The Path to a Broken Heart

I cannot love unconditionally without being hurt. Unconditional love is the path to broken-heartedness. But broken-heartedness is the path to spiritual power. I do not believe that there is a greater gift that God can give His children. It is a broken heart that makes us more like our Master--despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, a companion of grief. Like Him, when my love is rejected, mocked, misunderstood, even betrayed, my first response must be, "Father, forgive them."
And what are the characteristics of unconditional love? The first is compassion. I must never look at a person in need--a physical need or a spiritual need--without being moved in my heart to meet that need. It is a broken heart that makes me sensitive to the needs of those around me. Unconditional love is also patient. Such love knows that the work of completion in the other person's life is the work of Christ and the Spirit. He cannot make the other person grow spiritually. God will do that in the way and at the time that He knows is best. What I must do is love them exactly where they are spiritually. And pray for God's transforming work in their life. Unconditional love is also grounded in truth. Truth is essential, for any love that is not within the confines of revealed truth is not love at all. We grow in truth and love. They are inseparable.
We must be people of unconditional love for that is the love of God. Those who are loved as God loves will have, by God's grace, a desire to seek Him. And those who love obey. To love unconditionally is not easy; you will be hurt, crushed, broken. You must then love even more deeply so that His love might leave a fragrance of His presence wherever you go.