Why do you do good?

Something that my mum said angered me greatly and got me thinking about a few things.
For context, I did something which she perceived to be wrong.
She then said to me 'If you keep being like that, you will lose your blessings (from God)'

Ok, join me in a collective 'wtf' together. 1... 2.. 3. No? You don't see why it's ridiculous? Let me elaborate.



Some Christians have the (mis)conception that doing good is some kind of trade relation between them and God. You do XYZ, and God will bless you with ABC.

How did this idea arise? Well you can't really blame them because many verses in the Bible actually promotes this mentality (which I will explain why I disagree with later).

'God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble'

Be humble, and God will give you grace

'Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land that God has given you'

Do that, live long.

There are many more of such instances in the Bible. For all I know this could be precisely what God intended it to be and I'm wrong, but I still need to express my opinion, my belief.

So why do I disagree with this? Perhaps you should ask me then, so, why do I do good?

It's because I freaking want to be a good person, that's why! Not because I have my eye on some extrinsic motivator!

Just today, I bought lunch for $2.80, and paid with a $5 note. The person returned me $7.20 in change. I immediately informed him of his failmath and walked away w the correct change of $2.20.

What did I think right after this? Was it "Oh goodie, now God will bless me in some way because I was honest!" or "Yay maybe I'll find $5 on the floor later!"

HELL NO? I was thinking "Ah, I did the right thing. Thank you God for helping me make the right decision."
I did it because honesty is an important value to me, and because I want to be a good person. I did it to be a good person. Because my religion teaches us to be good people.

Now, let's revisit what my mother said. "... You will lose your blessings."

For real?! So if I stop doing good things I will suddenly lose everything good and bad things will start happening?
The success/fortune of a great deal of bad people in history is more than enough proof that thats an absurd assumption.

No, my friends. God does not bless you BECAUSE you did something good. God blesses you because he loves you.

Stop viewing your relationship w God as some kind of trade exchange where you trade doing good for more blessings. Stop doing good things in eager anticipation of the returns you're going to get. Start doing good because that characterizes the kind of person you want to be. Start doing good without expecting anything from anyone. Start doing good because you want to be a better person.

And no, God is not going to retract a blessing because you failed to do good.

P.S. To clarify my stand in case people get it wrong, I disagree with the mentality of expecting blessings when we do good. Whether we DO get blessed or not is not really my concern and is not what I'm arguing for. What I'm advocating is to do good for intrinsic motivations, not extrinsic motivations.