Unconditional anything

     Absolutes are by nature impossible to find, achieve, or live with.  Why?  Because absolutes outside of God don't exist.  Okay, you and I will absolutely die.  No, The Bible is clear that several people were "taken" by God rather than dying.  Okay, we will have to pay taxes.  No, many don't pay taxes.  Now that we've eliminated the big two, let's move on.  Absolutes bring to mind perfection.  No errors.  Nothing wrong.  Where in this world will you find absolutes and what would you do if you found them?  People have this expectation brought about by the thought of absolutes.  Expectations that no man or woman can begin to reach or achieve.  You and I may think we have unconditional this or that but we don't really because "unconditional" is an absolute word.  Much like "perfect" we place expectations on "unconditional".  Those expectations are unrealistic and a set up for our relationships outside of our relationship with God. 
     Unconditional "love" is the only a reality with God who is able to give perfect love.  All other "love" is conditional whether we like to admit it or not.  We may say we love someone unconditionally until we are examined to understand the expectations of love by our definition.  The world has so cheapened the word "love" that our ability to strive towards Godly love is lost or at least seriously diminished.  Love, in the unconditional sense, is total unselfishness.  A total denial of self.  When Christ, God, died on the cross there was a total denial of self.  Not an iota of selfishness.  Yet, we tell the people in our lives we love them with the same vigor as saying we love our beer, truck, jewelry, phone and the list goes on.  Because of our sin nature we are "unconditionally flawed" and in need of an "unconditional love" only available through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
     While we are on the subject let's look at unconditional forgiveness.  "Forgive and forget" is the mantra of many.  William James says it well: "We may have a God in heaven who forgives us our sin, mankind does not."  The sooner we admit and address this in our lives, the sooner God can begin to work on our expectations of others as well as ourselves.  We are unable to unconditionally forgive because we are a sinful and fallen race.  We were born, live and will die imperfect people.  When we understand that others are just like us (saved or not) then we can begin to offer the grace of God to those we say we love and those we say we don't love.  Grace from God knows no bounds and is perfect.  Grace from man is subject to whether we feel someone "deserves" grace from us.  How convoluted is that?  We are offered and hungrily grab the grace of God only to turn around and put a price on the grace we offer others.  Who died and has made us God?
       What we seem to do well is always flawed because it's not God doing it.  We taint everything we think, say and do with elements of self.  God's motive in sending his Son to die for us was simply for our salvation.  Nothing complex there.  God's motive in seeking us out is to bless us.  No surprise there either.  God's gift of forgiveness and eternal life is a motive of his heart.  He wants all mankind to be saved and to be with Him in eternity.  Finally, our "unconditional commitment" is not.  We are a people who hedge our bets.  Everything we do is conditional and suspect of an ulterior motive.  We may think we don't do this but we do.  It's our sin nature.  We are an imperfect relative of Adam and Eve who brought selfishness into our lives.  Because of God's work in and through Christ, we have unconditional forgiveness and salvation in him.  Because of God's unconditional love we have the privilege of breathing one more breath, living one more day and offering Jesus to others.