17bAnd I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
As I talk with people day after day, I have come to realize how few people have ever experienced true love and acceptance. For so many, love, if they have received it at all, has been very conditional. They were shown love, IF they did certain things. But true love is never conditional. Conditional love is a cheap counterfeit to Biblical love. God loves us, period. In Jesus, everything that prevented Him from loving us has been removed. There is now nothing that stands in the way of love. All the conditions have been met already. We must simply accept that love that is freely offered. We don’t have to “do” anything. We have to simply accept. Paul prays that the Ephesian believers would be rooted firmly in this kind of love. If a person was told since birth that they would receive love “IF” they met a certain standard, it can be very difficult to hear that God has no “ifs” connected to His love. The mental tape that gets played from childhood can be a haunting thing. As believers, we need a new tape, a tape rooted and established in love. We need the Truth of Scripture running in our heads, not the lies of Satan. That is why Paul made this prayer. We desperately need to know that God loves us unconditionally. Nothing stands in the way of His love. You are loved! Just as you are, warts and all. Accept His love. Live in His love. Believe His love is for you. Then you life can begin anew.
The Arnold Journey 