Millions of people β even religious people β are afraid of God and are struggling to earn His favor. They suppose that salvation is the reward of showing enough love to Him. If only they would believe what God Himself says, that if we are ever saved it will be entirely because He loved us and graciously provided for our salvation.
The Apostle Paul, in the Bible, called God βthe God of loveβ (II Cor. 13:11) and John declared that βGod IS loveβ (1 John 4:8). Thus John goes on to say:
βHEREIN IS LOVE, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD, BUT THAT HE LOVED US and sent His Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sinsβ (1 John 4: 10).
This is why salvation is so often called βa giftβ in the Bible. It is the expression of Godβs love to sinners. And so St. Paul tells us:
β[We] were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, BUT GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, FOR HIS GREAT LOVE WHEREWITH HE LOVED US, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)β (Eph. 2:3-5).
ββ¦after that THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF GOD OUR SAVIOR TOWARD MAN appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to HIS MERCY He saved usβ¦β (Titus 3:4,5).
Does all this mean that God overlooks sin or condones it? By no means! In His love He paid for our sins on Calvaryβs cross βthat He might be Just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesusβ (Rom. 3:26). This is why we read in Rom. 5:8:
ββ¦GOD COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS CHRIST DIED FOR US.β source
