I'd love you unconditionally, but you just don't deserve it

"I'd love you unconditionally, but you just don't deserve it." – Unknown

Jesus saw through the surface to the soul. That's the first reason that He loved in such an amazing way. Whether it was a leper, or a prostitute, or an adulterer, He seemed to naturally look past outward appearances and blatant behavior. He looked deep into the human soul, and what He saw there, He loved.

Jesus also looked past people's issues and touched the soul. He didn't even try to fix them before He had connected with them in a way that validated their value, even in the midst of their sin. Over and over, He loved first.

Finally, Jesus risked everything to touch the human soul. His reputation as a holy man was on the chopping block the night He let the prostitute anoint Him with perfume and wipe His feet with her tears and hair. And how about the physical diseases He risked by reaching out to touch those who were sick? Yeah, He put His own health on the line to heal them and love them.

That's radical stuff. The source of such audacity is not just a decision or an act of the will. It is an extension of unity with God.

"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me… because you loved me before the creation of the world." – John 17:22-24

When we consciously let Christ live through us to love like this, His radical love brands us as authentically Christian and gives glory to God.

Is it possible that we don't love as we should because we don't recognize how He could love through us?

Holy Spirit, today, I ask that You would give me one opportunity to experience Your love flowing through me like never before. You can love through me like I could never love on my own – the love that sees, the love that touches, and the love that risks. Please, do that in a radical way through me today. Amen.