Every morning my son asks me (or has this question on his mind), "Dad, am I good enough; am I loved; am I good enough to be loved," which is really two questions and a statement:
"Can I just be good so that I don't have to wonder anymore?
If not, what hoops can I jump through to become good so I don't have to answer this question anymore?
You know, I really don't like either of those answers; I think I would have one plus one equal 11 rather than what it really means."
But you see, knowing the real answers to these things sets us free by making us less confused, and, by knowing the answers, we can be at peace and not have to work so hard in life... we can (simply put), simply relax into our failure - relax into our not being good enough-ness - and rely totally on God to be good for us - to be good in our stead. We can finally rest in his arms and let him love us and take care of all that we can't do for ourselves (which are all the really important things).
I realized again, as I was talking to him about this, that there is nothing that I enjoy more or would rather do in this world than tell others this Good News (though at first hearing, I admit it doesn't sound like good news): We aren't good enough, but we are loved. We were loved when we were good enough in Eden, and we were still loved when we made a mistake and had to leave Eden. Sin took us away from being able to be with God. But God loved us so much that he wasn't happy with not ever being with us again, so The Father, our Dad, jumped through a series of hoops to make it so that we can be with him again. (He did the work - He did all the work - the work we couldn't do - the work we could never do.)
God brings us back to Him by taking His goodness and giving it to us as a free gift; no charge. Because of Jesus' perfect life and perfect death (because of God's sacrifice - God's work - for us), Jesus could be raised from the deadness of this life into a new life - a now inextinguishable life - and we are invited to rise with Him into new, inextinguishable lives of our own.
Now, (because of God's work in the life of Jesus and in our lives), nothing in existence can make God stop loving us or could ever separate us from God again. Not sin, not the devil, not anything. Once, yes, but no longer. God has done away with the old way of doing things - of jumping through the hoops to be loved... Now, He can just love us, and we can be loved by Him and saved by Him and be with Him... unstoppable.