GOD: God Showers Us With Gifts, by Irenaeus

From Against Heresies

God created Adam in the beginning, not because he needs the human race, but so that he might have a recipient of his generosity.

Moreover, God commanded us to follow Christ, not because he has any need of our service, but because he wants to give us salvation. To follow the savior is to share in salvation, just as to follow the light is to gain the light.

People who are in the light do not themselves provide the light but are illuminated and made right by it; they do not contribute anything to it but, by being illuminated, they receive the benefit of the light.

Similarly, to serve God does not mean giving him any gift, nor has God any need of our service. On the contrary, it is he who gives to those who serve him life, immortality, and eternal glory. He rewards those who serve him without deriving any benefit himself from their service: he is rich, he is perfect, he has not needs.

God requests human obedience so that his love and his pity may have an opportunity of doing good to those who serve him diligently. The less God has need of anything, the more human beings need to be united with him. Consequently, a human being’s true glory is to persevere in the service of God.