1) God loves us with Atoning love.

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (Jhn 3:16-17)

God’s love for us is what motivated Him to send Christ into the world to save us. Christ paid for our sins, which had separated us from Him. This sacrifice not only brings us peace with God, it also brings us into a personal, loving relationship with Him. (Rom 5:1-5)

God’s atoning love through Christ is the source of all our spiritual blessings.

2) God loves us with Calling love.

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Pet 2:9)

Another way God shows His love for us is by calling us out of the darkness of sin and into the light of fellowship with Him.

Even more, because God has called us to Himself, He promises to protect that relationship (Jhn 10:28) and never leave or forsake us (Heb 13:5, 1 Thes 5:23-25)

God’s calling love is a promise to always be with us.

3) God loves us with Redeeming love.

“God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:3-4)

Because of our sinful nature, we have no power to fulfill God’s law. But God’s love is shown through Christ who redeemed, or paid, the price we owed for our rebellion. (Gal 3:13)

God’s redeeming love frees us from guilt and fear.

4) God loves us with Justifying love.

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Rom 3:23-25)

God’s love is shown by justifying us (or declaring us innocent) by grace through faith in Christ. Christ is treated as if he were the sinner, and the sinner is treated as if he were the righteous one. God now sees us through Christ’s righteousness instead of through our sin.

God’s justifying love allows us to stand accepted before Him.

5) God loves us with Adopting love.

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”” (Rom 8:15)

God shows His love for us by not only forgiving us of our sins, but by going even further and bringing us into His family. He has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints. (Col 1:12) This inheritance includes salvation, strength, hope, peace, comfort, providence, fellowship and so much more!

God’s adopting love allows us to call Him “Father”.

6) God loves us with Sanctifying love.

“We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb 10:10)

Still another way God also shows His love is by sanctifying, or setting us apart, for His purpose. We’re sanctified in two ways: positionally and progressively.

We’re sanctified “positionally” when we come to Christ. In the Old Testament the priests would continually make sacrifices because they never permanently paid for sin. But Christ offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice and has paid for our sins once and for all. So we’ve sanctified, or set apart, to obtain salvation through Christ.

We’re also sanctified “progressively” throughout our Christian lives. Progressive sanctification isn’t about our salvation — we’re saved by grace and not by works (Eph 2:8-9) — it’s about how we live after we’ve been saved.

Progressive sanctification is the process of dying to sin and living for Christ by becoming more like Him. It’s about producing the fruits of the Spirit as opposed to producing the fruits of the flesh. (Gal 5:19-23)

God’s sanctifying love sets us apart for His special plans.

7) God loves us with Glorifying love.

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1-2)

Finally, God shows His love by glorifying us. Throughout our lives we’ll wrestle with sin, but we’re promised that the good work God begins in us will be completed. (Phil 1:6) When we go to be with the Lord our sinful nature will be left behind and we’ll like Him, and with Him, forever.

God’s glorifying love is the ultimate destination for Christians.