Charity part 1
Once upon a time I didn't really understand why the King James Bible used the word "charity" a lot when it was clearly talking about love. Like, even the "Love Chapter," 1 Corinthians 13, Paul writes about charity, charity, charity. Then it hit me. Love is kind of an abstract idea for people. Romantic love... friendship love... there are lots of different expressions of love. Lots of different, I guess, facets of love. Like when you look at a diamond from different points of view and you see everything in a different light. Charity, though, is love in action. The rubber meeting the road. Putting what you believe into action. Which is what faith is, and what faith does. But, well, let me quote my key memory verse for this Rant series. Colossians 3:14, "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." Kind of a short verse, but so much there and so powerful! But let's build our foundation. In our verse in Colossians "charity" is number 26 in Strong's Greek Concordance. Which, by the way, is the same as most of the uses of "love." Same word, a lot of the time. And it means, "Agape. Love, that is, affection or benevolence; specifically a love feast." Which, of course, leads my thinking directly to the Six Steps to the Throne. I wrote a book with that same title, so I don't want to rehash it all here, but basically the love feast is the six course meal that Jesus prepared for us in the presence of our enemies when He was Crucified, Died, Buried, Quickened, Raised, and Seated. The love feast in which Jesus did all the work, and rang the dinner bell inviting everybody who was hungry. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). The table has been set. Jesus provided the bread and the wine. The Lamb and the living water. In order to get us on the right diet. Because you are what you eat. What you let inside (or what you believe is inside) is what will come out. When you let God love you... love comes out. Affection for people. It's really hard to love someone and at the same time not like them. Now, again, as I've been Ranting about in the past couple of weeks, it's unrealistic to think you can connect with everybody. I'm not for everybody. I know that. I've accepted it. That's ok. There are some people I can reach that you can't, and there are some people you can reach that I can't. That's ok. We're all in this together... but look at your body. Your elbow and your chin are both parts of the body, but they can't touch each other. Doesn't make one more important than the other. Each one is different, and that's on purpose. That's ok. That's how it's supposed to be. Love in action doesn't mean doing the same thing to everybody. It means seeing a need and meeting it. Giving specific people what they specifically need. And, if you remember our key verse, even though charity is love in action... it's not something we DO. It's something (someONE) we PUT ON. It's our nature. What you do flows from what you believe. If you believe the ultimate truth of the universe--that God is love and He loves you--then loving Him back by loving people will be the only action you want to take. It will look different all the time to all different people, but it will be His love flowing into you, and out of you, with every breath you take and every move you make!