TEXT: "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14).

IDEA: A covenant relationship is based on unconditional love.

PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate what it means to show unconditional love.

When you think of the word love, how is it used in our society?

I. There are some expressions of love that are nice but not sufficient for building a relationship.

There is child-love. This is the love that says “I love you because you meet my needs.” This is legitimate for children, but there are too many child-marriages.

There is romantic love. As we say, someone has fallen in love.

This can be a strong attraction to another person. It’s like spice–it adds something to the relationship, but you can’t live on it.

There’s a world of difference between falling in love and being in love.

There is friendship love. This is stronger, but it falls short of the kind of unconditional love we need in a good marriage.

In a good marriage, couples are friends, but friends break up sometimes because they no longer have the same common bond.

II. The nature of covenant love is that it is a commitment to the welfare of the other person.

It is closer to an act of the will than to a surge of emotion.