All you need is love!

By Kate

Some examples of unconditional love

Where does this picture of love come from? Some people recognise it intuitively - the parents who keep loving a wayward child, the partner who forgives their husband/wife after an affair and offers a new start together.

Corrie ten Boom, who survived the Nazi death camps, tells of an occasion after the end of the war when she was speaking at a meeting about forgiveness. At the end of the meeting a man approached her holding out his hand. She instantly recognised him as one of the warders from the camp who had treated her and her family so badly. In that split second she was faced with the reality of the choice to forgive. She held out her hand and shook it as he quietly asked her forgiveness.

There's another story that illustrates this sort of love. It's about a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp. The prison officers were demanding to know who had stolen some food, which had actually been taken by one of the jailers. They began to threaten the execution of prisoners one by one to force a confession.

The innocent man couldn't bear the thought of his friends dying in this way and stepped forward to confess and was shot on the spot.

Such love and concern for others can seem foolish or courageous. There is another man who has made his impact on human history and who many believe really demonstrated this sort of selfless love for others. That man is Jesus, who many believe died a cruel death to take the punishment every person deserves for their sin and rejection of God. Some view his death as a pointless waste and failure, but for others he is an inspiration to help them love others selflessly and sacrificially.

Loving like that can seem impossible without a little help. So next time you don't know how to go on loving you might like to ask for God's help.