Love Unreturned
Over the past few months my three year old daughter has been saying, “When I grows up I’m going to marry my daddy.� To be honest, I really liked hearing her say that. One day her older brother was trying to explain to her that she wouldn’t be able to marry her daddy. She got very upset and declared, “I love my daddy – I will always love my daddy – and he will marry me because I’m his ‘Princess!’ Besides he will love me ‘No Matter’ what!�
I thought to myself – where did that come from. The concept of unconditional love is a lofty idea. Have you ever thought where it comes from? A love that will always be returned to us! If we are loved we will reciprocate. Who believes in such a thing?
Recently I heard someone say, “If love is such a profound emotion, why is it that we love everything and anything?� It seems that we are a culture of great lovers. We love movies, shopping, ice cream, our pets, great meals, weekends, clear days in the Inland Empire, and rock and roll!
It is not just us Americans. What do they love? Think wine, BMW’s, watches, lattes, sushi and you know the French, the Germans, the Swiss, the Italians and the Japanese.
At times it seems that we love even the most meaningless of things. Could this fact point to our capacity to love more than we think? So often we describe love in such superficial terms. But how do we adequately describe deep, profound, unending love?
I believe it starts with the realization that we exist in a unique category. That is, we are the object of God’s love! God first loved us and sent his son that we might fully know his love. How amazing! Who wouldn’t respond to this fact?
Years ago, Solomon described the desperation that comes when we seem unable to capture the heart of the one we love. The Scriptures teach us that God feels like this. The Hebrews describe him and his love as immeasurable and unending. If this is true than his sense of sorrow and rejection must be more deep and profound than we can imagine. God knows the pain of a love unreturned.
Ever wonder what you must do to be loved? The answer is nothing. The depth of God’s love is demonstrated in the fact that he loves you unconditionally and allows you to reciprocate freely.