The unconditional love of Abba

The other day, during my quiet time with the Lord, the story of the woman who was caught in act of adultery in John 8 stood out to me. I've read it countless times but this time there was something significant that stood out to me. Let me say this first, for a while I was struggling with the idea of being simply accepted and loved by my Abba, regardless of what happens. My head believes that I am accepted but my heart was having a hard time believing and I was asking God to show me that I've been accepted already and I do not have to do anything- and that I will know His love is unconditional! My tiny mind cannot simply grasp the whole picture because well, He is GOD! His ways are higher than ours and He does not think the way we do. 

"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" ⁶They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

   But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

 ⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

 ¹¹"No one, sir," she said. 
      "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

The Pharisees were saying to Jesus as they dragged the woman out, "What should we do about her? She was caught in adultery. Moses say we should stone her. What do YOU think?" They were trying to trap Him. Jesus ignored them and wrote in the sand. Then He looked up and said, "Let the one who hasn't commited any sin throw the first stone." 

No one said anything and so they left one by one. Jesus asked the woman if there were anyone to condemn her, she said no and then Jesus told her to go and sin no more. Jesus didn't even ask her if she was sorry. He didn't demand anything from her. He didn't seem too concerned that she might return to her old self. She stood right there and Jesus gave her absolution before she even asked for it. 

It was right there that I realized something... God wants us back even more than we could possibly want to be back! We've been already accepted even before we know it. His love for us does not change- not even one bit. Not even when we turn away from Him. He is always right there, waiting for us to return to Him. In the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, we see the unconditional love of God in it as well. As the son was walking home, the father sees him from a distance and ran to him, hugging him with tears, even before son got a chance to apologize and when he started to, the father doesn't quite let him finish. God is waiting right there with outstretched arms. He loves you so much, it does not matter what you may have done. He wants you back more than you could possibly want to be back. Do you hear His gentle voice calling you? 

The story affected me because it shows how the nature of God's love for us is so outrageous. I believe that the love of our God is not dignified at all and that He doesn't expect our love to not be dignifed like His because we are not perfect. Maybe that's why we have a hard time believing it with our hearts. 

There's also something else that I am experiencing: Jesus's love. Jesus talked about doing to the least of our brethern we do unto Him in New Testament. But then I think, "What if you discovered that the least of the brethern, the one who needs love the most, is you?" That's something I am learning about the love of Jesus as well. Jesus told us to love our neighbors like we should love ourselves. That's one part of what I am learning about the love of Jesus... by loving myself.