Charity part 2
Charity is love in action. Which, to me, is really what love is all about. Because love is giving. God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son. Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the lofty idea of love, that we forget about the practical application of love. We forget about charity. Look at James 2:15-16, "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to body; what doth it profit?" Food and clothing. Basic human needs. That's how James paints a picture of loving your neighbor. Pretty simple, when you think about it. Someone has a need, and you fill it. Wait a minute... you're saying all I need to do is be nice? Pretty much. Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). And think about it for a minute. If God is love--and He is--then what better way is there to show Him to people than by loving people? In fact, that's the only Way to do it. Not talking the talk, or telling people about Jesus, but walking the walk and SHOWING people who Jesus is. Showing people who Jesus in you, by letting the Jesus in you come out! Not by condemning people. Not by judging people, or trying to "scare them straight." But simply by loving them. By helping them. By being nice to them. Listen, if "Christians" had a reputation for being the nicest people around (instead of the most hypocritical people around) we wouldn't have trouble getting people to come to church. We wouldn't be chasing people away from God, we'd be drawing people TO God. Simply by expressing Him--or, more accurately, by letting Him express Himself in us and through us and as us. Because watch this: James spoke about clothing the naked. That's one of the first miracles God ever performed! That's His nature. When Adam and Eve knew of their nakedness, and were ashamed by it, and tried their best to cover it up with fig leaves... God met the need and covered them with Lamb skin. And that was when God was SUPPOSEDLY mad at them and punishing them. I'm convinced that God WASN'T mad, and wasn't punishing anybody. He never told Adam that the consequences of eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would be punishment. He warned Adam that eating from the tree of death would result in death. God didn't kill Adam. Adam died because only death can come from the tree of death. And God didn't cast Adam out of the garden in order to punish him. He cast Adam out of the garden in order to protect him. Not to mention that God went with Adam everywhere he went. Adam and Eve HID from the presence of God, but God never left them nor forsook them. When the people of Israel were hungry... He fed them with bread from heaven. When they were thirsty... He gave them living water from the rock. He showed His love through simple acts of charity. Meeting basic human needs. That's why faith without works is dead. Because we WALK by faith, not by sight. If you're not walking, then it's not faith. If you're not DOING, then it's not charity. We don't do in order to be... but since we already be... we do!