Giving Motivation

I usually feel like I am a giving person. In the recent past, I've opened my home and invited another family to live with my family for a month, I have given away possessions that I wanted to people who needed them more than me, I have given food to the food bank, money to my church, time to my children's school and a variety of other places, energy to serve others. And yet...

"If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV)

Motivation for giving, not the gift itself, is the point. How often have I given from obligation? How often from pity? How often from my own prideful desire for fame? Do I really love?

Jesus said clearly that we are to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbours. These, he said, are the greatest commands and all other commands are based upon them.

Love comes first.  It should be my motivation for any act of giving. Do I truly love God and am I motivated by my love for him when I give in tangible and practical ways to the church or to my community? Do I truly love others? Am I motivated by my deep love for others and my heartfelt concern for their well being and their need of the gospel and is that the motivation for my gifts of time, energy and possessions?

Is love as my only motivation for giving in every way which I give? Or, am I gaining nothing?