“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—” (Ephesians 2:8). We did absolutely nothing to earn God’s love. We were born into sin; we were at enmity with God. We were unlovable and undeserving. Yet Christ still died for us. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8). God’s love is so abundant that He not only saved us from eternal damnation, but He adopted us as His own children. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John […]