Does God love me MORE or LESS?

Recently, I received a question from one of you:

Obedience is pleasing to GOD... some obey more than others..... so that must mean that he is WELL pleased with some and just pleased or NOT pleased with others... so with that all said and done does GOD love us ALL the same? and just not as pleased with me as he is with the one who is WELL obedient? and of course can you back that up with Scripture?

At the time that I received it, my brain was swamped with other things, and I didn't have the time to sit down and think through the answer to this question from a biblical standpoint. I knew the answer, but I needed to search the Scriptures for the "proof text" to support my answer.

God's love is unconditional. The most basic example of this is found in Romans 5.8 - "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." This verse shows us that God's love for us is not based on anything we do (or don't do), but rather is based on Himself and who He is. God loved us enough to send His ONLY Son to fulfill the debt of sin on our behalf while we were still sinning and didn't have a relationship with Him. If God loved us that much in our sinful, unregenerate state, then nothing we do (or don't do) can make Him love us any less.

The New Testament uses a Greek word to describe God's love for us: agape. We see the definition of this agape love in 1 Corinthians 13.4-8a: "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

God's love is not based on anything we do/don't do. Do you love your children any less when they are disobedient? Do you love your children more when they are obedient? God's love for us is like that of a parent (though He is perfect in His love, unlike us). While you may not be pleased with your child's disobedience and/or may be extra pleased with his/her obedience, your love for them is the same regardless. This is God's love for us.

Do you have a question that you'd like me to address in a future post?