The Cost of Charity
Last blog post I talked about the picture of charity (click here to read post) and today I want to talk about the cost of charity.
Charity seems so easy on paper, but it costs a great deal. 1 Corinthians 13 makes this clear.
Whether one gives feigned or true charity there is a cost involved. The first costs a person their character and conscience and exposes just how superficial they really are. The second costs someone their pride, possessions and selfish pursuits.
It is easy to give “charity” when you feel like you will be rewarded for “good behavior” whether that comes in the form of praise or being put on a spiritual pedestal. For the person doing that, it is simply an investment transaction where they give some to gain more. It warps their character and hardens their conscience. Charity given because a person deserves it or because someone thinks they will be praised or even feel better is NOT charity. True charity can never come from such motives any more than a cup of fresh water can come from a stagnant pond.
Charity can only come from a desire to live and love like Jesus. Nothing more or less. Quite simply charity is the most basic form of humanity that God Himself demonstrated toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ (His Son) died for us. (Romans 5:8) If that wasn’t an act of charity on both their parts I don’t know what is.
So what happens when charity is given out of a pure heart, a good conscience and of faith unfeigned (1st Timothy 1:5)? I can speak from personal experience that it strips a soul raw but there is beauty and freedom in that because it is like watching old flooring be stripped away to expose the hidden gem of real wood underneath – The “hidden man of the heart” to use a phrase from 1st Peter 3:4. When I have chosen to heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men (Colossians 3:23) surrender the outcome of my charity to God I always walk away a better person – more like Jesus. Charity has grown the fruits of generosity, humility, compassion, kindness, forgiveness and more in me. The seed of charity produces those fruits.
Charity indeed costs but there is a blessing in the cost.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three but the greatest of these is charity (1 Corinthians 13:13). Why is charity the greatest? Because it is intrinsically tied with God’s character. Is was there in Genesis when God created the earth, it is here now indwelling the believer through the Holy Spirit, and it will remain forever because God is forever. For the believer charity is only going to get better the closer we get to coming into the presence of God. In that moment we will experience charity – love from the purest place - in all its fullness.
So in the here and now of practicing charity, let’s remember what it is costing us now is worth the refining process. Let the cost of charity be the dross that we might come forth as gold! (Job 23:10). Charity doesn’t always feel good but it creates good.
When you struggle to give charity (we all do at times!!) try to remember the five things below.
1. Do unto others what I would want done unto me (Matthew 7:12)
2. God is my Provider that I can’t outgive (Philippians 4:19)
3. Pride and charity can’t cohabitate (James 4:6)
4. Charity celebrates selflessness and suffocates selfishness (John 13:34)
5. I am giving no less than what God has given me (1 John 4:11)
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