Christmas Candle Scripture 4 – Charity

1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all your things be done with charity.

Charity. What exactly is that? According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of Charity is:

• benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity
• generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering;
• aid given to those in need
• an institution engaged in relief of the poor
• public provision for the relief of the needy
• a gift for public benevolent purposes
• an institution (as a hospital) founded by such a gift
• lenient judgment of others

So, charity covers a lot of areas. To me, there is on definition in the list that encompasses the rest of them. I think the first definition adequately describes what charity is. When we have goodwill towards our fellow-man and love towards others, all the other definitions just slide into place.

Charity is another of the keys to personal happiness. When we are charitable towards others, we let go of negative thoughts and emotions we feel towards other people and we are able to love as God would have us love them. There were many times growing up where I didn’t want to go with my parents to help clean someone’s house or yard or help move people in and out of the neighborhood. I’d grumble and complain and be grumpy about it. When I would complain about helping other people, my parents would ask me if I loved the person I was helping (if it was family or a close friend) and if I loved Jesus Christ (if we were helping someone we didn’t really know). Of course, I would say yes. Well, if I was feeling especially petulant, I would say no to loving the relatives. haha. My parents would use those moments to remind me that when we love people, we help them. And even if we don’t know them, or don’t especially like them, we show our love for Jesus Christ when we help them.

Christ was a great example of charity. Everything He did was for other people. His whole life was dedicated to helping, teaching and serving those around Him. It’s amazing to me, the love He had for all the people He came in contact with. I’m around very few people every day in comparison and even with as few as there are, I can’t help but have a negative thought or two come into my mind throughout the day. I try so hard to stay positive and not worry about the silly things that go on at work, but sometimes they get to me.

The good thing about it all is that Christ does not expect us to be perfect all at once. Life is a learning process and all Christ asks is that we do our best to emulate Him and His actions. As long as we are trying to view our fellow-men with charity, love and understanding, God will bless us. And as we strive for charity in our thoughts and actions, the easier it will become. It’s like a snowball effect. The snowball starts out small, just a few tiny flakes, but as it moves down the hill, it gathers more flakes and eventually grows to where it is able to crush a house. Not that we should aim to crush a house, but we should view our negative thoughts and feelings about other people as the house and the love and charity of Christ as the snowball. The more we work at gaining Christ-like attributes, the easier it will become to conquer our negative thoughts and feeling.

Charity is a good attribute to have and it’s something I would really like to possess. I find it a challenge sometimes, to be charitable towards people who bring problems on themselves by consciously making bad decisions over and over again, but it is something I wish to attain some day. Charity is the pure love of Christ and that means loving and caring for even those who bring their problems on themselves. I look forward to the day when I can master myself and posses the love that will allow me to look at every person in the world and feel that desire to share with them the happiness I feel in my heart. Every person on this earth is precious to our Father in Heaven and we can show them a fraction of God’s love for them by having charity in our hearts towards them and treating them with the same charity that Christ would.