Why You Should Keep Doing Good Things for the Wrong Reasons
Like many, I admire people who do good things for good reasons — people who are motivated by love of others rather than praise or attention or tax deductions. You know what I’m talking about: celebrities that volunteer at soup kitchens for the photo-op, companies that give to charity for the press rather than out of concern for the needy, etc… I spent my childhood judging people who dropped money into the collection basket at Church, quietly suspecting that they cared more about looking charitable than helping the poor, with the well-known bible verse was ringing in my ear:
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” (Matthew 6:2)
Now, I’m not trying to defy the Bible. Bragging is not good. And doing good things for appearance, even without “announcing it with trumpets” is not ideal. To be motivated primarily by praise, or money, or other earthly rewards is a weakness of character. But there is a danger in ranking motivation over action. And I know this because I made the mistake of doing so. And as it turned out, my preoccupation with selflessness made me a pretty crappy person. Here’s what happened.
