What does love have to do with it anyway? Jesus said, “no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for another”. What were His motives when He died for a sinful people, before any of us were even appreciative, and took our punishment when He had none coming. That He might have an eternity of people that love Him, because He first loved us. There is reward in it even for God, since God is perfect in all His ways, the fact that we receive benefit from laying down our life, or being altruistic can’t be considered selfish, but rather a win-win situation. If God receives blessing, ie not being alone in heaven, then our receiving blessing for being altruistic must be okay. The problem, I think, comes when we require a certain response for our altruistic behaviour, (which then isn’t that at all, but selfish) in other words, no strings attached. If we consider everything to be selfish, we are denying other people the blessing that they may receive for doing something that is not selfish, but just done because it is the right thing to do. Please tell me what is wrong with that! This is not likely profound or complex, but it makes sense to me!
