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Charity
August 24, 2013

Last week, I wrote about how brotherly kindness is part of our spiritual development. Peter shows that next in our life comes charity.

2 Peter 1:5-11
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I like to think of this verse as providing the taxonomy of spiritual development. Charity, translated as love in more recent translations, is presented by Paul to be the pinnacle of spiritual development. When I think of love, I think of the sacrifice of Jesus that paid for my sins and gives an avenue for life. The Bible shows that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for others. I also think of the unselfish devotion of a mom or dad to their child, and how through the years the recipient of this unselfish devotion learn to give this unselfish devotion to others. Even though no person is perfect, as we develop the gift of charity, the love that we have can make up for our shortcomings.

1 Peter 4:7-11
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Peter, who had a significant disagreement with Paul regarding the gentiles, knew that charity would cover a multitude of sins. Think of all the people you have ever met that have been called good people. They were not good like God is good. Rather, they showed acts of love through every day actions. They were kind, they were generous, and they were gracious. And because of these simple acts are known as good people. What was bad about them was overlooked. I'm reminded of a murder a few years back in my hometown of El Paso, where after spending a night at a questionable location, a person was murdered. Because this person had done so much in the community, what was being done prior to the murder is not remembered. The good that the person did is remembered. Similarly, it is said that time heals all wounds. Think back through your memories of years ago. For most people, the pleasant memories stand out. Doing good will have each of us standing out in the eyes of the recipient.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 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. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Paul knew that without love anything we do is hollow and empty. It is love that sees us through those difficult times and it is love that gives us patience. Love is kind, and values others. Love can take just about anything and endure. That's why Paul places love in the same category as faith and hope, and shows that love trumps all. Those who learn to love are able to celebrate what is good, embrace what is good, and do what is good.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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