Helping the poor can be an ego trip. I’ll let you speculate on how I know.

Motives can be really tricky and I don’t want to get too analytical about the driving force behind acts of charity. But right now I can think of three unhealthy motivations for helping the poor.

Guilt: Feeling guilty about comparative affluence motivates to give because we should instead of sharing because we want to.

Self preservation: This is helping the poor just enough so they won’t be driven by desperation to come take what we have.

Pride: Both in arms length financial assistance and on the face-to-face level a subtle sense of superiority can infect what would otherwise be a healthy relationship.

I’m afraid I have a long way to go before my relationship with the poor is Christ-like.