Nothing Gained

I Corinthians 13:3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

There are lots of good deeds we can do, including giving to the poor, suffering for good, and these things are wonderful.  However, if our motive in doing such things is to cause others to look at us, admire us, boast about how awesome we are, or so that we can fill some sort of void in our own lives, this verse says it’s all for nothing.

We must have love, or we gain nothing by our giving.

I’ve given before with a wrong attitude, out of guilt, and it was a very unpleasant experience.  I’ve also given before, as a sacrifice, when I didn’t really have much to give, but also out of guilt, because I knew  it was the “right” thing to do.

But the times when I’ve given without realizing my motive, without thinking, but just out of “I’m going to burst if I don’t give,” I’ve felt relieved, happy that for once my thoughts didn’t govern my actions, and as if I’d finally done something worthwhile.

It’s hard to not overthink our giving and sacrifice with our minds.  But we can pray and ask God to fill us with his love for others so that our doing, our giving, is a natural product of his love, his mercy…toward others.