This distinction is simple: why did God save us? 

          In part this should be a surprise to us.  Although I know the world is full of false teaches and teachings, yet why should this be a dividing line![1] This truth is so foundational for the footing of our salvation to stand on.  It is also a simple truth.  Yet, many seem to trip over this divide falling into the abyss of error.

            In one particular tract it quite clearly speaks why God saves us (as I loosely quote it): "You are so important to God that Jesus was sent by His Father to die for your sins and take the punishment you deserved."  Then there is another particular tract written by Mark DeMoss, which stands on the other side of the divide as it says: "Jesus took the punishment we deserved for our sins.  Why would God take such extreme measures?  Because of the seriousness of sin."[2]

            Clearly these are two different reasons why a person would save another person.  One says the importance of the person is why they love them to the point of wanting to save them.[3][read note]  One, the unimportance of the person in need is why their love is so big that they would save them anyway.  Or other words, one portrays the combination of their loving nature and the importance of the needful person is why salvation took place.  The other says it was solely and exclusively the greatness of their love why salvation took place.  See, for one side it was love plus the others importance why God saved.  For the other side it was from an infinite heart of love, for love alone, why God saved.  The first magnifies God and man.  The other magnifies God alone and leaves mankind in the place of enjoying this infinitely magnified God.  The first side in order for man to feel happy needs both God's love and to feel their own importance.  For the second all they need to be happy is love, God's love.  See, God's love is so endless and pure to them that needing to feel important loses its relevance.  For indeed, it is seeing how infinitely important God is and that He still loves them, which actually causes them to know God's love best; and therefore their happiness is complete. 

            (2) Scripturally what is man's worth?  This needs to be addressed to see how important man is, so that we may judge whether man should be saved because he is valuable.

            Isaiah 40:15,17 "Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales... All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless." Man is as dust and drops.  But dust and drops are nothing, which is what verse 17 says.   But if nothing is nothing how worthless is "less than nothing"?  But this is what God equates all nations to, including you and I![4][read note]

            To help us understand the severity that is being stated by scripture we need to review this point.  God is infinitely happy.  Infinity cannot be added too, for that would be a contradiction.  He is infinitely blessed with infinite riches of all and anything that is good and valuable.  This means God's happiness cannot be added to!  He possesses infinite intrinsic wisdom and moral beauty.  He needs nothing. 

          What then is man to Him but less than nothing!  What is finite to infinity?  We desire a close friend or spouse because they make us happy.  But man's friendship to God does not add anymore happiness to Him than what He already has, infinity.  All mankind's friendship to God combined adds no happiness to Him nor adds any practical benefit to Him!  Therefore, man is less than nothing to Him!  Man cannot give God anything that He already has.  Man cannot barter or demand anything from God.  Mankind is worthless.
             Even as an image of God, which all mankind lost at the fall, man still adds no beauty or happiness to God.  For as an image of God man only reflects the beauty and happiness of God, which has already came from God as the Source.  Therefore, man even as an image of God still adds nothing to Him.  Man is therefore, worthless and all together nothing to God as God Himself says in our verse. 

 But we are worse than nothing for all mankind, after the fall became God's enemies as Romans 5:10 plainly tells us.  We might not see the reality of our hatred and war with God, but God clearly sees it and is greatly insulted by it.

            Do you count your enemies with such value that you would sell your own house to help them?  Trash is nothing and worthless.  What do you do with the trash?  You throw it away to the dogs or to be burned.  Trash is worthless; it has no profit or practical benefit to you. 

          Why then does God love dust and trash?  Some ignorant and prideful persons might bark up and start to pronounce mystery here.  But it is not a mystery to scriptures and therefore, neither to you or I.  Although there is a real and true use of mystery for describing the unrevealed truths of God, yet it is often times used by cowardly and prideful hearts who do not wish to admit they simply cannot comprehend the complexity of revealed truth from scripture.  They are more willing to suffer the scripture's reputation than sufferer their pride from being hurt.  They are ungodly cowards.

            (3) I loved you because I choose to love you.  This is the message we are handed from Deuteronomy 7:7-11.  "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all people.  It was because the LORD loved you.  Know therefore that the LORD your God is God."

            This verse, which is directed at Israel, is meant as an example for how or why God loves anyone one person or group of persons.  Israel was least of the nations, yet God loved and had mercy on them simply because He chose to love them.  Therefore, referring to Abram and Sarah, the father and mother of Israel, God has this to say, "your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. The day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you.  I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!'"  That is to say God chose to love and have mercy on persons who were worthless and filthy.  Why love worthlessness and filth?  Why love that which cannot add anything to you. 

            See even if you were to adopt a poor helpless baby you are still benefited by it.  You will in time have your own happiness within your soul added to by loving this baby and giving this little person hope.  But God's happiness in His infinite soul is not increased because He chose to love pitiful helpless people like us.  So why would God love us?  Our verse in Deuteronomy gives us the start.  He simply chose to.  This means it was not an outside force or benefit which compelled God to love us.  It means it came solely and exclusively from within His own freedom and heart for why He loved and saved so many worthless people by dieing for their sins for them!             

              From this point the scriptures reveal two reasons, which are interconnect, for why God love loves us.[5][read note]  Or what is the deepest inclination(s) from within God's heart that causes Him to love and show compassion to certain men?

            First.  God's most fundamental inclination for why He loves certain men is for the promotion of His own Fame and Glory.  Deuteronomy 9:6, "Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people."  A gift is usually given out of love to a person.  But Israel, as a representative of all man, has nothing to love.  So why is then is God loving them with a kind gift?

In Ezekiel 36 when talking about the future gospel of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit to change hearts, God has this to say for why He is doing all of this: "I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned... Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name. "Not for your sake do I do this," says the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you."  &  Isaiah 48:11, "For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it. I will not give My glory to another." 

            Why is this so, you might say?  Why is the gospel according to God's own mouth "not for our sakes", but for His own self-promotion of Himself?  If we read Isaiah 48 in context we will gain some insight. 

            It is a proper, beautiful and suitable thing for infinite value to be showcased and promoted over all things.  See in verse 3-8 we read God both foretells the future and also causes the future to happen by His own infinite power and pleasurable purposes.  God tell us He is the only one who can do this.  Plus, while most over look this, God's personal name Yahweh (or LORD in the bible) means Infinite Existence.  This is found in verse 2, "LORD of host is His Name."  To say He is infinite existence is to say He is infinite life, beauty and value!  Furthermore, in verse 20 Yahweh is the very merciful and loving "Redeemer" to a people undeserving it.  Or in other words God is infinite value because His heart is infinite.  God is endless beauty and value.  He should be promoted above all. 

             Indeed, it would go against all reason and love, it would even be evil if God did not self-promote Himself over all things, all reasons and designs!  God, because He is infinite value, has an infinite amount of reasons to be promoted above all.  Likewise there are infinite reasons why it would be evil for God not be to considered, loved and showcased above everything.

          Therefore, in Isaiah 43 verses 7 and 21 the recipients of God's salvation are for His glory and praise; or that salvation is not ultimately for the benefit of the people who are saved, but for God's glory and praise.  Yet, since it is the good that these people received from God, which is the grounds for them to praise God, God's glory and their joyful benefit are in a real sense the same pursuit from God's part and even ours.  Indeed, we enjoy His salvation, which then terminates in Him being exalted, for He is our glory and good.  We enjoy His grace, which is an exalting of the Giver who gave this grace.  God seeking to love us in salvation is also Him seeking to glorify Himself.  In this God's wisdom is displayed.  John 12 verses 27-28 Jesus Christ Himself speaks out that His work of salvation for our benefit is ultimately done for His Father's glory to be displayed through Him.  Furthermore, Isaiah 66:19 sums up the preaching of the gospel not as the proclamation of grace, but of God's personal fame and glory.

            Deuteronomy 10:21 Moses tells Israel the result of God's great love and mercy to save them is quite simple: "He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen."  Our salvation is His praise.  Our being helped is Him being shown to be a great and awesome God.

            Second, the reason why God chooses to love us is because He is simply and infinitely good!  We are able to discover this from the original passage we started with in Deuteronomy 7:6-11.  In verse 8 we unearthed that God loved worthless people just because He chose to love them from the plans and goodness of His own Nature.  We then looked further into the worthless of man and how God saves man for His own personal glory and fame.  God loves Himself first above all things.  He being infinitely beautiful has infinite reasons and delight for doing so.  Man has only recently came into the plane of existence by God's divine power.  God's passion to exalt Himself has preeminence over all other desires in the sense that it is first.  This desire gives way to all other plans and desires after it.  But God's goal of showering the glory of His free grace to sinners is the chief manner by which God exults His full glory.  Therefore, as said before God's desire to glorify Himself and His desire to show us endless good and grace are in a great sense the same desire and quest.  God has purposefully done it this way by great wisdom, in part, to demonstrate His personal love to us; for He did not have to do this way.

            In the 9 verse of our passage it reads, "Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him."  But this is not the first time this langue of the LORD is spoken.  Yahweh spoke this same thing to Moses earlier in Exodus 34, which we will review later.  The point that needs to be taken here is straightforward.  In Deuteronomy chapter 7 in context of God saying, I love you because I chose to love you, Moses sums up this huge statement from God as, "Know that the LORD your God keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations."  But this is not a direct statement in answering why God chose to love the unlovable.  Yet Moses' words point us to the passage that does answer in plain English what this means.

            To start this answer we will begin even earlier in Genesis chapter 1.  Here God Almighty sums up His creating all physical reality, including mankind and His dealings with man, as very good![6]  As we move forward to Exodus chapter 34 we read  Moses asking, The Infinite Existence, to show him His glory!  God says he cannot see His full glory or else Moses would die from it.  But Almighty God did kindly show Moses as much as he could bare in his frail humanity.  Yet God in all this did give a simple summary of the glory Moses was seeing.  "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you."[7] 

            Moses asked God to show Him His glory not "goodness."  Therefore, when the LORD responses by saying I will cause My "goodness" to pass before you, God is saying my glory is infinite sovereign goodness.  The infinite Existence is saying my infinite glory is infinite goodness.  God is saying His is and possess all possible goodness in every way in an infinite degree and expresses this infinite goodness in infinite happiness. 

            Then a few verses later God gives a little more description about His glory or goodness, which Moses saw.  "The LORD passed before him, and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping mercy for thousands."[8]  We saw Moses quote this in Deuteronomy when summing up why Almighty God loves the unlovable just because He chose to.             

            Therefore, because Moses quoted this passage in Exodus 33 and 34 we know what his answer is for why God loves us.  God is infinite Sovereign goodness!  From this reservoir of infinite sovereignty and goodness within His soul God chooses to have compassion and mercy on worthlessness and love us with an unfailing love.  This is who Yahweh is and this is what He does!

            Still there is a little more to the picture.  If you keep reading in Exodus 34 to God's explanation for what His goodness is then you also read this: "by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children."[9] Then Moses repeats this back in our original passage when he says God, "repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them, He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face."[10] 

Men may try to grasp at the wind in their discovery to find what goodness really means, but without going to God's revelation they grasp in vain.  God defines goodness as justice even vengeful justice.   Many foolish and free thinkers in my day and time will find this hard.  Since their own minds are not good but broken they never have any hope to know that goodness is without going to the cross of Jesus Christ.

            This is why I said "sovereign goodness" and not merely goodness.  Since goodness is justice, God had the free choice to either show mercy or justice.  This is why God ultimately sent His Son Jesus Christ to the cross for our sin.  For here on the cross is the grand display of God's full goodness.  Here both justice and mercy are displayed and acted out for all public eyes to behold.  God chose to show mercy.  But God also cannot clear the guilty as Exodus 34:7 says.   Therefore, Jesus Christ took our punishment for us.  By this justice is accomplished.  Furthermore, by this mercy is freely and lovingly given to all who but wish to have Christ as theirs and they His.

            Romans 3:21-26 describes this glorious seen most clearly and because it does it might be the most important paragraph in the bible.[11]  For God tells us what His goodness is with His own mouth at the very beginning of His bible in Exodus 33-34.  But not until the end do we get the perfect summary, for which the entire scriptures were designed to proclaim: infinite justice and infinite mercy have now been demonstrated in Christ on the cross!  God's glory, His goodness is not just for Moses to see but for all!  Come and enjoy the view of God's Glory in Christ His Son!  And Romans chapter 3 we are told how that infinite glory or goodness of justice and mercy kissed on the cross.  God is sovereign goodness.  Jesus Christ is sovereign goodness.  In God's decrees and predestining He laid out the course for His full glory to be display and for His goodness to be lavished upon all His elect children.  This wisdom accumulated on the cross.  Dear reader do you see it?  Do you even want to?

            Before we move on to the next section I would like to visit one other place.  In 2 Samuel 7:21 it reads, "For Your word's sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things."  Here in this passage we literally have what is the heart of our question, which I purposed at the beginning of this article.  Why did God save us seeing that we were not so special, but actually less than nothing?

            King David is overwhelmed with Yahweh's mercy and love toward him and his house.  In this moment he sits downs to pray and summarizes in a most profound way why God would do this.  "According to Your own heart."  God did not do this because David was better, more pure or more special than the rest.  God has an infinite heart and this alone is the reason why God decided to love David.  Even in consideration of the phrase "for Your word's sake" it is still ultimately "according to Your own heart."  See, God only makes promises of love and mercy because of His "own heart" to begin with.  

          Also note it was only according to God's "own" heart.  This means God's decision to love had nothing to do with David.  It had nothing to do with how special or un-special He was.  Yet, the fact that whether it was David or us all saints are saved while they are still "ungodly" and worthless sinful worms of the earth.  This particularly demonstrates or highlights God's love was only from the infinite good fountain of His own heart.  It means God does not need outside good to motivate Him to be good.  He is already infinitely good Himself.  His choices are totally formed from within the resources of His own infinite Soul.  This sets God completely apart from all others.  He is totally free in His choices.  God has infinite pleasure in, well, being God.  God has an infinite heart.  Therefore, it is His pleasure to be what He is and save the helpless and worthless and crown them with His grace. 

            This is why God saved us.  He has an infinite heart.  God takes infinite pleasure in expressing Himself.  He takes great delight to exalt His infinitely beautiful Soul and for His redeemed to enjoy this glorious public expression of Himself through His Son Jesus Christ.  Our God is an awesome God.

               But in this also lies a grave and eternally severe warning.  Fools take a quick glance at this marvelous grace and love and bark up like unthinking dogs with slogans such as "God's love is unconditional."[12]  Yet dogs are smarter than many fools, for a dog knows the same love of his master that loves him for being a good pet to his child knows if he were to violently kill his master's child that because of this same love he would destroy him.  Because God is so loving His anger is also equally great.  This is similar to the phrase, "a mother's wrath."  A mother is not wrathful at heart.  But it is because she loves so deeply that her wrath is so terrible.  God, because He loves His Son Jesus Christ with an infinite love if you reject Him and disregard His bloodshed given at Calvary as a little thing then His wrath is just as infinite!  Hell is so terrible and infinite because there is no greater love in all the universe than God's infinite love for His Son Jesus Christ.  On Jesus Christ every man, woman and child will either fall or stand.  God the Father is asking the entire world: do you love My Son?

            The next point to review is the aspect that mercy exposes the depth and beauty of God's soul.  This was God's plan from before creation.  His goal was to show how great His love is by the depths of mercy.[13]  1 John 4:10, "This is love, He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."  God' proves how deep and how trustworthy His love is by sweet precious mercy.  God validates how great His love is by mercy.  Jesus being a propitiation for us refers to the act of Christ taking on God's wrath, hour after hour of wrath, to appease His fierce anger against our sins.  This is mercy without end that He would do such an incredible thing!  God's love is not cheap like the world's.  God actually does something about His love Himself!  He personally sees to it that the love He promised is actually placed our hands.  The world promises so much yet so little is given.  God does!  This is His glory!

            See, if Jesus Christ was willing to be a wrath bearing propitiation for us, then what could be greater than that?  The point is that there is nothing greater than being a propitiation in order to prove His love toward us.  This means today if you were sinful or under suffering and ask the question, will my Lord Jesus Christ love me enough to be with me and hold me and save me in this hour, then the obvious answer is, Yes!  If He died for you out of love, He will surly be with you out of this same love that drove Him to the cross.  Indeed, He will gladly be with you in all things and give you all things! Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

            God has display His loving heart to us in such a way that it quiets all fears and dispels all doubts.  As a true Christian whatever you are going through, if your problem is not greater than Jesus Christ being cursed and crushed hour after horrific hour bearing Almighty God's wrath for you sins then there is no doubt His love extents to you in this moment, wherever whatever situation you are in.  This is the great mercy God has given all believers to hold and cherish forever. 

Surely only an Infinite Being with an Infinite Heart is capable of showcasing such great and marvelous grace!  God will "in the ages to come show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."[14]

           (4) Application:

             (1.) Love God!  From of old God's command in light of such things has been to simply love Him as our good Master and Father.  Take note of Deuteronomy 6:21-23, "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt, with a might hand.  He brought us out from here that He might bring us in, to give us the land."  This is an antitype of the gospel of grace.  We were slaves of sin and Christ with a mighty nailed priced hand saved us and will bring us to Himself in the heavenly land. 

          In Deuteronomy chapter 6 and 10 we are told in basic summaries how we are to live in light of such a great salvation.   "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."  Because God is the one with the infinite heart and did all the suffering and hard work to save us we are rightly instructed that, "He is your praise, and He is your God."  We are also given a symbolic example for what this would translate in real life.  "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." 

           In this portrait we are given three profound ways to live in order to love God with all our heart and strength.  First, we are to use all types of our life to teach ourselves, friends and families of God's glorious truths.  Driving to work or school, eating dinner or breakfast, your leisure time on the weekend should all be used to bring attention to your mind, God's truth.  Those who love God's marvelous saving of them will live in this way.  Second, when the passage says to bind God's truth it means for us that God's truth is to be a unchanging or a permanent stamp on us wherever we go.  Thirdly, everything we own should be to make a public declaration to the glory of God.

          I would like to point out the Hebrew word for love in chapter 6 is a broad definition including love on all types of levels.  It means strong affectionate friendship.  God calls Himself a friend to His saints such as to Abraham and Christ to His disciples in John 15.  Moreover, this love means to like something with such a strong affection you prefer it above other things, like a particular food or a possession: in the sense this type of food is your favorite.  We are called to love and pursue God like a priceless treasure in Matthew 13:44.  We are called to love God as our supreme favorite possession.  Furthermore, this love is used for lovers or a strong marital love between spouses.  Although not referring to the sexual aspect the LORD calls Himself our Husband such as in Isaiah 54:5; and Christ calls us His bride in the book of Revelation.  In Isaiah 62:5 it even reads, "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you."  Image the huge affection of love and joy a husband has for his wife on their weeding day!  This is God's love to us and He is calling us to join in this by loving Him back the same. 

            Therefore, I conclude the Old Testament usage of the word love from our part toward God is truly a use of the full definition of its meaning.  This is the level of love God has called us into, for through Christ Jesus it is how He loves us already.  Will you enter in dear reader?  "The love of Christ urges us on."[15]  Is this true for you reader or is it this world, which urges you on?

            (2.) I will now proceed to directly answer what the title of this article asks.  It is not important to feel important if you are beholding God's marvelous grace and are properly loving Him back.  In other words, feeling important actually loses its relevance in light of beholding God's glorious grace given to you at Calvary!  Yes, it loses its relevance!

            Let me give you an example to demonstrate what I mean.  Image if you we going to the Grand Canyon for the first time (or whatever geographical location you desire to see in person the most).  For some, you have seen incredible geographical locations and will easily relate.  For others I would ask you to image the most magnificent star light sky you have ever seen.  When you behold these awesome sights, does this make you feel important or small?  The answer is that it obviously makes us feel incredibly small! Yet, it also fills us with an incredible and distinct type of pleasure and happiness!

            What actually happens is that the pleasure of beholding real greatness is so intense that feeling important to feel happy loses its relevance, because we are already filled with happiness.  True greatness makes us feel small and unimportant, but this becomes irrelevant in light of the pleasure, which comes from seeing its grandeur.  Actually feeling small is what helps add to the pleasure of the grandeur we behold.  Feeling our smallness helps to increase the greatness of what we are beholding; and therefore, increases the pleasure we also feel from it.  In this the humble feels more happiness than the proud!

            But God is infinite greatness!  He is infinite beauty!  Beholding Him will yield infinite happiness and pleasure. 

            See, trying to feel important is a seductive lie and slavery of sin.  Only God is truly important.  Only He deserves to feel the pleasure of being important.  But one reason God is so important is because He is good, infinite goodness.  Therefore, He has graciously, through Jesus Christ, invited all to enjoy the pleasure of beholding His importance in the gospel.  This pleasure should have never been ours to enjoy.  God's glory or importance is not ours, why should we benefit from it?  God has an infinite heart that's why. 

            God's grace given on the cross as Jesus suffered for our benefit frees us from the enslavement of trying to feel important.  Simply stated, trying to feel important when we are not is a sin.  But it is also a waste of time.  This goal is pointless.  Being unchained from this enslavement we are freed to spend our precious time beholding the mountains of Jesus Christ's glory displayed in His suffering for us.  See, the deception of sin's lie is that to feel important is to feel pleasure, but that is an empty promise.  Here, surveying the cross, the promise of everlasting pleasure is a real promise that delivers.             

          Lastly I would encourage my readers to behold the cross while bowed down in the dust in your hearts, for the more lowly and small you are in your own eyes the greater the cross and Christ's glory will appear to you.  Here the promise of everlasting joy is realized.  Let the pursuit of feeling important go and instead grasp with all your might the sight of God's glory shining in the radiant face of Jesus Christ.  Are you looking beloved reader?

         (5) Conclusion of this whole matter:

          God has an Infinite Heart! 

[1] I am not surprised in the since this is a foundation truth to the saving of souls and therefore, will be a particularly attractive target for the enemies of God to attack.

[2] From the, Good News Tracts.  From the tract titled, The Wisest Decision anyone can make.

[3] In this tract and others like it they typically spend half the tract explaining the special-ness of human beings.  Therefore, we are special and "need" to be saved by God, for special things should be saved, right?  But if need, then it is no longer grace that saved us.  This is the opposite of what the gospel teaches.  We are not special, but God decided in merciful love to save us anyways.  This is the gospel of grace Jesus Christ taught and lived.

[4] As Saints we are still in and of our selves worthless, but because Christ fills us up with His glory we are greatly valuable in that sense, for this is what 2 Corinthians 4:7 teaches.  "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."  We are still clay bowls, but now in Christ's suffering for us we have been filled with His infinitely valuable Spirit and the treasure of reflecting His glory.  This is like a glass pot, which is holding 10 pounds of pure diamonds.

[5] It is not only important to ask how God saves us, but also why He saves us.  The why reveals the heart of a person.  By discovering why God saves us we find the treasure of God's beautiful heart or nature on display.  The how also displays God's heart, but the why does so in a why that is different and so is to be coveted to understand as much as the how.  Understanding both the how and the why God saves us displays the fullness of His infinitely beautiful soul.

[6] Genesis 1:31

[7] Genesis 33:19

[8] Genesis 34:6

[9] Genesis 34:7

[10] Deuteronomy 7:10

[11] Romans 3:21, "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier (mercy) of the one who has faith in Jesus."  - (mercy) added by author.

[12] God would only touch us with His love if Jesus Christ would first die for our sins.  This is the greatest condition ever seen in the history of the world.  Therefore, God's love is not unconditional.  People often confuse God's infinite for great love as unconditional.

[13] Romans 11:32, "God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all."  God caused all to become disobedient so that He might take away their sins on the cross.  In context this verse is referring to both gentiles and Israel.  It means God planned the fall not merely allowed it.  God's goal from the beginning was the suffering of the cross and His triumph over it.  God's goal was to show how famous and how truly infinite His heart was by showcasing His love toward the worthless by the depth of mercy; and that is exactly what He did.  His love is action because it is real love.

[14] Ephesians 2:7

[15] NRS 2 Corinthians 5:14