In thinking through forgiveness in this way, we can see why God is able to love us in spite of what sin has done in our life. Since He is our Creator, He knows what we should be. By adopting an attitude of forgiveness toward others, we can secure any future relationship. When Paul made his great dissertation on love in 1 Corinthians 13, he never once mentioned the word forgiveness. But it is clear that the tone of love is a forgiving spirit.
Love is patient, kind, longsuffering, etc.
Paul explains this by his comments later in that same chapter. A child is self-centered. He does not have the maturity to maintain a relationship because he is always in a reactionary mode. He is secure because of his definition of love, and because he knows God loves him. This type of security reaches into the future.