Is God's Love Truly Unconditional?

Christianity is founded on the love of God for His fallen creation. The Catholic Church teaches its followers that God's love is unconditional - there is nothing that we could do to stop God from loving us! But is it all true? And if it is, then why do catholics, and Christians in General, have to obey so many Commandments, and observe Penance and other obligatory devotions? Don't we do all those things to get God to love us?
To answer this, we first need to know what is Christianity's understanding of who God is. According to Christian teachings, God is self-sufficient, everything He needs He has; He is ever-present; all-knowing; all-powerful; He has no beginning or end, but in Him is the beginning and end of everything. The self-sufficient nature of God is not a thing of the present, but that's how He has always been - even before the creation of the universe. But if God didn't need any of these things in the universe, then why did He create them? Because, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Out of love God created the universe, out of love God created humans to "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28). In other words, during the first five days God created everything for a reason: to facilitate humans. Then at last He created humans to enjoy His love. When you are created to be loved regardless of what you do and for no apparent quality of yours, the love you are getting is unconditional. 

On the contrary, human love is always conditional - we love for a reason. So when I love my family, my love is affectionate (Storge in Greek): I am morally obliged to love them and it is expected of me. When I love my wife and my possessions, I am being passionate (Eros): It is an attempt to satisfy some of my needs. And when I love my friends, my colleagues and my society, I am actually liking them, not loving them (Philia): I am expected to benefit from these relationships. In all these three kinds of love, I am the receiver - either I receive love, or I receive something else in return for my love. However there is a fourth kind of love that humans exhibits very rarely, it is the unselfish love (Agape). When you have agape, you are not receiver but you are a giver. Humans struggle with this kind of love because of our finite nature - we worry about running out of things. The infinite nature of God - for He is always self-sufficient - enables Him to love others without expecting anything in return.

So if God's love is unconditional, then why does it always seem like we have to follow a set of rules in order to get it? This question brings out the inevitable truth about God's unconditional love: There does exist some conditions. But the conditions are there NOT for God to give us love, rather they are there for us to receive His love. To make sense of this, consider this scenario: You are homeless, everything you own is in two large briefcases and you carry it with you all the time. I am an extremely wealthy man. Everyday I fill up two briefcases with cash and hand it out to the first person I see that day. Today is your lucky day as I am standing in front of you offering the two briefcases for you to take. In this scenario, as you can see, I have set forth no conditions while offering the cash to you. However from your standpoint there is a condition: You must put down your two briefcases in order to take the ones I am offering. Same can be said about God's love - He offers it to us unconditionally, but there are things that are preventing us from taking it.

Since our creation was unconditional, God gave us a will with which we could choose freely. With freewill, we have the ability to receive God's love or to reject it. When we reject God's love and fill ourselves with whatever sin has to offer, we create a block in God's free-flowing love. In order for us to return to the grace of God's love, we must first empty ourselves. To lead the way, Jesus emptied Himself on a cross. In Today's world, the Catholic Church points us the way to the cross of Jesus; the rules, the obligations, the Penances and other Sacraments are all part of it. God doesn't love us because we follow the rules, He loves us regardless. But in order for God's love to reach its destination, namely our hearts, we must open the doors of our hearts for Him. Obedience to the Church enables her to sanctify us through the works of the holy Spirit. It strips away sins which are cluttering our hearts, thus making room for God's unconditional love.