Will Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at Duke Divinity School and one of the nation’s best-known preachers, preaches this Sunday’s text from Isaiah 58 in the context of marriage. Willimon states, “True love is unconditional, without if’s, and’s, or but’s…Yet is that really the case with love?” He continues, “It has been said that the supreme example of complete, steadfast, unconditional love is the love that God has for Israel…And yet, it’s not quite right to call such divine love “unconditional,” particularly in the light of this Sunday Old Testament lesson from the prophet Isaiah.” Willimon reframes God’s love, not in a conditional, if/then kind of way, but like this: “I love you completely, abundantly, and steadfastly. THEREFORE live as those who have been gifted by my love.” Listen as Willimon explains how we live out this kind of “therefore” love in our lives.
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