God’s love, Garry reminded us, goes much further than our love. We may not fully understand why He created us with free will; we certainly do not understand how He can use even evil, pain and suffering for good (as John Dickson remarks, ‘But here we arrive at the heart of the issue… God’s reasons for permitting evil are indeed loving and, what’s more… he is able to achieve his aims and, (even) more… it shouldn’t surprise us that limited beings (like us) might not be able to imagine the divine reasons (for it all).’ See ‘Religion And Ethics’) We see in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins, however, the extent of God’s love: how He came to our world, took on human flesh, lived a perfect life and offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.
The gospel never ends at that point, however. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrate to us the extent and depth of God’s love, but He calls us then to be imitators and love in the same way! Matt 5:43-48 shows us how we too are called to love our enemies. In the Old Testament, the book of Hosea acts as a parable, showing us God’s love for the wayward and unfaithful (see Hos 1, Hos 3:1). In the New Testament, we are constantly urged to use our free will to love as God loves (see also Rom 12:19-21). God gave Himself for those who hated Him and rejected Him; He calls us to do the same, to overcome evil with good. God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, with no thought for God, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8); Jesus reminds us that if we love Him, we will obey His commandments (Jn 14:15). He does not compel us or coerce us to do this, but again gives us free choice.
If we are to live wisely, we will choose wisely and will love as He loves. The choice, however, is ours.