Charity

Charity (by David Peterson)

Continuing with His extensive teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus states in Matthew 6:1-4 the following: “Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Jesus warns against hypocrisy, people who say one thing and do the opposite, and that God rewards such people with punishment. He is telling us to give charity, to give love, and to do so with a pure heart and without expectation.

The early-American revivalist preacher, Jonathan Edwards, once wrote: “All the fruits of the Spirit which we are to lay weight upon as evidential of grace, are summed up in charity, or Christian love; because this is the sum of all grace.”

Love abounds in Jesus Christ, Edwards reminds us. The fingerprints of grace all come from Jesus and the fruit of the Spirit that comes through us is Savior inspired.

“Where Charity and Love Abound” was written in 1813 by Amzi Chapin and it heralds the results of an abounding love. The first stanza reads;

Where charity and love abound

Christ gathers us as one.

Let us rejoice and praise our Lord

Until our race is run.

Abundant love is what Jesus was about and our reward when we dispense love is seen by God.

Let us pray: Holy Christ, create in us hearts that show love to others freely and abundantly. Help us to provide charity to those in need without hesitation and without recognition.

Amen.