What does it take to serve without expectation of reward? What does it cost us to love other people?
God shows us how. There are 2 key texts in the Word for today that answer these questions. The first is from Romans 5. This word is the key. God shows the full depth of all His mercy and grace for the world by sacrificing his own son for us. Such love. Undeserved. Real grace!
“But what does God expect of us in return?” That’s our natural human response to anything good done for us. There’s no such thing in human expectation as ‘something for nothing!’ But that’s what the Lord did.  But surely he wants payback? Surely there’s something in it for Him?  The answer is no. He doesn’t want payback: What could we possibly give back to the Lord that isn’t already his?
He doesn’t want pay-back: He wants pay-forward. He wants ‘love as you have been loved’. ‘Serve as you have been served’. ‘Bless as you have been blessed’. ‘Forgive as you have been forgiven’. ‘Give as you have received’. He wants Matthew 9:8: You received without paying, now give without being paid.
When we live like this, this is real grace. It is motivated by love – God’s love for us at work through us.