When I was 12 I walked an aisle, repeated a prayer given to me by a clueless pastor, and then got baptized thinking I was right with God. Truth is, I was never saved.
I viewed my relationship with God as transactional. I was attending Sunday school, going to church, and volunteering for youth group activities all because I thought God would, in turn, work some things out in my life the way I wanted Him to.
If your love or your service to someone or something is motivated by what you think you might get out it in return, that’s not love—that’s manipulation.
God owes you NOTHING. And we have nothing to offer God, yet He loves us anyway. That’s true love. Thats what genuine, biblical love actually looks like.