“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NKJV)
“We love Him, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 NKJV)
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT)
In Freshman Doctrine class, Mr. Miles (President of Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music) shared his unique definition of “Agape” (one of the Greek words for love, referring to unconditional love) by using the expression, “I love you for no good reason at all.” My girlfriend Melody (soon to be my wife) was also in the class, and we both agreed that this definition of love would be the foundation of our relationship. We have done our best to live this for almost 37 years of marriage, and it has kept us together through all of the “for better or worse” times.
About 4 years ago we were granted guardianship of our granddaughter Savannah. I have shared this definition of love with her and we talk about it quite often. I have added an element to what I learned from Mr. Miles that I think makes this even more powerful. Along with explaining to Savannah that I love her “for no good reason at all,” I have helped her to see that if you need a reason to love someone then your love becomes vulnerable. If that person no longer demonstrates the reason for which you love him or her then your love will either weaken or cease to exist.
Savannah and I play a little game in which one of us will ask the other one, “why do you love me?” The one asked will immediately answer, “for no good reason at all.” Then the one asking the questions will follow up with, “Why?” The answer is given, “because if I love you for a reason and you no longer give me that reason I may not love you any more.” I will also play this game with Melody from time to time (not as often as we have been playing it for about 37 years). Recently I expanded my verbalization of unconditional love to say, “Melody (or Savannah), “Even though you give me tons of reasons to love you, I still love you for no good reason at all.”
It is massively important that we tell the ones we love that we love them over and over again. No one ever gets tired of being reminded of our love for them. It is even more important that we demonstrate it in how we treat them. Unconditional love always puts the other person first, even when they don’t deserve it. Sometimes we just have to make the sacrifice and stop putting ourselves first. I challenge each of us to take a hard look at what we are saying, and how we are treating those close to us. If we are not loving unconditionally then we need to consider…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 7: “I love you for no good reason at all.”