Charity
Few words in our day are more corrupted than the word charity. Today we think of the word charity as socialism, welfare, free stuff, ignoble handouts, second-hand clothes, dole, or condescending gifts. Charity has nothing to do with redistribution of wealth. Charity is a virtue not a bank, a fund, or a commodities store. As Paul said,
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”
If charity does not dwell in our heart, then nothing that we do with our hands will matter when we give account to God for our actions. Charity contains the highest virtues—longsuffering, kind, unenvious, not boastful, not puffed up, patient, persevering, and unfailing. Charity includes faith and hope.
Charity is the love of Christ in its purest form, and the only charity is that which communicates that love to others regardless of the way that we use our wealth. Charity doesn’t just help people out; it also lifts people up. More people are killed with unkind charity than are saved with foolish dole. False charity is like pain medicines that relieve for a moment but addict for life.
We need to restore charity to its rightful place as well as all the other virtues taught so clearly by Christ and held fast for centuries by traditions. It was those virtues upon which this country was built. Misuse of charity can destroy a person, a family, or a nation.
Charity encompasses all virtues. Charity is Christ-like love. Man is driven by methods. Christ understood principles. We must remember that Christ used a whip to cleanse the temple. He was not confused by imitations. He measured charity by its consequences, not by its selfish returns. Little by little our nation is beginning to understand the dangers of enabling through misguided love. A charity that increases dependence is false love and hateful revenge.
Through his prophets the Lord said,
"6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left." (See 2 Corinthians 6:3-7)
“Love unfeigned” is a sterling definition of charity. When asked by the scribe which was the first commandment, the Savior summed up all the commandments under the word love which means charity:
“28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)
Perhaps the most powerful spiritual forces on earth are
FAITH: ("faith...worketh by love." (Galatians 5:6)
HOPE: (We are commanded to put "on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." (1 Thessalonians 5:8); and
CHARITY: (The greatest of all).
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