Love is a formidable force, an essential human need, and yet very difficult to explain. Unconditional love is something every Christian parent wants to give, just as Jesus gives us. If you want to learn more aboutunconditional love in the bible, keep reading.
Unconditional love requires understanding and intention. It's important not to let your feelings guide your love. Maybe that sounds funny to you. Isn't love a feeling? Not completely. God is love and he has given us instructions on how to love well. Let's delve into the biblical meaning of love.
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1 Definition of love
2 Bible verses about love
2.1 God is love
2.2 Agape love
3 The Biblical Meaning of Unconditional Love
3.1 Unconditional love elevates.
3.2 Unconditional love drives out fear.
3.3 Sacrifices of Unconditional Love.
4 How to show unconditional love
5 How to show unconditional love to your child
5.1 Examples of showing love to your child
5.1.1 The greatest love is sacrifice
6 Unconditional love has limits
7 How to make your child feel loved
7.1 Should you love your spouse or child more?
8 Love your neighbor as yourself
9 Some Final Thoughts on Loving Your Children Like Jesus
definition of love
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Don't feel bad if you can't easily define perfect love in a few words. There are many songs that beg the question,"What is love?"– like the popular 90s song by Haddaway. And if you're older, there's the Foreigner song, "I Want to Know What Love Is."
Millennials... apparently figured it out? According to Rhianna,"We found Love"I was in a hopeless place.
Love is often described as a strong feeling of affection or preference for something or someone. It has also been described as a process that happens to you, like "falling in love" (or falling out of love). Some speak of love as a person: "Love does not follow mistakes". And some speak of love as something to cling to, like a possession. "All you need is love."
bible verses about love
Love is talked about extensively in the Bible. It is the sum of the commandments given to all believers by Jesus ( Matthew 22:35-40). And 1 Corinthians 13 focuses entirely on love, calling it the greatest thing, even greater than hope and faith (1 Corinthians 13:13).
God is love
Love is one of the attributes that mark the dividing line between godliness and ungodliness. We cannot be pious and not love.
"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 João 4:16, NETWORK).
Perhaps the best argument for the elusive nature of love is that God is love and that all love comes from God. God is bigger than we can imagine, and love can be too.
agape love
As Christians, the sum of the law is to love God and others. If you want to love others well, Jesus told us to love as he did. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (João 15:12, NETWORK).
There are many words in the Bible that are translated into English as "love", but each one has a more specific meaning in Greek, the original language of the Bible. The Greek word used to describe God's love for us and the love we are commanded to give is agape.
If it's a command, then it's something you can follow. So if you feel love but don't act on it, then it's just affection, not love. Love takes action.
The Biblical Meaning of Unconditional Love
To love someone unconditionally, you can't be carried away by the whims of their mood or their feelings in a moment. If you don't feel love but act with love, it's unconditional love.
unconditional love meanschoosinglove, no matter the circumstances. To love unconditionally is to decide to love someone regardless of the circumstances around you and to continue to love them no matter what they do. It means acting kindly even when someone doesn't deserve it. Unconditional love depends on the commitment of the giver, not the qualification of the receiver.
Paul describes God's unconditional love in Romans 8:38-39.
Therefore I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us. of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Nothing can separate us from the love of God. It is unconditional and invincible.
Unconditional love elevates.
“See what great love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God! That's why the world doesn't know us, because it didn't know him" (1 João 3:1, NETWORK).
Unconditional love does not insult or obsess over faults. Love sees the potential for the best and expects the best in others. Love sees the forgotten, the sad, the broken and takes them. He sustains them and brings healing and wholeness.
Unconditional love drives out fear.
"There is notfear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear brings punishment. He who fears is not perfected in love" (1 João 4:18, NETWORK).
Unconditional love does not use fear in an attempt to control or coerce. Love protects others and helps calm fears. Love brings peace and calm to chaos, as L.R. Knost points to this beautiful observation.
Sacrifices of unconditional love.
"Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 João 4:10).
Sacrificial love means choosing to give up something for the sake of someone else. And unconditional love requires sacrifice because it means giving up everything that would keep you from loving someone. Maybe they were unkind to you, even cruel. Maybe they don't love you or even hate you. Even so, unconditional love loves.
As Christians, Jesus is our example of how to do all things, including how to love well. God chose to love us sacrificially despite our faults and shortcomings through the sacrifice of Christ.
As Paul said, “But God demonstrates his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! ” (Romans 5:8, NIV).
While we were ugly, at our worst, and hopeless, God loved us so much that he sent his only begotten Son to die for us.
Get your free Bible verse coloring page for Romans 5:8
And Jesus Himself instructed, “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
John, the Bible writer most focused on love, taught: “By this we know love: because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).
How to show unconditional love
Jesus used the Greek word agape when he instructed us to love. Agapé is sometimes translated as "unconditional love".
Agapé is unconditional in the sense that it is a love that originates in the choice of the giver, not the condition of the receiver. Agape love does not change, even if the recipient changes. Unconditional love is a decision and a commitment.tfor whom he loves.
So if you want to show unconditional love, start by making a decision. Decide that you will show love no matter what.
- Be patient and kind when others are rude.
- Make sacrifices for others, especially when they don't deserve it.
- Never use fear and intimidation, even when you feel scared and intimidated.
- Elevate others. Help them gain a head and encourage them along the way.
- Look for and bring out the best in others, especially those who are hard to see.
It's not just important to "not let your feelings guide your love". But when you act against your feelings to choose love, it's the most unconditional.
However, decisions and feelings are not the fullness of love. "Love makes" likebob goff says, to act.
How to show unconditional love to your child
If you want to know the secret of how to love your children unconditionally, consult the scriptures. The most famous description of love is, of course, I Corinthians 13:4-7,
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy Love is not boastful, it is not arrogant, it does not behave badly, it does not seek its own way, it is not angry, it does not regard evil; injustice is not appreciated, but the truth; everything supports, everything believes, everything hopes, everything supports.
Be patient, kind, humble, and willing that things don't go your way. Don't let their behavior provoke you to act inappropriately. Do not follow their mistakes.
Examples of showing love to your child
Protecting your child is one of the important ways to show love. Protecting them includes dressing them appropriately for the weather so they don't get sick. It means keeping an eye on them while they're on the playground so they don't fall. It means saying don't let them watch inappropriate videos online.
Feeding your child is another way to show love. It means providing healthy food. Your child's integral edification also includes nourishing his soul with the word of God and feeding his brain with knowledge.
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The greatest love is sacrificed
Loving our children means sacrificing for them. It means giving up our egos, our ambitions and yes, even our lives for them. We bond with the love of Christ when we sacrifice for the sake of our children. Here are some examples of what that sacrificial love can look like.
Sacrificial love means getting up in the middle of the night when you are exhausted to feed or comfort your hungry baby. It means cleaning up poop, vomit, and everything else little ones do or get in.
It means not getting my nails done so we can pay for my daughter's volleyball tuition.
It means humbly walking out the door this morning with my hair disheveled because the time I had to comb my hair has been taken by my son's needs.
Unconditional love has limits
Just because you love unconditionally doesn't mean you can't have boundaries. In fact, holding your child to a standard and having boundaries is a loving part of parenting.
To love someone is to have their best interests at heart in everything you do. It's not loving to allow your child to touch a hot surface, walk down the street, or chat online with strangers. Dangerous and unhealthy activities must be controlled to protect and develop your child in a healthy way.
For example, I think I'm loving my son when I tell him not to eat candy all the time. I'm protecting and nurturing him by limiting him to healthier options.
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AsTo doYour child feels loved
My son recently informed me that I don't love him as much as his friend's mother loves his friend, "because she lets him have what he wants." I let him know that it's because I love him that I don't let him have what he wants and that his friend's mom probably says "no" more than she sees.
As much as we feel and act lovingly toward our children, we cannot “make” them feel… anything. A great phrase I love to use to help us understand how our actions affect the feelings of others is:
"When you ______, I feel_________."
If your child is talkative, you might ask, "What do I do or say that makes you feel loved?" Another great tool to help you show love in the way your child receives it is the book.The five love languages of children.
Any way you look at it, learning to love your child in a way that you can receive them requires being a student of your child. Ask, listen, observe, and adjust your words and actions accordingly.
Do loving things that are within the bounds of what is protective and nurturing. Sorry son, giving you candy whenever you want is not how I'm going to show you that I love you.
Should you love your spouse or your child more?
There is a teaching out there that Christian wives are to love their husbands more than their children. I see no evidence of this in the Bible. And honestly, I don't think the kind of love we're commanded to give is to give certain amounts to some more than others.
There are only two levels of love that I see in scripture "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" (Mark 12:30, WEB ) and “love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 31).
In my opinion, this is the only valid comparison of who to love more. If several people you love disagree, I think a more valuable question is which option will most benefit the other's health and well-being?
For example, if your husband asks you to bring him a glass of milk, but your child has fallen and is bleeding, you choose to take care of the child because the child's well-being is at stake.
On the other hand, if your son wants to stay up late at a party, but your husband wants to go home because he has to get up early, you go home to look out for your husband's well-being. The choice is between well-being and indulgence, not between two people.
Do you love your neighbor as yourself
Do not get me wrong. I fail all the time. I surrender, insist on my own way and react badly every day. That's why I also need to love myself to love well.
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
When I feel nourished, protected and cared for, I find it easier to choose the same. And as a parent, that means I have to make time to feed on the Word or go for a walk to de-stress. I need to draw water from the well of Love itself – God – so that I can overflow with love for my children and others.
Some Final Thoughts on How to Love Your Children Like Jesus
Loving your child like Jesus does not depend on how you feel. It's okay if you don't like or even can't stand your child right now. Loving them is about what you choose to do for their well-being.
God's love is so much more than I can comprehend, much less put into words. If you want to know how to love your children like Jesus, the most helpful thing you can do is get closer to Jesus.
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:8).
He will show you perfect love and pour love through you. He revealed himself in Jesus, who demonstrated and taught us how to love one another.
Finally, I hope you can have what Paul prayed forEphesians 3:17-19
"I pray that you, rooted and firmly established in love, may understand with all the saints what is the length and breadth, the height and depth of the love of God, and may know the love of the Messiah which surpasses all knowledge, so that may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
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