After describing the lost state of all of us before salvation, Paul tops it off by saying that we were "by nature children of wrath". We like to think that of course God had to save mankind, whom He created. No, He didn't. God is obligated to save no one. Not you, not me, not the man down the street, the tribal man in the jungle, nor the small child. It is only by God's grace that He saves anybody, and the way He chose to do it seems foolish to us. Just believe. What!? I so desperately want to DO something, but God wants no room for me to take any credit. There should be no question that salvation comes through Him alone.
Does God love people? The Bible says that He does, but this love is not a result of the objects being loveable. It is a love derived from within God Himself, without reference to the worthiness (or lack thereof) of the objects of His love. The thing that really gets me is in verse 7. After declaring God's demonstration of His love by making us alive through Christ, Paul makes an interesting statement. God's purpose in this was... "that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." You see, if there were no fallen world, there would be no need for God to show this part of His character. God's mercy and grace can only be seen in the presence of failure. This is something the angels have not experienced, and maybe that is why it is something they want to look into (1 Peter 1:12). But the one thing we know is that for eternity we will be displayed as ones who were redeemed. We were composed of rotten stuff, but were remade. We are like trophies of God's grace.
The more we realize the greatness of our former separation from God and the depth of His love and mercy in giving us new life, the more we want to see others become recipients of this same grace. There may be other Christians we can't stand, but they are fellow recipients. There may be unbelievers that we don't feel deserve to be saved. That is true...but neither did we. This love of Christ should motivate us to share the truth with the lost. And remember, we truly are trophies of His overwhelming grace.