When you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.–Matthew 6:3.

What ever happened to the notion of giving for the sake of giving? asked Tim Harford, columnist for Financial Times. “The closer you look at charitable giving, the less charitable it appears to be.” A study of door-to-door fund-raising campaigns, for instance, found that organizations earned far more by selling lotter tickets than by asking for donations.

“This hardly suggets a world populated by altruists seeking to do the maximum good with their charitable cash,” says hardford. At least for some people there’s a something-for-me/something-for-you approach to giving.

Jesus also dealt with the issue of motives in giving. When He said not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, He was teaching that our motives for giving to God and to others must be pure. Our giving should be in response to God’s love. To encourage pure motives, Jesus instructed people to give and to do good deeds in secret with no thought of themselves. God, who see everything, would reward them(Matt. 6:3-4).

Our generosity should be God-centered-not to makes us look good, but to please the Lord. With your next good deed, ask yourself:I knew that no one would ever find out that I did this, would I still do it?–Marvin williams

Grant us, then, the grace for giving With a spirit large and free, That our life and all our living We may  consecrate to Thee..–Murray.