GIVING THE GIFT OF CHARITY
My son, David, was serving a church mission in the country of Venezuela. One morning, upon leaving his apartment, he noticed a homeless man sitting on the ground by an empty building.
The man’s clothing was tattered and torn and he had no shoes upon his feet. When David passed by, his heart was overcome with pain in knowing the struggles of this stranger''s difficult life. He went back into his apartment and gathered together some belongings and then he approached the man. He knelt down on one knee and laid the pile of clothing next to where the stranger was sitting.
“I want you to have these.” David offered in kind.
The man lifted his face with an empty glance and then he replied, “I don't want them.” He quickly turned away in an attempt to hide his face.
David did not retreat. “Yes, you do. You're my brother and I want you to have them.”
Then he laid the clothing next to the stranger's feet and nodded his head to confirm the gift that was given. The image on the man's face had softened and his countenance became that of a friend. “Thank you.” He graciously replied.
“...if a man hath not charity, he hath nothing.”
Everyone we meet in this life is fighting some kind of battle. Many trials cannot be seen nor heard, yet the challenges cause deep scars to those who bear the heavy and relentless burdens.
The Apostle Paul clearly understood the meaning of charity in his Epistle to the Corinthians:
"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.
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."
This Christmas season may we truly understand the gift of charity.
This was written by Linda Sumer Urza for: onefineday11.blogspot.com
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