3 Nephi 13:1-4

13:1-4 - The Lord now takes us alms-giving and really emphasizes having the right motives, "I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor." Let's talk first about the need to give to the poor, JW says "Although the law of the gospel is never expressly defined in scripture, I understand this law to be the law of love and generosity... The only place in scripture where the phrase 'law of the gospel' appears is in the Doctrine and Covenants, where it is connected with caring for the poor and needy... In all dispensations, covenant people have been required to give to the poor and to lend to those who ask. Generosity was required of the children of Israel and of the people of King Benjamin as a condition of their covenant, qualifying them to receive God's generosity." Very interesting point there, it's like the parable of the man who is forgiven a debt of ten talents but then goes and exacts repayment on a man who owes him next to nothing, I don't remember it exactly, but really we are only stewards of what we have here, at any moment God could see fit to remove us from our place of luxury and deposit us in squalor, in fact, most people experience both several times in their lives, luxury and squalor on some level. It's an excellent point that if we would like God to be generous with us we must be generous with what he gives us. Just like if we would like to be forgiven of our faults, we must forgive others of theirs. But Jesus doesn't just teach that we should help the poor, now he goes into what our motives are and where our hearts are, which is in keeping with the lessons we've learned in the last chapter about anger and lust being "gateway" motives to wickedness. Jesus tells us "when ye do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites do in they synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward." HN teaches "When you give alms, you have your choice- you can be rewarded now or later. You have your reward in being recognized now, but you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. If you accept our reward here, you won't get it hereafter. You lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth... There's no objection to having your reward here if you enjoy that (sort of) thing- that's fine, and they are welcome to it." I never understood why having people see you giving to the poor and you being recognized for it would be considered a reward, that doesn't sound like any kind of reward to me, but it does feed into the concept of spiritual currency and treasures in heaven. James E Talmage in "Jesus the Christ" gives us some ideas of what might constitute a "reward" when giving to be seen of men, "The tossing of alms to a beggar, the pouring of offerings into the temple treasure chests, to be seen of men, and similar displays of affected liberality, were fashionable among certain classes in the time of Christ; and the same spirit is manifest today. Some there be now who cause a trumpet to be sounded, through the columns of the press perchance, or by other means of publicity, to call attention to their giving, that they may have glory of men- to win political favor, to increase their trade of influence, to get what in their estimation is worth more than that from which they part. With logical incisiveness the Master demonstrated that such givers have their reward. They have received what they bid for; what more can such men demand or consistently expect?" If I think about it, in our day, what ways to people give and are seen of men? Corporations or powerful, wealthy people giving big endorsed checks at a press conference. What's really interesting to me about this is that when the Lord says that by giving in secret God will reward thee openly, the purpose that some people might be trying to obtain while doing alms to be seen of men, would be the rewards that might come from God by doing them in secret. Does that make sense? Like "I'm going to give $5 to this man and then the people who see will like me and so they will buy my product and I will make lots of money." But what they don't realize is that God is the richest person in the universe and if he chose to do so, he could flood your bank account with money or explode your harvest, so really by trying to manipulate your own financial future by going against what the Lord teaches, then really, you've just cut out your most wealth investor. That's something that I think astounds me very much, when people go against the counsel of God because they think that they will be able to get something better, when in fact, God is the wealthiest and most influential being in the universe, there's nothing that he can't do and there's nothing he can't give you, but in order to get it, even if it's in the next life, you have to keep his commandments, which sometimes seem counter intuitive to us, but we have to learn to do it anyway and enjoy the journey. Going back to the concept of rewards on earth vs. treasures in heaven the IM quotes President Monson giving an excellent example of this, I'm really short on time so I'm just going to copy and paste it here, but it's really worth the read:

But the material and social reward isn't the only benefit we get, James E. Talmage also had an incredible quote in the "Articles of Faith" when he says of charity in the sense of giving of our substance, "Charity is only a little bit of love; one of the innumerable avenues of love, and there may even be, and there is a great deal of charity without love. It is a very easy thing to toss a copper to a beggar on the street; it is generally an easier thing than not to do it... We purchase relief from the sympathetic feelings roused by the spectacle of misery, at the copper's cost. It is too cheap- too cheap for us, and often too dear for the beggar. If we really loved him, we would either do more for him or less." I thought that that was incredibly profound, often we give to alleviate ourselves from the guilt that comes from not truly caring about the poor, kind of counter intuitive but it makes total sense, it's the same kind of logic that parents use when they buy their children whatever they want but then ignore them when they get home, it's easier to give the money then to actually take accountability for your children's feelings. That's kind of deep isn't it, and I'm guilty of this too, I almost never give money to people on the streets, and that's because I feel that if I can't buy alcohol or drugs with my money, then they can't buy alcohol or drugs with my money. Oh that's interesting, that's kind of along the lines of "if we really loved him, we would either do more for him or less," I think that that would be along the lines of doing "less." It's like the fine line of enabling, but I'll tell you what, I'll give them the food that I have all day long, and even to the point where I will give them the food that I have packed for myself, which, honestly is sometimes harder to part with then money. And plus I pay tithing and give fast offerings so I don't feel like I'm not giving any money to the "poor" I just feel like I'm giving it to the most responsible agency there is out there, the church. And the church does an enormous amount of humanitarian work, in addition to the welfare program that is run from the fast offering funds, and there is some news every now and then from that but for the most part it's done pretty quietly. I would think that if any group would publish their charitable industry in order to draw attention to their cause, then it would be the church, because really, it might help people see the church in a way that takes their blinders off, but for the most part, it stays quiet. I particularly like the end of President Monson's quote from the IM that I didn't have room to include. He says, "May this truth (service) guide our lives. May we look upward as we press forward in the service of our GOd and our fellowman. And may we incline an ear toward Galilee, that we might hear perhaps an echo of the Savior's teachings. 'Let not they left hand know what they right hand doeth.' And of our good deeds: 'See thou tell no man.' Our hearts will then be lighter, our lives brighter, and our souls richer."