THE MATTER OF CHARITY

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.

Proverbs 22:16            

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today is the last proverb within this collection of individual snippets of wisdom served up by Solomon. Of interest here is that the subject is the matter of charity and giving gifts in the season where we celebrate giving the most.

The unfortunate nature of giving today is that it is so world-centric and materialistic. We place our focus on giving in the wrong places and often it is in the spirit of either helping us get ahead or others who really don’t need the help to get ahead or both. Giving today is more and more increasingly self centered and self beneficial. We tend to look more at what can aid us more than we do others.

Unfortunately, that is as far away from the way the Lord intends us to give as possible. For we need only to look to our Savior Jesus, the One we are to model our lives after to see just how we are to live and that is always selflessly with the welfare of others always at the forefront. It’s little wonder why the Apostle Paul wrote these incredibly powerful words of instruction when it comes to our Christian walk and the attitude we are to have toward life:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

We all are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God for this is the only true and proper worship. It is a call to submissiveness, to bowing down before the Lord God Almighty and be willing to surrender our will so His will might reign supreme in our lives, that we might be guided by no other forces other than the Holy Spirit.

Friends, when we live this way, when we live as Jesus lived for He was the perfect fulfillment of Paul’s exhortation, then and only then will we be able to be transformed from the ways of the world we had fallen prey to in the past and start anew with the very spirit of God at the forefront.

When we arrive at this place in obedience to the word of the Lord, then we will not find Solomon’s proverb as applicable to the way we live for when it comes to the matter of charity, we will freely give to the benefit of those who are truly in need. We will never oppress the poor with the purpose of benefitting ourselves instead and we will never be poor stewards of what God has given us, contributing His gifts to the wrong places.

The end result?

We will be living in the richness that comes through obedient conformity to righteousness as we live as Christ lived to the pleasure and favor of His heavenly Father and ours.

The matter of charity begins and ends with the will of God for the blessings He has bestowed upon us. Use yours wisely as Solomon, a man known for his wisdom would encourage, and make a difference in the lives of those who are poor and less fortunate, the least of these Jesus spoke about when He said that when we work to their benefit, it’s as if we are doing it unto Him.

A Christian should do nothing short of that, living in every way to bless the Savior whose birth we have just celebrated, the Savior who will usher us into the coming new year with a hope that can never be taken from us, the hope we are to extend to others in need through our charity.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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