than any love we can know this side of Heaven. When I really fail Him, I need to understand that He still loves me and the result of my acceptance of that love will be an even sweeter time with Him. My sin is not stronger than His love.
Psalm 106:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His love endures forever.
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That's beautiful, Heather and so true. Praise the Lord for His gracious forgiveness and mercy. Great post.
Thank you for sharing this. I have been struggling with this lately with no idea how to approach it. Rather than praying and recognizing that I have been forgiven, I have avoided prayer completley. This post has provided me just enough encouragement to begin to move forward again with a fresh outlook on God's constant and unconditional love for me. Praise be to Him!