Being Anonymous in Your Generosity -part 1

**fennywest** Mon 02 Nov 2009, 12:41 pm

(God’s way of Giving
Anonymity in Generosity
Great way to Give
Giving in the Secret
Anonymity in giving
Giving and Motives
Rewarding Giving
The Best way of Giving)
These are alternative titles. Choose the one you like most.

M't:6:1: Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

M't:6:2: Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

M't:6:3: But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

M't:6:4: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.Matt6:1-4

Motive and Action

The focus here is how you give, the motive, the purpose, ‘the why?’ the reason behind your giving; the hidden agenda; what people do not see; what is know to you and God; (people can misjudge your motive, but you know your motive)

It is not necessarily on how much you give although you could give a very large sum openly for some hidden agenda

What is Motive?

Something (or a need or desire) that causes someone to act)

What is goading { pushing , moving, propelling you, what is the impulse, incentive, inducement, spur, raison de’tre (reason behind); what is the driving power, the stimulus; what are the external influences ( companies lurking behind, lobby groups who may have paid you to ask certain questions or lobby on their behalf) what are the hidden enticements}

Pointers to wrong motive are:

Is it to boost your ego or standing or to be regarded as being generous, in society, a congregation, a party to head-off negative criticism of excessive profiteering or other bad press?

Is it to buy favours, get contracts, to get appointed to important positions, to get a mention in party meetings or magazine, to boost your company’s image, to get planning permission in a project envisaged, to get government grant?

"HOME Secretary Jacqui Smith was under pressure yesterday as the latest Cabinet minister to face questions over her expenses.

She insisted she did nothing wrong by listing the house in her constituency where her husband and children live as her second home. She said she spent most of her time lodging at her sister’s house in London – which is her main address.

But choosing the family property as her second home has enabled Ms Smith to claim £116,000 over several years for it from the tax-free Additional Costs Allowance supposed to help MPs maintain two homes.

Under the ACA rules the main residence is where the MP spends more nights. A spokeswoman for Ms Smith said: “The Home Secretary has always abided fully with Parliament’s clear rules on expenses and has long-standing written approval from the Parliamentary Fees office for any agreed expenses.”

It has been suggested that MPs in the UK are not well-paid and the expenses system is there to compensate for it. Mps therefore look for loopholes to boost the their income as much as possible hence the claim that her sister’s house is her main residence.’"

This is an example of a wrong motive for an action but if parliament has designed the system to enable teh MPs to claim expenses allowances to boost their income then Parliamenet is itself wrong.

Other obvious truths from our passage:

From our passage there are obvious truths :

It is good to give;
Giving attracts reward hereon earth and in heaven V4
People give with different motives v2
There are good and bad motive V2
There are different ways or attitudes involved when giving-V2

Generously

Cheerfully

Humbly

Arrogantly

Carelessly

As a show

Secretly

With the wrong motive

With the right motive

Questions that may arise include:

How do we identify motive?

What motive could lie behind giving?

What is the right motive and what is the wrong motive?

Who is the ultimate judge of motive?

When is it good to give openly?

How many times have you been anonymous in your giving?

Should we always give anonymously?

The passage tells us the best way to give- with anonymity.