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Any embarrassment was completely overwhelmed by love... Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Parents of Prodigals Love Your Child Unconditionally Why We Don’t Love Unconditionally Many parents are terribly embarrassed by their prodigals. Sometimes after I talk about this subject in churches and conferences, parents come up to tell me I don’t understand. They explain in whispers that their child is a homosexual…or in prison… or living with another woman… or whatever. Then they follow this revelation with the self-evident disclosure, “And I am so embarrassed." Let me make this very clear: Just because your child is living in sin, you have no right to love him or her less. You don’t need to approve of your prodigal’s behavior, but you are commanded by God to love the person anyway. Unconditional love means we love our children for who they are, not what they have done. Think of the Prodigal Son’s father. That fine Jewish man, probably a leader in his community and his synagogue, had a son who was living with prostitutes and wasting money left and right. As if that weren't bad enough, then word came back that he had lost everything and was now feeding hogs! What could be more embarrassing? But that father didn't let anything – neither his embarrassment nor the whispers of his friends – cause him to love his son any less. The moment his son returned, he was eager to pour out his love. Any embarrassment was completely overwhelmed by love. The second reason we may fail to love our prodigals is bitterness. We become angry with them for acting so foolishly, our anger gradually turns to resentment, and resentment festers into bitterness. The writer to the Hebrews recognized the threat that bitterness poses to relationships: Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled… Hebrews 12:14-15 NKJV Parenting Prodigals by Phil Waldrep Dear Fellow Parents of Prodigals, In all of our emotions; pain, anger, bitterness even unforgiveness, I pray that God would continue to work on us as we submit to Him. Show us Your ways, Father. Challenge our “humanness” and grow us into the image of Your precious Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to love unconditionally as YOU have loved us. Show us how to release all anger and bitterness so that You can shine through us. Allow Your unconditional love to flow through us for we know that without You we are not able to love. Thank You for loving through me! Amen! Love and Praying, Linda and PoP (Parents of Prodigals)