41. Restoring our relationship with Him is God's goal in "salvation."
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. {2 Corinthians 5:18-19}
As Paul put it so eloquently in the Bible verse above, the solution to our problem is not to find a way for God to be reconciled to us. God is seeking to reconcile us to Himself. Getting God’s forgiveness is not the obstacle to our salvation. Rather, God’s goal in salvation is to repair and restore our relationship with Him.
Why is that such a big deal? Because He’s the only Source of Life, and so to be alive requires us to have a connection to the Source. For those of us who have been given the power to choose, that connection is experienced as a relationship of mutual love, trust, and admiration. Sin is a breakdown of trust in God which thereby damages our relationship. That’s why God’s goal in salvation is to restore trust; if that can be accomplished, the relationship may be healed, and we can continue to live with God forever.
If you want to dig deeper—
Isaiah 59:2
John 15:15
Acts 7:26
Romans 5:6-8, 10
Romans 8:7
Colossians 1:19-22
1 John 4:8-10