When someone acts towards a neighbor in a way that runs counter to the will of God, the name for it is sin. Sin has three consequences. It shortchanges the other, it hardens the self, and it thwarts God’s will, which is love.  The last in turn lessens God, Who is love and its expression. Outside of Christ, when I have sinned, there is nothing I can do to reverse or repair any of those consequences, because they are spiritual, and spiritual damage is irreversible.

And that is the true magnitude and horror of sin. God risked love itself in our creation.

And God is love.