Charles Spurgeon said, "If a man could know that he was loved by all his fellowmen, if he could have it for certain that he was loved by all the angels, yet these were but so many drops, and all put together could not compare with the main ocean contained in the fact that “God loved us.”
God loved us when he foreknew us, even before we were born. God loved his people in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Such a thought is beyond our comprehension. God is greater than we ever thought, and that includes his love for us. To use Spurgeon's words, that is "contained in the fact that 'God loved us.”
God loved us when we were yet sinners. He did not wait until we got good enough to love us. Had God done so, he would have never loved us. God never loved us because he saw something good in us. Far from it. God proved his love for us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). It's not based on what we are, but who God is. God loved us, because "God is love" (1 John 4:8).
God loved us when he changed our hearts. We could no more change our hearts than a leopard could change his spots (Jeremiah 13:23). God loved us enough to change our hearts. He poured out his love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us (Romans 5:5).
