The pastor of a church is in his office, and the phone rings. It’s an agent from the IRS – the Internal Revenue Service.
He says, “We’re doing a tax audit on one of your members, Mr. Charles Jones III. We want to verify one of his deductions. Mr. Jones wrote down a tax deduction for a $100,000 contribution to your church. Did Mr. Jones donate $100,000 to your church?”
The pastor replied. “I can’t verify that Mr. Jones did give $100,000 to the church, but I can guarantee that he will give a $100,000 contribution to the church.”
In addition to the virtue of honesty, there’s a moral to this story. You should never be in a position to do good deeds because you feel pressured or coerced. You should always do it out of the desire to be a partner of God, helping others, repairing the world, through deeds of generosity and loving kindness.