In part one I wrote about the importance of faith and hope. In this part we shall talk about the equally important part that charity should also play in our lives.

The common, current day definitions of charity are as follows:-

1/. an organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need.

2/. the voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need.

Unfortunately, in the case of these definitions there are now many ‘charities’ which are formed for the express interest of personal gain. People will donate to these but only a very small percentage of the donations are actually given to help the people who need it. Also, there are people who sit on the streets in bedraggled clothing and wrapped in old dirty blankets, begging for money from unsuspecting passers by. Some of these ‘beggars’ get up at the end of the day, fold up their blanket and then walk around to an adjacent street where they get into their ‘flash’ car and drive home! Both of these instances are examples of people lining their own pockets in the name of charity and their disgraceful behaviour makes a mockery of charity and of the genuinely charitable people who give their hard earned money to them.

These people who use charity to line their own pockets may reap the benefits in this life but as it is said in Matthew 19:24, ‘And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’

Charity, in its archaic form, means compassion and love of humankind, typically in a Christian context (faith, hope and charity). So, being charitable could mean something as simple as helping someone carry something. As simple as it might be for us, it may be of infinite value to that person we helped. This just goes to show that to be charitable we don’t have to be financially well off, just willing to give something of ourselves in the aid of others.

Just like faith, charity is of no consequence if it is just words. Actions speak louder than words and this is reinforced in :-

1 John 3: 17 & 18

17/. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
18/. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue only; but in deed and in truth.

Being charitable does not mean that we have to put ourselves in need because as the old adage says, ‘charity begins at home’. After all, how can you look after someone else if you cannot look after yourself? This is mentioned in Luke 6:42 :-

Luke 6:42

“Again, how canst thou say to thy brother, ‘Let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye,’ when thou thyself beholdest not the beam which is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam in thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote which is in thy brother’s eye”

In summary, let me leave you with a couple of thoughts. Firstly

Mark 12:35-36

35. 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.
36. This is the first commandment. And the second is like this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

These verses bring into context the full importance of faith, hope and charity. With this in mind it is always worth remembering

Luke 6:38

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.