2 Corinthians 5:19
...that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Love cannot be forced. A person who claims love under duress isn't really expressing love. They are merely responding in the only way they can. And when it comes to God's love for us, we know it is genuine because there is no one or thing that could force God to act in any way other than His will.

Likewise, God desires that our love for Him also be freely given. To create us with programming that forces us to choose Him would not have resulted in genuine love. In order to truly love God, we must choose to love Him. And in order for us to be able to choose Him, we must also be able to choose something else as well.

This choice is what gets us in trouble. We each -- starting with Adam and Eve and continuing down to our day -- have chosen to go against God. Instead of loving Him and doing things His way, we choose to try things our own way and love ourselves more than Him. The Bible calls this act of choosing something other than God an act of sin. And this sin has a fatal effect: it enslaves us.

From the moment we are born, we are cursed with a sinful nature. And we can't break free. Once we choose something other than God, we are doomed to continue choosing that way forever. We fall prey to every whim and desire that comes to mind, helpless to avoid the cycle of sin and consequence. And even in moments where things seem okay, there is an even bigger problem: our choice of sin results in death. Not a physical death, or an end to our existence, but an eternal separation from the love of God. The very thing we were made for, because of our choices, is now lost to us.

And it would have stayed that way. But God acted. God, not content to leave us under the weight of our own sin, sent Jesus Christ to break the bonds of slavery to sin and to redeem us. He accomplished this by purchasing us, not with gold or silver, but with His own blood. As such, those who trust in Him are no longer bound by sin. Instead, we are bound by Him. By trusting God, we have the freedom to choose Him. We aren't forced to sin, because sin is no longer our master. We belong to Christ.

For those whom Christ has purchased, He has also purposed. We are to tell others -- those still under the imprisonment of their sin -- that there is an escape. That Jesus has broken the death-hold of sin and offers that freedom, the freedom to do what is right, to any who will receive it. When we share that message with others, we fulfill God's purpose for us. With our lives and our words, we choose Him.