January 11, 2026

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

God’s love is not like human love. Our love is reactive. We see something desirable in another person or thing, and that beauty awakens our affection. A man and a woman may lock eyes across a crowded room, and something about the other stirs a longing to meet, to know, to love. Countless books, poems, and films celebrate this kind of love, and rightly so. But this is not how God loves.

We must remember: God is God, and we are not. He is not merely a bigger, better version of us. He is not simply a sinless, more righteous human whom we strive to imitate. Though we are created in His image, He is a being altogether different in kind. God is eternal; we are finite. He is uncreated; we are created. He depends on nothing outside Himself; we cannot exist for a moment apart from Him. The list could go on, but the point is clear: God is God, and we are not.

And just as God differs from us in His being, so He differs from us in His love. Our love is reactive; God’s love is creative. God does not search for something lovable in us. Rather, He creates what He loves.

“God is love” (I John 4:7–8), but we must not assume His love functions like ours, lest we distort the gospel itself. Romans 5:8 tells us that God demonstrates His love precisely when we are least desirable to Him—while we are helpless sinners and His enemies. God so loves sinners that He not only sends His Son into the world to save us (John 3:16), but also promises to make us into what He delights in.

What does God most desire? His own glory—the radiant beauty of His holiness. And where is this glory perfectly revealed? In Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus “is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.” This is why the Father can say of Him, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 3:18).

This same hope is given to us in Romans 8:28–29: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren…”

The gospel promises that God, by His love, will create in us what He most desires and delights in—to conform us to the image of Christ. This is the work of His grace from beginning to end, for all who believe.