"Charity or Non-Ulteriority in Christianity and Islam"
This is the foremost thing that God wants people of all religions to know: "The delight of doing good for its own sake and not for an ulterior motivation is the reward which lasts forever" (Arcana Coelestia 9984). On Exodus 22:25: "That this signifies that this must be done from charity, is evident from the signification of “a usurer,” as being one who does what is good for the sake of self-advantage; for a usurer intrusts money to another for the sake of usury, and assists another for the sake of recompense. And because genuine charity does not regard profit or recompense as the end, but the good of the neighbor, therefore by “thou shalt not be as a usurer” is signified that it must be done from charity. He who does not know what Christian charity is, may believe that it consists not only in giving to the needy and the poor, but also in doing good to a fellow citizen, to our country, and to the church, for any cause whatever, or for any end whatever. But be it known th...