God sent Jesus down out of His LOVE, MERCY and GRACE. To raise us up through FAITH, HOPE and LOVE.
The left side of the U represents the way God is toward us. The first LOVE on the left represents God’s love for us which is His reason why He gave Jesus in the first place to die for us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” (Jn 3:16).
MERCY is the basis on which God has anything to do with us. Mercy is for who God saves. We start out His enemies (Rom 5:10) because of our sin. God “has mercy on whomever He wills and hardens the heart of whomever He wills” (Rom 9:15) If it was not for God’s mercy we would die in our sins – His mercy is our best and only hope for salvation. If God is merciful toward us it is because of His willing it so – His predestinating us to receive His mercy.
God’s GRACE is how He saves us. Through Jesus Himself and His sacrifice we receive grace (Jn 1:16). Grace is a sharing relationship – where God shares Himself with us by giving His Only Son on our behalf and we share in Him by responding out of our thankfulness for Jesus and His sacrifice. “For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this is NOT of yourselves, it is a GIFT of God; not because of works, that not anyone should boast” (Eph 2:8, 9) God gives His grace to those who realize the trouble they are in due to their pride and sin and who humble themselves before Him. (Jas 4:6) We are justified in God’s sight and made acceptable to Him through grace. Jesus did for us that which we are unable to do for ourselves. (Tit 3:5-7)
The bottom of the U is where God finds us – where we are automatically, from the start, due to our sin and corruption. It is from here that He raises us up.
The right side of the U represents our participation in our salvation through faith, hope and love.