Ephesians 4 - Move Towards Unconditional Love

Yesterday I visited a new local church in my quest to find a church home now that I have moved and her a sermon on whether unconditional love is real. The conclusion was yes, it is real, but we as humans suck at it.

But reading this chapter this morning, I just had to stop at verse 2.

² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

This line has such beautiful advice and can help us to practice and become better at unconditional love. But one of the things I noticed was that the reason for being patient and gentle with one another was not because the person deserved it....not because they had earned it...not because they would return it, but because of love. Our patience and gentleness needs to be a free gift because we love.

You may be thinking, I don't love the person who needs my patience and gentleness, but again, the verse doesn't specify that it is out of love for that person, just out of love. Our love of God should be enough. We can't return all that God gives us directly, but God has commanded us to pour that love onto God's children.

Today I challenge you to give yourself a pep talk about patience and gentleness as you start your day. i am confident that the opportunity will come up where it can be applied. Choose patience and gentleness and let love conquer any negative reactions to the person. They will be better for it and so will you and just perhaps, in the glimpse of God's love that you show to that person, they will turn to repentance.