4 Valentine’s Reminders of the Outrageous, Unconditional Love of God
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Does Valentine’s Day stir tender emotions within you, or leave you feeling sad and anxious? If the latter, you’re not alone. According to a 2024 survey conducted by BetterHelp, the highly-commercialized holiday causes 15 million US adults to feel stressed and depressed. Perhaps you feel stuck in an unhealthy marriage, find yourself grieving a relationship ended, or one never experienced.
Wherever we land this February, may we take comfort in these fresh reminders of God’s love.
1. His Love Exceeds Expectations
I’ve talked with numerous people who struggled to accept and receive God’s love for them. In many ways, this makes sense as our broken and sin-ravished world taints even our closets and healthiest relationships. Pride, selfishness, and misunderstandings can turn disagreements into harsh and hurtful arguments. Plus, something said, done, or encountered might trigger intense emotions related to unprocessed pain. We isolate, lash out, get frustrated, and endure seasons of elevated stress and sleep deprivation. In short, we all have times when we treat others poorly, and vice versa.
This was true for the earliest Christ followers as well. Those in ancient Ephesus in particular seemed to struggle to understand Christ’s heart. Most of them came from a pagan background that likely created deep soul wounds and shame.
In response, the apostle Paul told them they were chosen, adopted children of God, given every spiritual blessing in Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realms.
Then, after clearly and thoroughly describing their new identity, Paul penned a beautiful request we can, and perhaps should, pray over ourselves. In verses 16-19, he wrote:
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Our unchanging Father holds no favorites. This means the deep truths Paul expressed to the Ephesians apply to us as well. We are God’s treasured, wanted, supernaturally supplied, redeemed, forgiven sons and daughters destined for holiness.
2. He Loves without Conditions
Early in my faith journey, I unknowingly gauged the Lord’s affection on my behavior. When I consistently practiced certain spiritual disciplines or displayed Christ-like qualities, I “felt” God’s pleasure and presence. When the busyness and stress of life stole my focus and self-control, however, He seemed distant. I assumed this meant He withdrew from me.
He never reacts to us that way. 1 John 4:18 indicates that God loves us perfectly. Based on the original Greek, one could also say, completely, every moment of every day. We see this throughout Scripture. I’m particularly encouraged by examples of when God moved toward His children when they’d sinned.
Consider His declarations to the ancient Israelites in Jeremiah 31:3, where we read,
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.’”
In the original Hebrew, this verse begins with the phrase, “Of old Yahweh has appeared” (emphasis mine). To quote David Guzik from the Enduring Word, “Anchored in eternity past, His love for Israel extended to eternity future.”
Notice how verse 37 expands on this assurance.
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,’ declares the Lord" (emphasis mine).
For centuries, His people had deliberately turned from Him to worship demons and engage in evil rituals like temple prostitution and child sacrifice. Yet, despite their rebellion, God continued to reach out to them, urging them to return to Him. Jeremiah 31, spoken amid the nation’s wickedness, reveals a Father’s unyielding, pursuing heart for His wayward children.
He would not, and will not, cast His people aside.
Jesus reiterated this truth in the parable of the prodigal. This story tells us about a wealthy man with two sons, one of whom requested his inheritance early. In our modern, western context, we might miss the statement this made. According to Bible scholar Craig S. Keener, “To ask one’s father for one’s share of the inheritance was unheard of in antiquity; in effect, one would thereby say, ‘Father, I wish you were already dead.’ … A not unusual response would have been for the father to disinherit the son.”
That wasn’t how the man, who clearly represents God, responded. Instead, he conceded to the prodigal’s wishes, gave him his share of the estate, and let him go.
The man released his son from the property but not from his heart.
While Scripture doesn’t tell us how long the son remained gone, we do know it was long enough for him to squander everything on “wild living.” Notice also why he later returned:
“After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father” (Luke 15:14-20a).
His hunger, not remorse for the pain he’d inflicted, drove him home.
But notice also how his father responded.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).
This seems to indicate that the father was watching for him. Did he gaze toward the horizon first thing each morning, periodically throughout the day, then again before bed, hoping and praying his son would return? The moment the man saw him in the distance, he broke into a run and celebrated his return with a lavish party.
However, one of my favorite reminders of how the Lord pursues us in our failure comes from Romans 5:8, which states,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
That doesn’t mean He ignores and condones deliberate disobedience. He won’t bless what leads us to increased bondage. Like all kind and responsible parents, He often allows us to experience consequences for our choices. That’s often the only reason we turn from self-destruction to the freedom He offers. However He responds, the Bible assures us that His heart is for us.
3. His Love Never Leaves
As the Scriptures above indicate, our disobedience and weaknesses don’t drive the Lord away. According to Romans 8:35-39, neither can anyone or anything else.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
4. His Love Invites Transparency
When we feel unsafe in a relationship, we tend to self-protect. This often results in concealing our emotions, deepest questions, and most intimate thoughts. We’re less apt to share something we fear might lead to ridicule, rejection, and abandonment. It’s only when we know, through experience, that a person will remain that we gain the confidence to unveil the truest parts of ourselves.
Therefore, the more our souls connect with Jesus, and we allow Him to heal our most wounded places, the more we’ll recognize and trust His heart. As we encounter Him as He truly is, we recognize we have no cause for fear or reason to hide. We’re progressively able to say to the One acquainted with all of our ways,
“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting”
Whether your Valentine’s Day feels special and romantic or hard and lonely, may you anchor your soul in these unwavering truths: Your Savior loves you with an inconceivable, immeasurable, unconditional, pursuing, immovable, and secure love. He deems you precious and rejoices over you with exuberant song.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Kharoll Mendoza
Jennifer Slattery is a writer and speaker who co-hosts the Faith Over Fear podcast and, along with a team of 6, the Your Daily Bible Verse podcast. She’s addressed women’s groups, Bible studies, and taught at writers conferences across the nation. She’s the author of Building a Family and numerous other titles and maintains a devotional blog at JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLou
She’s passionate about helping people experience Christ’s freedom in all areas of their lives. Visit her online to learn more about her speaking or to book her for your next women’s event, and sign up for her free quarterly newsletter HERE and make sure to connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and GodTube.