Is God’s Love Conditional?

Announcer: We’d like to introduce to you our host for that for That’s in the Bible Live, Brother Richie Juatco!

Brother Richie: Hello Seattle! How’s everyone? How’s everyone today? Welcome to That’s in the Bible Live. We’re actually live here on location in beautiful Seattle, Washington. And we’re here at the INC Media Experience event or INCMX. 

For those that don’t know what That’s in the Bible is, it’s a program where we take questions from people all around the world, wondering what is in the Bible and how it applies to our lives. Now, prior to this event, we actually sent out a camera crew to your beautiful city to find out if there was anyone in the city that had any questions that they’ve been wondering for some time. And they were hoping that they could find an answer from the Bible. So first of all, we would like to thank all those that asked questions to our camera crew, even those that reached out to us via email. But we wouldn’t especially like to thank Robert, Mark and Tyswanekwa, because the questions that they asked, we’re going to feature on our show today. 

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Topic: Following The Rules Set By A Church

Robert Nichols 

Bothell, Washington

Topic: Spiritual vs. Religious 

Mark Sokup

Topic: Conditions On Who To Love

Tyswanekwa Crosby

Federal Way, Washington

Brother Richie: Now these are the questions that they asked. Robert, the topic of his question was following the set rules by a church. So he wanted to know did he have to follow those rules. Mark asked about spiritual versus religious, there might be some of us that have heard that or someone wondering the difference between that; and Tyswanekwa, she asked conditions on who to love. She wanted to know if there was anything in the Bible that made her have to love someone a certain way. 

We’re going to use those three questions, to answer an overarching question, which is: Is God’s love unconditional? And we hear that all the time, right? We hear that “God’s love is unconditional. No matter how you choose to live your life, He’s going to love you just the same.” And it’s so nice to hear, it makes you feel good. But we want to know: what’s in the Bible? Is that according to the Bible? 

What is a “condition”?

So what we’re going to do is we’re going to find that out. But before that, let’s find out what “condition” is. What’s the definition of “condition” [and let’s find out if God has any for His love]. So [a condition] is something that must exist before something else can happen. Another word to say that is a “prerequisite” or a “requirement” or “rule” or “restriction.” So does God not have [conditions]? We’ll find out. Let’s go to Tyswanekwa’s question first. We can actually hear it from her: 

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So even when I was at my grandma’s church yesterday, they made this statement that God did not make man and man to be together, woman and woman to be together. But I believe God [doesn’t] make mistakes…It’s almost like you make Him less comforting, less inviting. So I’m grateful that I’ve decided to have my own relationship outside of church…but I don’t agree with making them feel bad…Where in the Bible does it tell us to be conditional lovers? Where does it tell us to only love someone “this” way or if they are like “this”?

Tyswanekwa Crosby

Federal Way, Washington

[Video ends]

Does the Bible give conditions on who to love?

Brother Richie: So again, we’d like to thank Tyswanekwa for her question. And just so that we can see if we can know where she’s coming from. Let me see a raise of hands: who here wants someone to give them conditions on who to love? Is there anyone here that wants to be told who to love? So we can kind of see where she’s coming from, right? Because when it comes to love, if someone is going to give their love, he or she is going to come up with their own conditions that someone has to meet to give that love, right? Love can’t be forced, you can’t force someone to love someone else. 

For example, this gentleman here, you can’t be forced to love this lovely lady, right? By the way, are you two married? You are, so you do love each other! You love each other because you had your own conditions to be met, and you met those conditions. And that’s how it is, right? It’s your love, it’s your life, it’s your choice. 

And there are many people, they choose who to love without worrying about what is written in the Bible. So why are there some [that asked] that question from the Bible? Why is it that, not only Tyswanekwa, but many people, [want] to know what is in the Bible regarding that? Well, to many, the ideal situation is: choose who to love, and have God’s love upon you and upon the one that you love as well, right? Because that would actually be [a] great situation. 

Who does God choose to love?

So when it comes to God’s love…now we’re on the topic of God’s love. Does He have conditions? We all have conditions for our love. And many people say, “No, God’s different. He doesn’t have any conditions. Well, we don’t want to answer for God because His words are written in the Bible, we’ll just read His answer. 

When it comes to God giving His love, what is it that [He] requires, if He does have any requirements. Let’s read what is written in the Bible, we’re going to read from what’s recorded here in Deuteronomy. We’ll read chapter 7. We’ll read it together here, we’ll put it on the screen. Here in verse 6 to 7, it says:

You are a holy nation. The Lord your God has set you apart for himself. He has chosen you to be his special treasure. He chose you out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be his people. The Lord chose you because he loved you very much… 

[Deuteronomy 7:6-7 New International Reader’s Version]

Brother Richie: When it comes to God giving His love, how is it that the Bible describes that? Well, here we can read that He did give His love to the ancient nation of Israel. Now, what’s the proof that He loved them? Well, according to what we’ve read, it says He chose them to be His people. Some might say, “I don’t understand” or “aren’t we all God’s people? God created all of us.” And that’s true. God created every single one of us. But as we have learned, He doesn’t love everyone the same. What’s the proof? It says that He chose some to be His special treasure. He set them apart to be His people. 

So, now when it comes to God giving His love, just like the rest of us, that’s His choice, right? It is His choice. He’s the one that comes up with the conditions that have to be met. And really God’s love…that’s what we want. Right? That is so important to have. If there’s anyone’s love that we’re going to work for, that we’re going to try to win over, it should be God’s. 

Now, some might think, “Why? Well, what’s so great about having God’s love?” Well, if that’s the question, why is that such a wonderful situation to have God’s love in our life? Again, let’s go to what is recorded. We’ll read the situation that God makes for those that He does choose to love. We’re going to read from what is recorded here in the book of Psalm, Chapter 91, we’re going to read verses 14 to 15. It says: 

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 

[Psalm 91:14-15 New International Version]

What does it mean to love God?

Brother Richie: According to the Bible, what kind of a situation is it if God chooses to love someone? That’s a wonderful situation. Our God Himself said that the one He loves, he’s going to protect, He’s going to deliver, He’s going to honor, He’s going to rescue those that love Him. If they call to Him, He’s going to answer them. If they’re in trouble, He’s going to be with them in trouble. Who here wants that situation? Who here wants God to be with them always? We all do. But just because we want it, does it mean we get it? Well, this particular servant, how come he got it? Well, God gave the answer. He answered and He said, “Because he loves me.” 

So there was a condition met. Our God gave him the love and the protection that he needed. So, if someone thinks, “Well, I love God, too.” And we can all say that (we should say that) we all love God. But we know that love is much more than words. There’s a saying that we all know when it comes to talk, right? They say talk is…”talk is cheap.” Anyone can say that. The ladies that are here: If someone says they love you, is that all you need to believe it? No, even us as human beings, right? For us to believe someone that they love us, they’ve got to prove it. So when it comes to God’s love, does that have to be proven? Again, some might say, “No, God is different!” Well, wait a second, let’s use God’s words. If someone loves God, what does that mean? Let’s read His words. From what is written here in 1  John, we’re going to read chapter 5, verse 3. This is what i