Unconditional Love: In my estimation, is not very logical. Human nature seems to want to attach strings to everything, and rightfully so. That’s how most of us were brought up. At least, I was. I’m not talking about love here. I’m talking about goods and services. It’s the natural order of things. You want food, clothing, or shelter…its going to cost you something in return. It’s been that way since the beginning of time.
This ended up being true of most of the relationships I’ve been in or are in. There’s ‘give and take.’ There has to be. Any married couple will tell you so. That’s what it takes.
I saw this dude on some random, talk show the other day ‘plugging’ his new book. Apparently, it’s about servicemen in combat over in Afghanistan and their day-to-day lives. The man gave a brief synopsis of the book, and claimed that something strange happens to groups of men over time in combat. He said that a guy can “flat out hate” another guy in the “squad,” but still be more than willing to die for him in a “fire-fight.” And he spoke of this ‘love’ that they had for each other, and how, eventually, nothing else mattered—most especially the politics of why they were there. I thought to myself, “That doesn’t make any sense. That’s it: unconditional love!” It was right there in Afghanistan.
Now, I’ve heard of this ‘brotherly bond’ among men in combat before, but it still seemed alien to me, but about 9 years ago when my first son was born, this illogical love became real to me. I loved that baby instantly! It made no sense. I mean, I’ve heard of this thing happening from my parents and other parents when their children were born, but I’ve never experienced it myself until then. And the crazy thing is, that radical, unconditional love only grows. No matter what they give me in return, my love for them doesn’t waiver. I would surly die for them!
So, if you’ve never heard of this love before, I promise you that it exists. It keeps no record of wrong and is not a selfish love. So, from Afghanistan to a hospital in North Texas, its out there. Its not logical, but its real, and will change your life forever.
Our pastors have been talking about "You can't serve God and mammon" lately. "Mammon" is not specifically money, but is more properly understood to mean buying and selling, that kind of thing. That's why a lot of times "mammon" is simplified to "money", but the fuller meaning would be something like "commerce". Either God is your supreme focus, or what you can get for yourself using the system of commerce around you is your supreme focus. Buying and selling and making a profit isn't the problem; placing that above God is the problem. I think maybe it's the same thing with love: it's definitely OK to "profit" from loving and being loved, but if the profit is what you are seeking, you're headed for trouble. The focus is properly on the person you are loving, and when that happens, you will naturally receive that person's love back.
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