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; 1 Corinthians 13:3-5
The King James translated the word love as charity in 1 Corinthians 13
Those who study Greek would understand it more clearly
To me, when I look up the word in the Greek language,
it all looks pretty much the same, but it still makes me think:
Why did they choose the word Charity?
Jesus was speaking of the same thing when He told us to love our enemies
He said, For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?
do not even the publicans the same? Matthew 5:46
So, love can be an effort and a sometimes difficult thing to do, like charity
But I say unto you,
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:
for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:44-45
We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourself by Jesus,
so we can be children of our Father who is in Heaven
And the second is like, namely this,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:31
Jesus wants us to love the brethren, which can feel like charity at times:
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar:
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 1 John 4:20
Some people can be difficult to love
If we ask for strength, Jesus makes His strength perfect in us
Think of Paul and Silas when they were in prison
and caring about the guards who had beaten them
or our most glorious Savior saying,
“Father forgive them for they know not what they do”
The extension of love we give to those who we don’t believe deserve it
will be honored by our Lord if our hearts are right
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down,
and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.
For with the same measure that ye mete withal
it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38