So although God love is always there and available to us, we don't always receive it because of our willingness or unwillingness to do what he's asked us to do so that we can receive it. So in verse one the Lord is saying I love you and because I love you, I'm going to chasten you. And I'm doing this so that your sins can be forgiven and you can receive more of my love.
It is the opposite from saying “I love you exactly the way you are and I would never dream of asking you to change anything about who you are because you were created that way and that's the way you were meant to stay forever. And there's no need to change because nothing you do or choose to be or do with your life will ever have any effect on your eternal future. No, that would be opposite from the type of love we receive from our Heavenly Father. He knows what we do now will affect us in the future. He knows that we were born to change to become, to grow and to progress. He's a God that accepts us as we are now, with hopes that we will let him give us more that we will want more and want it bad enough to pay the price of obedience and love in return to him for what he's done and what he's sacrificed so that we could come.
Elder Holland, in his talk recently at BYU, said something very insightful on this topic. He said: “It will assist everyone in providing help if things can be kept in some proportion and balance in the process.” And then he said these words: “For example, we have to be careful that love and empathy do not get interpreted as condoning and advocacy.”
Remember, President Russell M Nelson has taught us that it's doctrinally inaccurate to say that God's love is unconditional. His love is always there for us, yes, but some demonstrations of his love, some manifestations of his love are conditional. For example, forgiveness from our sins would definitely be part of God's love for us and that love is available to all of us, but it's only given to those who really want it. Those who are willing to repent for their sins.
I remember several years ago my two oldest kids were playing outside in very deep wet mucky mud and they wanted to come in the house. Now my kids have decided to do a lot of strange and maybe unwise things outside in our yard, particularly with their bikes around the sides of my car. Now I love them no matter what they choose to do outside of our home. I love them no matter what they do in our yard. And my love for them, and acceptance of them as they are, will never change. I will always accept them as they are, and I love them forever. Nothing will change that, but I'd really like when I see them out and playing in the mud or doing anything in the yard, I would really love to just snuggle up on the couch with them at the end of the day and watch a show with them. I really want to sit at the dinner table and chat with them about their day. I really want to give them a huge hug and tickle them until they laugh that adorable laugh that makes us both feel so happy inside. I accept them as they are, but I can't in that moment except them into my house covered in mud—and into my embrace, unless they're willing to first let me take them however they are, and through my love for them make them fit or clean for such a place. There are simply certain activities that if they choose to participate in them out in the yard, will prevent them from coming and participating in those indoor activities with me later in the evening, unless they go through a cleansing process. I still love them the same, but I can't give them more of my love, greater demonstrations of my love and they can't receive them not, at least until they let me hose them down outside and clean them off so they can come inside and we can continue with those wonderful activities that we would do together where they can feel even more of my love.
Love does not advocate for sin. It does not advocate for an insistence on magnifying the natural man in each of us. Knowing the kind of blessings that can await us if we choose to use our agency for the reason it was given to us, which is to choose the right—knowing those great blessings, this will cause us to love in a different way. It doesn't allow us to condone behavior that would eventually cause someone to miss out on some of God's greatest demonstrations of love. Knowing that our choices in this life matter and will come back to us in the end, knowing that there is a resurrection, that there is a life after death, knowing that we have a purpose on this earth means that condoning any type of behavior that would cause anyone to eventually miss out on God's greatest blessing for them would be a demonstration of a lack of true and pure love for that individual. Because in condoning that type of behavior, what we're really doing is encouraging them to live a life that leads them away from God and his greatest blessings for them were ultimately encouraging them to miss out on feeling God's greatest love for them, that of receiving eternal life through the atoning sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ. So we have to walk a fine line. We really do and it can be so difficult because every person is individual. Everyone is different and they can interpret things different and interpret your motives differently, and so it really is important to have the Holy Ghost with us as we pray our hearts out for the people we love and receive them into our life and a hope for the very best for them, but not condone the things that they do that are harming themselves spiritually. It really does take revelation from God and guidance from his Holy Spirit to know how to do this in each individual instance so seek that guidance. Seek that balance, and try as hard as you can to stand with the Lord as you walk that fine line loving as he did.