Miroslav Volf contends that we are incapable of giving anything that obliges God to reciprocate. For what do we have that we did not receive? Obligation? God’s or ours? Here’s a thought from Volf: ‘But rather than receiving something God needs but doesn’t have, what God receives is delight – the lover’s delight at the sight of the beloved whose very existence is that lover’s gift. What God also receives is pain – the lover’s pain when love has been betrayed.’ The point is that we are incapable of offering God a gift in such a way that will move him to be other than he is already… totally towards us in grace.