Beyond all doubt God is love. The love of God is so great that were we to experience the smallest part of it we would be dissolved emotionally.

However . . . don't you love it? There always has to be someone around to rain on the parade.

The term "unconditional love" bothers me. It is as though the Bible were one long account of God's loving gestures toward people. The truth is, God is much more of a Person than we realize. His love is unfathomable. But it also is true that He gets sore at us.

Our generation has been told about the love of God until there is no strength left in the message. The severity of God seems to have been forgotten.

There was, of course, the flood of Noah.

"Oh Brother Thompson, that was the God of the Old Testament. He has been done away. Now we have Jesus."

You know what? Jesus was the God of the Old Testament. Jesus is not the Father, I understand that (even though some appear not to). None the less, Jesus was the Lord of the Old Testament.

Somewhere in the Old Testament God said to Moses, "I will show mercy to thousands of them who love Me and keep My commandments. But those who despise Me I will repay to their face."

Don't you love it? "I will repay to their face."

Is this reaction on God's part included in the definition of unconditional love? If it is I am all for it.

Then we have the eighteenth Psalm. In there God says, "If you are upright toward Me I will be upright toward you. But if you get sneaky with Me I will get sneaky with you." This is one of my favorite passages of the Bible.

Hey! God is a great game player. He will play games with you but you will lose every time. He is too smart for you.

I like the part where Jesus said that if people messed up He would cut them in pieces and then appoint them their portion with the unbelievers. Evidently the people He cut up were the believers. Can you picture all these cut-up pieces being handed over to the unbelievers?

There was a king who rented out a vineyard. The local citizenry abused the agents the king sent to collect his part of the profits and then killed his son.

What do you think the king did? He gushed upon them with unconditional love.

Try again.

But I was scared to use my talent so I buried it under the tree in the backyard.

Not to worry, Honey. Unconditional love will take your talent, give it to someone else, and you will be assigned to the barracks in the outer darkness.

Foolishness aside: to the believer who really loves God and wants to serve and please Him, but keeps on messing up, ignore what I have written. There indeed is a Love so powerful it will bear with you until you stand before Him in Glory. Count on it. If this is what is meant by unconditional love I am ready to buy into it.

But to those who are playing games with God, trying to bring in all your lazy relatives, flirting with the demons while God is breaking His back trying to provide for you, let me tell you the time will come when God will reward your treachery. You and your lazy relatives and your boyfriends will be kicked out of the house.

If you decide to come crawling back on your knees, God will meditate on your situation while He is resting with His faithful ones. Perhaps He will receive you, but it may be a while before He holds out the royal scepter.

Please son or daughter, don't experiment to find out if I'm right. I'm hearing from the Lord these days.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Your friend, Pastor Bob Thompson.