"If we feel hateful towards ourselves, we assume God feels hateful towards us. But we cannot assume that He feels about us the way we feel about ourselves—unless we love ourselves compassionately, intensely, and freely. It takes a profound conversion to accept that God is relentlessly tender and compassionate toward us just as we are—not in spite of our sins and faults, but with them. Though God does not condone or sanction evil, He does not withhold his love because there is evil in us." Brennan Manning ~ Abba's Child
And it really does seem that love ties everything together and that it is all interconnected: love, forgiveness, His heart, grace, mercy... everything
And in this, motive. The motivation to not sin is not to stay in good graces, it is not to avoid punishment or being cast aside or to earn something for noting worth having can be earned, only given and received. The motivation is with regards to self. For if we do that which we know we ought not to, is it not our view of self which changes? Does not our own heart feel heavy, does not guilt weigh us down or thoughts of "what if" plague our minds - shifting our view of ourselves to something very far removed from what God sees us as. Our motivation to not do wrong is with regards to our view of ourselves seen thru the lens of our own sin.
We must learn to truly forgive ourselves - not ignore things done or undone, nor justify them, but acknowledge those things, own them and actually truly forgive ourselves. Then we can actually accept how God sees us, receive the overwhelming love He has for us - for we shall have seen the depths of His grace first hand - and then share that love with the world around us. Not because we are told to do so, not because we must "or else", but because we ache to do so.
