One-Way Love

What is grace? Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. . . .

Grace is a love that has nothing to do with you, the beloved. It has everything and only to do with the lover. Grace is irrational in the sense that it has nothing to do with weights and measures. . . . It reflects a decision on the part of the giver, the one who loves, in relation to the receiver, the one who is loved, that negates any qualifications the receiver may personally hold. . . .

Grace is one-way love. That is the definition [of grace] for this book. Grace is one-way love.

--Paul Zahl, Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life (Eerdmans 2007), 36 (emphasis original)

HT: Brian Martin