If your child does something wrong, do you stop loving them or caring about them? I hope not. Instead, you’ll keep on loving them and caring what happens to them, although you dislike what they’ve done.

In a far greater way, this is how God looks on us. When we turn our backs on Him and deliberately do things He doesn’t want us to do, we shouldn’t be surprised if He dislikes what we’ve done—or even hates it. After all, when we sin against God, we are treating Him as if He were our enemy. To put it another way, we are telling God that we know better than He does how we ought to live. As the Bible says, “Evildoers foster rebellion against God” (Proverbs 17:11).

But God still loves us, and He cares deeply what is happening to us! In fact, one of the reasons God hates sin so much is because He knows what it does to us. Sin destroys us, and sin—not God—is our true enemy. But Jesus Christ came into the world to make our forgiveness possible. The Bible says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17).

God loves you, and because He loves you He offers you the gift of His salvation. Accept His gift today by repenting of your sins and committing your life to Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).