Real Hope: Relationship With GodSample

Unconditional Love

The beautiful thing about relationship with God is that His love for you is unconditional. There is nothing you could do in this life that would cause Him to love you less. Nothing. It’s impossible.

I once heard this story of a family who adopted a teenager who’d been in foster care for some time. They already had one son, and this long-prayed-for addition completed their family. This kid was perfect – delightful to be around, didn’t step a foot out of line… dishes washed, beds made… a parent’s dream.

Each night they would hear both their kids head down to the kitchen to get themselves some cereal. One kid would be bounding down the stairs, slamming cupboards, and leaving his cereal bowl clattering in the sink as he headed back up to bed. The other kid, their adopted son, would wash his bowl, carefully dry it, place it back in the cupboard without a sound, and tiptoe up to bed. It broke their hearts. Their teenager had no problems slamming doors; he was secure in his sonship. But their adopted son wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything that could cause his new parents to regret their decision. He was loved, but he was still working out what that love truly covered.

There’s a difference between knowing in our heads that we have been adopted "into sonship" and knowing in our hearts that we are loved unconditionally forevermore. Needless to say, tears of joy could be found down his newly adopted parents’ faces one morning, many months later, when they found two bowls discarded carelessly into the sink instead of one.

Written by LUCY WEIL

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