God created us in His image to reflect His goodness and love, but through pride and sin we turned from Him, breaking our relationship and bringing death. Because He is just, God could not ignore sin, yet because He is love, He came Himself in the person of Jesus Christ to bear our punishment and reconcile us to Him. Jesus lived the sinless life we couldn’t, died in our place on the cross, and rose from the dead to prove His victory over sin and death. Salvation is a free gift received by faith, trusting not in our works, but in Christ’s finished work, and that faith naturally produces a changed heart and life. Through this love we are made new, called to turn from darkness, and to live reflecting the selfless love of the God who first loved us.