Joel Osteen Podcast - Loving Unconditionally | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

It's easy to love people that are similar to us, but God wants us to love unconditionally. When you love even those you disagree with, you are showing God's love to those around you.Your best days are still ahead, and together we can make a difference in this world with the message of God's hope and love. To give visitJoelOsteen.com/GiveHope.Three minutes. Every day. Before your feet hit the floor, set your mind on things above with Joel’s new devotional, 3-Minute Mornings. Our May offer contains 365 days of favor and freedom. Put God first place, and you’ll see breakthroughs you couldn’t make happen. Request your copy today, https://bit.ly/4di5pMO.  Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024, healthy, productive, and favor-filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. God bless you. Always a joy to come into your homes. And if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks so much for tuning in today. And thank you again for coming out. I'd like to start with something funny. I heard about this elderly man. He had had a serious hearing problem for many years. He went to the doctor and was fitted with this state-of-the-art high-tech hearing aid to where he could hear 100%. He went back a month later for a checkup. The doctor said, wow, your hearing is perfect. Your family must be so excited that you can hear again.

He said, no, I haven't told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the hearing. the different conversations and I've changed my will three times. Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess. My mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about love. Unconditionally. It's easy to love people that are just like us. People that look like us, dress like us, worship like us. That doesn't take a lot of effort. But what about people that are different than us? People that we don't understand. We don't agree with. As far as we're concerned,

they're making poor choices. It's easy to size them up from the exterior, put them in a box and think, they're not for me. They're odd. I'm going to keep. my distance. But God's love is not exclusive. It's inclusive. It doesn't exclude people that are different. It doesn't write people off because they're not where they should be in life. It doesn't ignore someone because they're not meeting our standards. Unconditional love says, I'm going to love you even if I don't agree with you. I may not agree with your lifestyle, your doctrine, how you're raising your children, the friends you're choosing, but I know this. You are made in the image of Almighty God. And I am not called to judge you. I am called to love you. And we have to realize every person

is on a journey. Where they are right now is not where they're going to end up. They're not a finished product. They're still on the potter's will. But so often we judge people for where they are today. We write them off and think, I'm not going to associate with them. They're a mess. They're done. No, God will use you to plant seeds in their heart. Your love, your friendship, your encouragement is a part of the plan God has designed for their life. God is counting on us to make a difference. Don't have a holier than now attitude. Take off the judgmental glasses. If not for the grace of God, you could be right where they are. The same things that we're tempted to be judgmental and critical about, if not for God's goodness, we could be struggling with as well. If you had walked in their shoes,

been raised in their family, fought the battles that they fought, you would understand why they are where they are. And the areas that you're strong in, you didn't just happen to be strong. That's the mercy of God on your life. When we show this unconditional love, people, may not respond right away. May not seem like it's doing any good. They keep making poor choices. But here's the key. Those seeds never die.

Researchers found seeds not long ago that were over 4,000 years old. They had been sealed in an airtight coffin. When they planted that seed, much to their amazement, it took root and grew. Still alive thousands of years later. In the same way, the seeds of hope mercy, encouragement that you plant in other people, they never die.

It may look like it's not doing any good. But the reason they're not growing is because the soil of their heart. It's hard and rocky. That seed could not take root. The good news is the seed is still alive. And at the right time, God will soften their heart, loosen up that soil, and the seed you've sown will take root. bring a harvest. Nothing you're doing has been wasted. Every time you show love, you are

sowing these seeds. But sometimes we think that we have to convict people. We have to tell them what they're doing wrong, point out all their faults, make sure they really feel guilty. No, the Holy Spirit is the one that convicts. You just keep sowing these seeds, show an unconditional love, and at the right time, they will come to life. Not long ago, I would, was able to pray with one of the leading pop stars of our day. This person is world famous, very popular, but also a little different, a little far out. And I could have had a holier than now approach and thought, I am not going to be associated with them. People will criticize, people won't understand. This person seemed to stand for just the opposite of what we stand for. But Jesus said,

it's the sick who need a doctor, not the healthy. And I have learned I'm not here to judge, I'm here to love. We don't have to straighten everybody out. All we have to do is sow the seeds. The scripture says love never fails. When you show love, you're showing God. When you're merciful, understanding, accepting that heals, that restores, that brings new life. And for too long, the church in general has been known for what we're against.

We're against this and against that. And if you live like this, you're not welcome here. We've been good at telling people what we don't like. But I don't want to be known for what I'm against. I want to be known for what I'm for. I am for people. I'm for new beginnings. I'm for second chances.

I'm for you becoming everything God's created you to be. See, that young pop star, where they are right now is not where they're going to end up. That seed may take root in a week, in a year, or 30 years. It's not up to me, it's up to God. He's designed the plan for their life. Our part is to simply keep showing this unconditional love. Not, I'll love you if I agree with you. I'll accept you if you fit into my little box.

Now, our attitude should be if you have a. good morals or no morals, I'm still going to love you. If you're clean and sober or you're strung out and addicted, I'm still going to love you. If you're gay or straight, Republican or Democrat, black or white, Muslim or Christian, believer or atheist, doesn't matter, I'm still going to love you. Jesus said, by this, will all men know that you're my disciples if you have love, one for another. Notice he didn't say it's by how spiritual we are or how many times we come to church, how many scriptures we can call it, how many miracles take place? No, they'll know by our love for other people. What would this world be like if instead of judging people, we'd really start

loving people? So they don't look like you. They're not supposed to. God made them different. Maybe they're not where they should be in life right now. That's okay. They're on a journey. They're not a finished product. Perhaps they don't worship like you. They come from a different denomination, a different culture, maybe even a different faith. That's okay. Don't shut them out. Our God is the God of the whole earth.

He's not a white God, a black God, a Mexican God, a Korean God. He's simply God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob loves the Muslims just as much as he loves the Christians. He loves the Hindus, the atheist. He's the God of all flesh. There's so many times we have this narrow view of God. We have our little circle of what we believe and who we think is right, and we exclude everyone else. We point out their faults, what they're doing wrong, where we don't agree. Well, they don't baptize like we baptize. They don't take communion like we do. we focus on the things that separate us. The longer I live, the more I realize how big God's circle is, how wide his mercy extends.

When we get to heaven, we're going to be surprised at who's there. Well, Joel, what about their false doctrine? What about your false doctrine? Nobody is correct 100%. The reason denominations were established in the first place was to try to protect the doctrine. that they believed was right. Victoria was raised in a church that believed that they were the only ones

going to heaven. When we got married, I asked her, can I please go to heaven too? Galatians 5 says, don't think that your group is the only one that's right. I heard somebody say, thinking that your church

is the only church is like filling your bathtub with water and calling it the Pacific Ocean. We're all missing it somewhere. the main thing is we agree that Jesus is the son of God. He rose from the dead and now he's our Savior. My love for you is bigger than a theological difference. It's bigger than what church you belong to. It's bigger than what faith you practice. It's even bigger than a political or philosophical difference. I don't have to see eye to eye with you in order to love you. And if you draw a circle to

shut me out, I'm going to draw a bigger circle to shut you in. When you love unconditionally, you have a wide circle. You're not judging everybody to see if they fit into your little box. And that's the amazing thing about Lakewood. That's what makes this place so great. The variety. There are whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Indians, rich, poor, young, old, Democrats, Republicans,

Protestants, Catholics, Longhorns, Aggies, Jewish, Buddhas, all kinds of people here. This is what heaven is going to be like. We might as well learn to light people down here. That person you think has so much false doctrine. They're so far off course. You better learn to like them. They'll probably be next door to you in heaven. There's going to be a lot of people there we weren't expecting.

God's mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. It's bigger, broader, far-reaching. But a lot of times religion tries to push people away. God is always pulling people in. It's not about do you keep all the rules? Have you performed perfectly your whole life? It's about the condition of your heart. Do you have a heart to please God? Do you believe in this resurrected Savior? It's interesting, when Jesus was on the cross, there was a criminal hanging next to him, being crucified as well. This man had done a lot of wrong, lived a life that he wasn't proud of. But before he died, he looked at Jesus and said, please remember me when you come into your kingdom. He simply acknowledged who Jesus was.

He in effect called on the name of the Lord. Jesus said, this day I will see you in paradise. That criminal, he didn't pray a long sinner's prayer, never got baptized in water, never attended church. That was simply the mercy of God. It doesn't always fit into our theology. I was reading about Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, one of the most brilliant minds that's ever lived. He was adopted as a child and raised a Lutheran. He went to church every week growing up. But at the age of 13, he started questioning his faith. He eventually dropped out of church. He gave up on Christianity and tried different religions. Years later, at the age of 56, he was lying on his deathbed with pancreatic cancer. Just as he was about to pass, with his family

all around him, taking his final breath, he opened his eyes, looked up and said three times, Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. I don't know for sure, but that seems to me like he was seeing heaven. If he was seeing hell, he wouldn't have been saying, oh, wow. He would have been saying, oh, no, oh, no. He looked up with amazement in great anticipation. What am I saying? The mercy of God is wide. Why do we try to make it so narrow and think,

my loved one's never going to make it. Joel, my coworker, he doesn't have a chance. You should hear him talk. No, they're on a journey. God is using you to plant seeds in their heart. They don't need to hear another sermon. You don't have to tell people what they're doing wrong. They already know that.

Just love them. Let your life be the sermon. At the right time, those seeds will come to life. We don't know. Some people may be on their dying bed. and God will reveal himself to them. They will feel this unconditional love pulling them in. I received a poem in the mail called Heaven's Surprise.

Goes something like this. I was shocked, bewildered, and confused when I entered Heaven's door. Not by the beauty, nor the lights, nor its decor. It was the people in heaven that made me sputter and gasped. The sinners, the cheaters, the liars, the liars, and the trash. There stood the kid from second grade that stole my lunch money twice. Next to him was my neighbor who never said anything nice. Herb, who I thought would be rotting in hell, was sitting on cloud nine doing quite well. I asked Jesus, what's the deal? I'd love to

hear your take. How'd all these sinners get up here? Must have been a mistake. And why is everyone so quiet, so somber. Please give me a clue. Jesus said, it's because they're all in shock. They never thought they'd be seeing you. We can all say, where would we be without the mercy of God? When we didn't deserve it, when we made mistakes, God showed us his unconditional love. He's asking us to show this same love to other people. don't look at them through eyes of judgment, look at them through eyes of mercy. Well, Joel, I don't think she should be wearing that in church. That's not appropriate. Maybe not, but I would rather her be in here than out in the clubs. You don't know what she's been through. You haven't walked in her shoes. Before you judge her, get to know her.

Before you write her off, listen to her story. There's usually a good reason people, are the way they are. We've got to give them room while they're in the process of changing. If we're judgmental, holier than now, look down on them, that's not going to help them to move forward. That's conditional love. If you meet all my demands, then I'll love you, then I'll accept you. No, God freely gave us mercy. Let's freely give other people mercy. I heard about this young couple. They were eating breakfast at a small diner one morning. They had their one year. They had their one year old baby boy in the high chair. As they were eating, the little boy started smiling real big, hitting the table very excited. The mom turned around to see what was causing all the excitement.

There was an elderly man sitting at the table behind her. This man looked to be homeless. His hair was disheveled, hadn't shaved, clothes very dirty, smelled really bad. He said to the little boy very loudly, how you doing little buddy? everybody in the restaurant turned to see what was going on. The mom was kind of embarrassed and she nodded at the man, then turned back around to her table and tried to get her baby's attention away from him. But the man kept talking to him, playing peekaboo and patty cake. This little baby was being totally entertained, totally taken by this man.

So much so, instead of just smiling, now the baby was cackling, laughing out loud. The parents bowed their heads and just ate as fast as they could, trying to get finished. They finally were through with breakfast, was raining outside. The husband went to pull the car up front. The mom got up from the table, picked up her little baby, and headed toward the counter to pay. Under her breath, she thought, God, please help me to get out of here without any more commotion. But about that time, the homeless man got up and stood in line behind her. When the little baby saw him step out, he put out both arms, leaned away from the mother, and reached out to the man.

Before you knew it, the baby was in a total stranger's hand. It looked like they were old friends. At one point, the little baby laid his head on the homeless man's shoulder. The homeless man closed his eyes, just taking it all in. His hands dirty, rough, full of grime. patted the little boy softly on the back. The mother stood and watched all in amazement. A couple moments, he handed the little boy back and said gently, you take care of this little boy. She said with a lump in her throat, I will. She walked toward the door to leave and small tears started running down her cheeks. She said, God, please forgive me. She had just witnessed unconditional love shown through the innocence of a little baby. The baby didn't see the man's dirt, the man's grime, the man's disheveled hair. The baby saw the man through eyes of love. The mother saw the man through eyes of judgment.

My prayer is God help us to have this same innocence of a little baby and not judge people by the exterior, by what they wear, by the mistakes they've made. But God, let us see people through eyes of love. The scripture says, to the pure, all things are pure. One way to know how pure your heart is is how much do you judge? When your heart is pure, you don't have a critical spirit. You don't have a holier than thou attitude. You're full of mercy. You give people the benefit of the doubt. And I found much of our judgment is simply the culture we were raised in. When our son Jonathan was eight or 10 years old. He liked to wear his hair real messy. Looked like he just got out of bed. That was the style. One time we were going somewhere and I said, Jonathan, buddy, you need to comb your hair.

He looked at me strange and said, Dad, I just did. He would come home from the mall with Victorian. He would have these new blue jeans. They'd have holes in the knees and torn, faded, worn out. Look like they're 20 years old. I used to always ask, did you have to pay for those things? Cultures change. too often we judge what we don't understand. When my father was growing up back in the 1930s, he wore what they called a zoot suit. The pants came way up here, almost to your chest.

The jackets were real long. Daddy had his hat cocked perfectly to the side. Out of his pocket, he had this long gold chain. As a teenager, he'd walk around swinging that chain like a cool cat. He had bling before we called it bling. in his day, he was the one that was far out. Yet God called him to become a pastor. It's the founder of our church. Before you judge that young person that has wild hair, crazy clothes, wearing bling, no, you don't know how God is going to use them. They may be your next pastor, your next doctor, the next president. John 724 says, be honest in your judgment of people.

people, do not decide at a glance superficially and by appearances. How many times do we look at someone and in a split second, we decide whether or not we're going to like them? When he's got a tattoo, he's going to hell. He's got long hair. He's a troublemaker. He's wearing bling. I'm sure he's out stealing somewhere. No, give everybody room to become who God's created them to be. I heard about this man. He visited a very formal high-end church. He was wearing blue jeans, a cowboy hat, and old cowboy boots. He walked in on a Sunday morning and sat on the third row.

The congregation was appalled. Many of them sent notes to the pastor expressing their concerns. After the service, the pastor told the man that he needed to ask God what he should wear before he comes back to his church. The man showed up the next Sunday, dressed exactly the same. The pastor scolded him, said, I told you to ask God

what to wear before you come back to my church. The man said, I did ask God, but he told me he didn't know because he's never been here before. What's my point? You know my point. Don't judge by the exterior. I found,

whether I wear a suit or whether I wear blue jeans, it doesn't affect the anointing. It's not affected by cotton or denim. For my brother Paul's sake, or polyester. What affects the anointing is the attitude of our heart. They don't look like you, dress like you, act like you. That's all right. They're on a journey. They're not a finished product. Jesus made it really simple. Don't judge and you won't be judged. You may have not understand someone, but you don't have to understand them, to love them. You don't have to agree with them to accept them. That's why it's called unconditional love. I heard a story about a lady and her husband. They had a dog named Lucky. Whenever they had company for the weekend,

they would always warn their guests to make sure they didn't leave their suitcases open. Because Lucky loved to sneak in, get something out, and take it down to the basement. where his toy box was, so he could play with it later. They were always finding their belongings down there. One day the lady was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was in the hospital for three weeks. The husband would take Lucky on his nightly walks, but it just wasn't the same. Lucky loved this lady, stayed with her in the house everywhere she went. She came home after the surgery and was very weak, and the lady couldn't make it upstairs to the bedroom. So she just loved. laid down on the couch. Lucky was right by her side. You could tell that Lucky didn't like this lady

feeling badly. The lady dozed off to sleep. She woke up an hour later and it was hard to breathe. She was hot and felt all these things poking her and she began to panic. Thought what's happening to me? Soon her concern gave way to a smile. Lucky had gone down to the basement and got all of his toys and brought them back and place them on the lady. While she was sleeping, he made trip after trip trying to make her feel better. Now she was literally covered with his love. That's my challenge to us today. Start covering people with love. It's easy to cover people with judgment, cover with condemnation, cover with guilt. But let's start covering people with love. Love heals. Love brings down barriers. Love puts people back on their feet. You may not understand someone, but that's okay. Have a wide circle of

love. Remember, they're on a journey. Where they are is not where they're going to end up. God is counting on us to make a difference to push them forward. Show mercy. Be understanding. Give them the benefit of the doubt. If you'll have this unconditional love, not only will you help others, but your own life will improve. You'll have more joy, better relationships. Now believe and declare, you will overcome every obstacle

and live the life of victory God has in store. In Jesus' name, if you receive it, can you say amen today? We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray this simple prayer with me?

Just say, Lord Jesus. I'll repeat. of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you, my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church.

Keep God first place. He's going to take you places that you've never dreamed of. Three minutes. Can such a small amount of time make a big difference to your day? To turn worry into confidence, frustration to hope.

Defeat to victory. Maybe you just need a boost of faith. When we put God first place and get our thinking in line with His, even a small seat of time can make a huge difference. We have a new resource called Three Minute Mornings. Start your day the blessed way. My challenge is when you wake up, before you leave the house,

take three minutes to speak blessings over your life and to declare God's favor. Get your mind going in the right direction. When you do that, you're setting yourself up for a moment. blessed victorious day. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any size to the ministry this month, Joel and Victoria would like to send you this just-released, life-giving new daily devotional. Before your feet hit the ground or go out the door, have your heart experience a bit of heaven. Set your mind on the things above with our new

three-minute mornings devotional. With this new 365-day devotional, three-minute mornings, you'll experience God showering down his favor like never before. You'll focus on the better that is coming and fully realize the freedom of not worrying about tomorrow. Victoria and I pray for you and your family every day. Thank you so much for your prayer and support. You're making a difference all over the world. Remember, you can watch the services online every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, listen on Sirius XM. But until we meet again, May the Lord bless you and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of three-minute mornings today.

Visit Joelosteen.com or call 888-567 Joel.