Unfailing love

Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find?  –Proverbs 20:6 (NIV)
 
Have you ever felt loved? Most of us could hopefully answer yes. But I mean truly, TRULY loved. Unconditionally. No expectations, no strings attached. Where nothing you could ever do or not do would make the other person love you any more or any less than they already do, because they already love you with all their heart.
 
That’s the love God has for humanity. After the fall of mankind in the garden, YHWH made a promise to one man – who became one family, which became one nation – to launch His rescue of all nations. The Bible word for this love is "hesed". It’s a never-give-up, never-say-die kind of stubborn, steadfast love that extends grace and kindness whether or not such devotion is deserved or reciprocated, which, in the case of this people of the promise, it mostly wasn’t.
 
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  –Romans 8:35,37 (NIV)
 
It’s a love that seeks the best for another, even when the best is not the easiest for either party. It longs for a positive response, but doesn’t force one. It will never walk away, but it grieves the loss of relationship if the other person chooses to leave. It involves covenant commitment, but it goes beyond duty and obligation to reflect the character of the one extending such love.
 
For the recipient of this kind of love, there is opportunity to embark on a journey of fellowship and discovery that is almost indescribable. To think the Source of the universe desires personal relationship with each of His children and makes Himself available to anyone who would respond to His hesed is more than we would dare wish for. Yet that’s the promise. It’s a crazy ride, but you’ll never be more alive than when you’re swimming in His unfailing love.
 
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  –Romans 8:37-39 (NIV)