God's primary motivation in our lives is our healing. It isn't for us to stop sinning.
There is a misunderstanding that adds a step into this equation. It says, "I want to stop sinning so that God will heal me." This statement turns healing into a reward process rather than a grace process.
The true statement is, "God's desire is already to heal me" (Matt 23:37). I mean He fought and died for me at the cross. He's put Himself inside of me. There is no prerequisite to His desire for my healing.
In this perspective, we might desire to stop sinning, but this is because it is part of the healing process. It is no longer a means to attaining healing. It is simply part of it.
Furthermore, because God's desire is my healing, and because He has already taken all my sin and shame away from me and heaped it upon Himself, He never turns His back on me when I do sin. He never says, "Why can't you be more like so-in-so?" He's never ashamed of me. He never condemns in any sense of the word. If He did so, it would lead in the opposite direction of my healing, which is exactly the direction He doesn't want to take me in.
Why then does God desire us to stop sinning? The answer is my healing (Matt 23:37). Again, we have to be careful not to make it into a two step process. He doesn't want us to stop sinning so that by reward or obligation that He will heal us. Sin is more like pouring salt into our wounds, the very wounds He desires to heal. Do you see here how much more direct it is? There is no reward or punishment. It is a direct assault upon our healing.
Therefore, since God desires our healing, His primary reason for warning us about sin is over the salt we are pouring into our wounds. God's punishment already rests upon Himself at the cross, to our rescue. Since there is no condemnation left for us (Rom 8:1), the only motivation left is our healing.
This tender heart is to His credit and to His glory.
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