John 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

Unrequited love is defined as love that is not reciprocated, not returned. Can you think back to a time when you loved someone and they chose not to return that love to you? Did you stop loving them or did you just ache? I sometimes think back on young love. I wonder still, why couldn’t she love me?

To love, is first and foremost a choice. We do not often think about that second barrier. The ability to be loved. There are always barriers, things that get in the way of making that choice to return love. In people those barriers are pragmatic. We do not deal in abstracts, we take a cold hard look at reality and choose to push those barriers aside and love anyway.

Human barriers are often associated with human emotions, or conditions. Race, religion and poverty are difficult obstacles, but couples have learned to put love first and do not allow those barriers, no matter how varied, to come before the marriage. Age is difficult for some, not for others. I know a woman who fell in love and married a quadriplegic. Tell me she didn’t put aside some real and very difficult barriers.

Imagine how God must feel about His love being rejected. With God, there is a more difficult and real barrier. Sin. No sin can come before our thrice Holy God. We cannot see any way for us to have a loving relationship with this Holy God. How could He love us, sinners?

Hebrews 10:9-10 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

God no longer has a problem with sin. He has dealt with it thru the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. We are the ones that have a problem with sin.

The only way over this barrier is to accept the free will offer of grace which is Jesus Christ.

Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

I have been struggling over this for days now. I have a preference. It is mine, I am fully persuaded in my mind. The fact that I am fully persuaded one way or another does not give me the right to impose my preference upon you.

I want to talk about it, without talking about it. Not about my preference but on my past insistence upon making an issue about it. I placed my preference above fellowship and that wasn’t right. I allowed the fact that others chose the alternative as an opportunity to allow it to affect my attitude. In that I was wrong.

I still have that preference and it is mine to own. What I struggle with in fellowship is being sincere in my joy for others who hold a different position. They are not wrong and neither am I. What we must agree upon is not the issue but that we are the Lord’s and it doesn’t matter to Him nor does He show a preference.

Romans 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

We both give thanks to God. We do it together regardless of the day, its importance, or its lack. The real issue is the fellowship we can enjoy because we both belong to the Lord.

Romans 14:7-8 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

In that we agree and can celebrate every day.