More on Charity

I haven't posted in a while for a number of reasons, the most prominent being that I've been on vacation this weekend with my family. We journeyed to Capital Reef where we had a marvelous time hiking through the red rock, sliding down waterfalls, running through dry washes, and pushing each other into the stream. I, for one, have a number of blisters, "tan lines", and bug bites to show for it. Mind you, we were hardly "roughing it." At the end of each day we leisurely made our way back to our air conditioned hotel room, soaked in the hot tub, played cards, and reclined in bed watching Seinfield re-runs. All in all, it was a great vacation.

On Sunday night, we deviated from our nightly routine to have a family Sunday lesson. Dad prompted a discussion on Charity. In April, I posted some of my thoughts on the topic. During our Sunday deliberation, my older and wiser brother articulated the meaning of Charity in a way that was enlightening to my understanding. His definition of Charity was in response to the question "Is Charity bestowed unconditionally?"
Unconditional has become a buzzword used to describe "constant or true love", and mistakenly leads us to believe we should accept and embrace the questionable behavior or ourselves and others. How then, if at all, does it apply to Charity: "the pure love of Christ?"

Although the word unconditional is not a scriptural term, the principle applies in this sense: Charity (as I mentioned in the previous post) is not action; I've been able to get this far, but Jared went further and stated that Charity is a characteristic of Christ. It isn't like the gift of approval, which is bestowed upon some and not on others. Characteristics are not selective. Christ's love is Charity and it is the same towards the dust of the earth as it is towards any of us. It is unconditional so far as no condition can alter His characteristics. This is our goal, to fill our beings and garnish our characters with Christlike love that extends to the least and greatest alike.

1 Cor. 13:3 "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."