On Being Charitable

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” ~Romans 2:4

In describing God’s gospel-shaped mercy toward sinners, the Bible speaks of His kindness, forbearance, and patience in Romans 2. Taken together, they show us that God deals charitably and gently with us, delaying judgment so that we might turn to Him in faith and repentance. Of course, we understand our ability to repent is owing to His saving grace (itself another sign of His mercy). In short, these are expressions of God’s charitable love toward us.

Charity used to be listed amongst the chief virtues of the Christian life, along with hope, justice, prudence, and others. Charity can be further defined as quickness to forgive, the intentional pursuit of peace, a mild and lenient disposition, compassion toward others, and benignity (or, being unthreatening). These qualities — summarized as charity — are often absent from much of what accounts for public discourse in the so-called Christian blogosphere. Rather, we are inundated with hot-takes on how wrong “they” are, how foolish are the beliefs of others, or how we ought to anathematize whoever hasn’t made it as far up the theological mountain as we (think we) have. It could easily appear to an outsider that the greater our learning and piety, the more harsh and uncharitable we become. 

Well, that’s all “out there,” right? That’s part of the blogger world — the academy, perhaps. No, I rather suspect the same lack of charity exists right within our own context — within our own hearts. Consider the last time you heard something about another believer. Was it instinctual to assume the best interpretation of the story...the best of them? Or did you immediately begin to plan how you would correct or confront them when the time was right? I wonder how you respond when your friend, a fellow worshiper, or your spouse does something that rubs you the wrong way. Christian virtue would have us respond like God: with charity toward others. With kindness, forbearance, and patience, as it is appropriate to the moment. 

Friends, the greatest hindrance to charity is assumption. Assuming you know what’s in the heart of another or what was the motivation for an action — or assuming that someone’s version of a story is completely objective — stifles charity. It makes your thoughts and conclusions the judge of others. Assuming you “know” will choke out the charity in you. Therefore, ask rather than assume. 

Conversely, the thing which will most encourage charity within you is humility. It is the right apprehension of your own sinfulness, finiteness, foolishness, and need for God’s charity toward you that will increase your willingness and ability to be charitable toward others. It’s why the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” There it is: because God forgave you out of the tenderness and kindness of His heart, so you also ought to treat one another the same way. 

Let’s cultivate charity in our lives and our congregation that we might be known, once again, for this Christian virtue.

Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Pastor