Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

When we were still in sin, He wanted us.  When we were stained and tattered and ravaged by its effects, He wanted us.  When we were ugly with a hard disposition, angry without cause, spiteful and unkind, He wanted us.  When we were self-serving and taking all that we could get and living only for ourselves, He wanted us.  When we were hateful and hurtful without love or compassion or concern for anyone else, He wanted us.  When our souls were dark and our hearts filled to the brim with all unrighteousness, He wanted us.  When the only words our tongues could manage were lies and our thoughts turned to horrible things and we bowed down to our idols without a second thought, He wanted us.

God wanted us, and He loved us, and we were dear to Him even then, precious, worth dying for.  And He wanted us enough to give the best He had in exchange—His sinless Son.  And how can that be?  Though we are so often filled with a sense of self-importance and may pridefully think too highly of ourselves, do we truly think we are worthy of that kind of love?  There was nothing in us that warranted that love, and yet God gave it to us so freely.  We are so special and valuable to Him.  What powerful love He has for us.

Jesus died for us when we were at our worst, so let us now give Him our best.  Now that we have experienced firsthand a refreshing drink of living water, now that we have been plunged beneath the flow of His cleansing blood, now that our shackles are gone and the burden is lifted and the darkness has fled, let us turn wholeheartedly to Christ and go and sin no more.  Let us refuse to submit to those fleshly desires but submit to Him.  Let us be faithful to Him, obedient to Him, submissive to Him and truly serve Him with all that is in us.

When we were worth nothing, Jesus paid a steep cost.  When we deserved punishment, He took it for us.  When we should have suffered, He went to the cross in our place.  When we hated Him, He still loved us, so now that we have experienced His grace and He has won our love, may we never turn back from following Him.  May we remember just what kind of people we were when His mercy found us and gratefully serve Him all the days of our lives.