Unconditional Love

Many times I feel the need to seek the approval of others. I want them to like me. I want them to appreciate my efforts. I don't have to do that with God. He loves me despite all my failures.
The book of Hosea is a picture of this unconditional love. Hosea was a prophet of God who was told to take a wife out of harlotry. God wanted him to marry a prostitute. Talk about an undesirable call. Anyway, he marries this woman named Gomer. She stays with him for a while, has a few kids, enjoys the things he gives her, but then one day she leaves.
I don't know about you, but I would've bid her good riddance if I had been Hosea. But Hosea loved her. He loved her in spite of all of her failures. He sent their children to plead with their mother to return. But she loved her sin more than she loved her family. She refused to go back to her home.
Sometime later Hosea heard of some slaves being sold. He went down to the auction, and there stood his wife on the auction block. He bid a high price and bought her for himself.
She probably expected punishment from him. She probably thought he'd have her put to death, but he simply showed her love. He took her on a honeymoon, and he returned home with her and treated her as if she'd never left.
That's just how God treats us. He forgives us again and again and again. His love never fails. That's the most awesome part. God's love is never conditional. It doesn't depend on my actions.
John 3:16 tells us how God gave us His only Son because He loved us. He knew many would reject Christ. He knew many would never understand His sacrafice. But He loved us, and that love was greater than any sin we could ever commit.