“Since all our love for God is ultimately a response to His love for us, we can never love Him in the same way He loves us, namely, gratuitously. But we can love our neighbor in the same way that He loves us -- gratuitously – not because of anything the neighbor has done for us or because of anything we owe him, but simply because love has been freely given to us by God.” Ralph Martin
God calls us to love one another as He loves us – totally and freely. We are to let go of expectations of “getting something back” for our efforts, while at the same time, not counting the cost. Naturally speaking, this is impossible! Even on our good days, there is a small part of us that does expect to gain something: love, recognition, a feeling of satisfaction and most probably, gratitude from the recipient.