When I think about Real Love I think about the Heavenly Father's love for us. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace...2Thess. 2.16

We have done nothing to deserve this love; it is just bestowed upon us. In the line of thinking I wonder if I have made my children feel loved like that. Like "You are loved no matter what you do or how you mess up." I fear that as a father I have made my love conditional upon an action. I am not to love only if they deserve it. None of us deserve anything but judgment and wrath. But since I have had the Father's love shown to me should I not show unconditional love to my children? To withhold love from a child for bad actions is cruel and selfish. What we are saying when this happens is "you have not pleased me or made me happy so I am going to punish you by withholding love from you." That is wickedly selfish. But, I have done this just like everyone else. We need to repent of this selfish behavior.

The secret of every discord in Christian homes and communities and churches is that we seek our own way and our own glory. --Alan Redpath