Charity Is Action
Charitable actions can be simple acts of kindness without feeling very emotionally involved with who I hope to help:
— Giving a donation to someone less fortunate.
— Doing a favor for a stranger or acquaintance.
— Taking the time to give positive feedback about a helpful customer service representative.
Another aspect of charity is showing love or care when my emotions are involved:
— Spending time to listen when another person needs someone to hear them.
— Treating others with respect, regardless of how they act.
— Forgiving others when they don’t treat me with respect.
— Praying for everyone, whether I agree or disagree with them.
Charity Is A Choice — And More
Each act of charity (love, care, or kindness) is a conscious choice.
Sometimes the decision to act charitably requires little effort. Other situations require an extreme amount of effort.
And each choice impacts others.
But there’s much more to it:
If I choose to act charitably, the condition of my spirit is on full display.
And if I choose NOT to act charitably…
The condition of my spirit is on full display.
What helps you choose to be charitable?
What Is Charity? – What helps you choose to be charitable? Share on XJoni Vance is an award-winning author of fiction, essay, and poetry. She loves mystery, history, and how God reveals Himself every day.
May God reveal the mystery of His love in your life story.
It can sometimes be a battle with the flesh to act with love and kindness toward others, especially if they are not doing what is right. Recently, I have started praying for the Holy Spirit to take over and fill me up and help me act the way I should whether I want to or not. I had to do some Bible study on that. We receive the Holy Spirit at salvation and we can never lose the Holy Spirit once saved. A Bible study I’m doing says, “To be filled with the Spirit is simply to be empowered and directed by Him and doesn’t happen automatically. In order to be filled with the Spirit, we must be willing to live fully surrendered to Jesus, desire to honor Him with our lives, and confess our sins directly to Him, trusting He is faithful to forgive us. When we humble ourselves before the Lord, we can simply ask to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)….”
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Jane. I appreciate it!