We messed up
First off in the question there is the assumption that God did not create everything perfect when in reality He did (Genesis1:31) Everything He created was good. That was the way things were: there was perfect harmony between God and humanity until the fall. God, who created man and woman out of love, did so with freedom as part of the human package. It was with this free will that man and woman chose to sin, chose to go against God and by doing so they brought the world under a curse (Genesis 3:14-19). As a result of the ‘fall’, Adam and Eve brought sin into the world which causes sickness, decay, severed relationships, human hurts, death. In short, imperfection. Did God create imperfection? No. God’s creation is perfect. But, humanity chose to sever this perfection.
So why did he come to save us?
We are right in believing that we are entirely undeserving of His grace, of Jesus, of forgiveness from God. God would have been entirely just in leaving us to be. Yet, He came to a people who rejected and despised Him and died a brutal death so that we can enter back into a restored relationship with Him. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) We can rejoice because of Jesus Christ who reconciled us back to Him whilst we were still enemies of God. (Rom 5:6-11).
Conclusion
God’s first priority is to bring Himself glory, and a redeemed people bring Him more glory that a robot-like people who are somehow 'programmed' to love Him. This may seem like a selfish goal, but He is perfect - it is logical that such a being should hold their own praise, honour and glory as of first importance. As for why a redeemed people are more glorious than automatons? Think back to the Champions League Final 2005, AC Milan vs. Liverpool. Almost everyone remembers it! Why? Because Liverpool came back from 3-0 down at half time to win on penalties. It was so unexpected that they made it that it made their win even more amazing. In Ephesians 3:9-11 we read of God’s eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ, namely, his amazing way of justly redeeming his ‘prodigal sons’. This, we are told, was to demonstrate the manifold wisdom of God to all supernatural powers.
