And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. 1 Kings 11:9-10
Both of my adult children have recently – and temporarily – moved back in with my wife and me. I know it won’t last, so I’m enjoying the time with them while it does. As their parents, we will always love them, no matter what. It is conceivable though, that we may not always enjoy living with them. I cannot imagine any event that would cause me to disown them as my children, and I cannot imagine revoking my love for them. My love for them is unconditional. I can, however, conceive of behavior that may make me not want them to live at home. If, for instance, one of them stopped working and just lived off mom and dad for free, I may insist that it was time to go. They, at that point, may feel like my love for them was conditional. Not so. I’d still love them, and they’d still be my children – no matter what. It would be, in fact, because I love them that I may insist on them doing something they don’t want to do. I love my kids unconditionally, but the day-to-day posture of our relationship is conditionally based on our behavior towards each other.
The parent-child relationship, I think, is a good way to understand God’s love for us. God love us unconditionally. That, however, does not mean that he doesn’t want us to be obedient to him or that he never disciplines us. This is the lesson of today’s passage, in which King Solomon incurred God’s anger by following foreign idols. God loved Solomon, blessing him with great wisdom and prosperity. Solomon though, wandered from God, worshipping the foreign idols of his foreign wives. In response, God didn’t stop loving Solomon and he didn’t reject him as one of his children. He did, however, discipline him.
God loves us unconditionally. He loved us and sent his son to die for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). The mistake though, is to think this means that we can do whatever we want and still enjoy the blessings of an intimate relationship with God. In our sin and disobedience, we don’t make God not love us. He doesn’t disown us. He does, however, discipline those he loves (Hebrews 12:6).
God loves me just the way I am, but he doesn’t love my self-destructive behavior. Rather, God loves me enough to transform me into what he wants me to be.