"We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn't approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God's love. Evil does not belong to God. God's unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God's ever-present love." (Henri Nouwen) It is hard for us to comprehend God's unconditional love. We have nothing in our ordinary human interactions to compare it with.  Many times we are loved conditionally by others, based on whether we do what they want us to do or not. When we don't measure up to their expectations, we do not receive their love. So it is not easy for us to compare God's love with other's conditional love.  But the truth is he loves us unconditionally because this is his nature. Once we can begin to accept this reality without fully understanding it, then we can receive his love as he freely gives it to us.