There is a new song by Kutless with extremely powerful lyrics that can cause self reflection.
Even if...
Even if the healing doesn't come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone
You are God You are good
Forever faithful one
Is it possible to really mean those words? Is it possible to love God so unconditionally that regardless if he answers my prayers or if I have a blessed life, I can love him? It is something that I think I am capable of until I stumble in life. At each failure, for seconds to days, I accuse God of being an unloving and unfaithful creator. There is much wrong in this thinking. For one, God first loved me- absolutely unconditionally. He gave his life, blood, and flesh for me. He was pure and good and became sin and conquered death for me. He knew I wouldn't be perfect and I wouldn't love him like he deserved, but he still gave his last breath for me. He has an "even if" kind of love. Even if I fail him, he loves me. Even if I doubt him, he loves me. Even if I leave him, he loves me.
My love for him on the other hand, has been far from "even if." As many Christians like me, we have an "only if." Although not easy to admit, it is too easy for us to love God only if we get the job, the car, the house, the spouse. When life begins to go off the blueprint we have planned, we consistently take anger and confusion out on God.
The discourse with the relationship is similar to a parent and child. Children grow in love for their parents. A parent's love for their child begins as soon as conception. Children learn first to trust their parent and the more consistent the parent is in providing for the child, the more the child's love grows.
But for us, we don't need a lifetime of proven events for God to show his faithfulness to us in order for our love to grow for him. In one action, he showed the world and every person to ever walk the earth how much he loves you. His only purpose on earth was to die for you. He loves so much that he was born just to love you.
So, how can we change from only to even? By simply remembering that that is the only way God loves us. From our first breath he has loved us Even If, and to our last. We are his children and so when we first first thought into being, he loved us. Loving someone who will love you despite your flaws, is actually pretty easy. If you remember that God has unconditional love for you, and failure after failure he will still hold out his arms to embrace you- how can you not have an Even if love for him?
