When we think of love, what comes to our minds? The frail love of man which approves of us when we do well and disapproves of us when we fail or the unflinching love of God that is never moved come what may? It is not uncommon for us to think of the love of God as fickle, after all that is what we are used to from humans. They love us when we do well and draw back from us when we fail. See God's love as the same and you might spend your whole life on the treadmill of performance trying so hard to please Him.
God loves you when you do good but hates you when you do bad. Really? The love of God for us does not derive from us or what we do or do not do. His love for us derives solely from Him. It is His sole intention to love us. God's love for us gives room for both failure and success and His love will never discriminate against us for either of the two.
Have you noticed that Jesus did not pray for Peter not to fail (not to deny Him) or for Judas not to betray Him? He only prayed for Peter's faith of Him (trust in Him) not to fail.
Luke 22:31-32
[31]And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
[32]But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Did Peter fail? Yes, he did, but his faith remained in place. What kind of Saviour does this? What kind of Saviour has the foreknowledge of a man's failure (even that of offending Him) yet He chose to only pray for the man's faith not to fail and not for the man himself not to fail? Only a Saviour who loves unconditionally in failure and in success does that. His name is no other than Jesus Christ. Christ did not kill Judas, Judas killed himself, he could have received forgiveness too, after all Jesus died for the sins of all, not excluding Judas. We do not stand in Christ by what we do or do not do, but by the faith of Him.
2 Corinthians 1:24
[24]Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.
As Dr. Paul Ellis would say, "you are not free to succeed until you are free to fail." God's love for us covers both. Our trust in His unconditional love for us is all that matters. While Peter (just as many of us) was focused on being there for Jesus Christ and not failing, Christ was only focused on Peter's faith in Him not failing. That speaks volume about what really matters.
Right believing precedes right living and it is right believing that produces right living.