Already Loved

Christian Scripture affirms that God loves us consistently and unconditionally, whether we are good or bad. This raises an honest question: Why be good if we're already loved, even when we act unjustly or exploit others?

Ronald Rolheiser reflects on this with piercing clarity:
If God loves us equally when we are bad and when we are good, then why be good? This is an interesting question, though not a deep one. Love, understood properly, is never a reward for being good. Goodness, rather, is always a consequence of having been loved. We are not loved because we are good, but hopefully we become good as we experience love.

This truth unravels our transactional instincts. Love that requires goodness in exchange is business, not grace. Real love - divine love - doesn't demand worthiness, but creates it. When we're truly soaked in the reality of being accepted as we are, something shifts: we begin to mirror the love we've received.

Rewards and punishments can manufacture temporary compliance, but they can't transform. The moment the incentives disappear, so does the "goodness" they produced. But love - the kind that meets us in our mess and whispers "you're mine" before we change - this love does something radical. It doesn't force goodness upon us; it draws out the goodness placed within us.

To be loved like this is to be given new eyes. We start seeing ourselves as the One who loves us sees us: not as projects to fix, but as beloved to restore. And from this place of secure love, we discover our truest selves - not perfect, but being made whole. Here, goodness isn't an obligation; it's the natural fruit of knowing we're already, irrevocably loved.

 

 

Notes

·       Rolheiser, R. (2014). Sacred fire: A vision for a deeper human and Christian maturity (p. 118). Image.

·       John 3:16, often cited, highlights God's love for the world to the extent of giving his only son.

·       Romans 5:8 emphasizes that God demonstrated his love by sending Christ to die for us even while we were still sinners, demonstrating love regardless of our flaws.