Unconditional Love

I would just like to be truly open about what's going on in my life. At 29, I still struggle with insecurity. I still struggle with comparing myself, not trusting God, and feeling inadequate. I have struggled with these things for as long as I can remember, and although I hoped I would be done with these struggles by now, I am thankful because they remind me of where my true worth comes from: the Lord. It's only when I forget this and start looking to the world to define me that I lose focus on who I truly am.

I've decided to focus these next couple of weeks (months, years) on becoming a confident woman in Christ. My focus tends to bend towards my own negative thoughts most of the time, and I've grown tired of that. So I'm changing my focus one day at a time. Today I'd like to talk about unconditional love. At first, the thought of this made me want to roll my eyes. Maybe I don't believe in unconditional love? Maybe it's such an overused cliche that I don't even know what it truly means? Who knows? But I think it's an important concept for all of us to comprehend, and I wanted to have a better understanding of it by studying it.

Here is an excerpt from the book A Confident Woman:
A confident woman knows that she is loved. She does not fear being unloved because she knows first and foremost that God loves her unconditionally. To be whole and complete, we need to know that we are loved.
The dictionary defines unconditional love as "affection without limitations." The first thing that pops into my mind when I read that is, do I love myself without limitations? Do I love others without limitations? I think I may be my own harshest critic. I put standards on myself that others don't even place on me. I have higher expectations of myself that no one could possibly live up to. No wonder I don't feel loved half the time!

I think the first step to understanding unconditional love is to first unconditionally love ourselves. Stop placing shoulds on yourself. "I should be this, I should be that..." and start loving yourself without limitations. If you mess up or say something stupid, still love yourself. If you do a poor job at work or embarrass yourself, have compassion for yourself. That is the first step to feeling loved and understanding unconditional love.

I believe it's when we start loving ourselves more that we can begin to love others better. For if we have no love for ourselves, how can we have any room to love others? That is my first challenge to you this week. Start loving yourself without limitation. Leave a comment on how this changes how you view yourself and how you start to interact with others. Or maybe how you feel challenged by this and can't seem to love yourself without limitation. I leave you with this verse to meditate on:

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  1 John 4:18

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