Shalom,

I LOVE this from today's "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers! 

I have finished the work which You gave Me to do. — John 17:4

The Death of Jesus Christ is the performance in history of the very Mind of God. There is no room for looking on Jesus Christ as a martyr; His death was not something that happened to Him which might have been prevented: His death was the very reason why He came.

Never build your preaching of forgiveness on the fact that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. It is untrue to Jesus Christ’s revelation of God; it makes the Cross unnecessary, and the Redemption "much ado about nothing." If God does forgive sin, it is because of the Death of Christ. God could forgive men in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted to be Saviour because of His death. "We see Jesus because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ – "It is finished." That is the last word in the Redemption of man.

Do you remember that Jesus said THIS in John 4:34?

34 Jesus said to them, My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work. AMP

Jesus came, by the will and the Word of the Father, to save all mankind. He did NOT do it out of emotion, though His heart overflows with love for us! When we read this in John 3:16-17:

16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him. AMP

... We see that God's love (agape) is NOT based on emotion, but is the very highest aspect of love that involves a decision to do something for someone else that they cannot do for themselves! John 15:5:

Greater love than this no one has, namely, that anyone lay down his life on behalf of his friends. The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest

God does not forgive you because He loves you! He forgives you because of what JESUS already did IN YOUR PLACE! Amen! When we get that on the inside, we will realize that the Word of God works whether I EVER "feel" like it works or not! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with a beautiful Christmas song called "We Have A Saviour":

Shalom in Him!