Thursday, October 11, 2007

charity is key

As I was in the shower this morning, I thought about people that I don't like. I realized that the reason I don't like a lot of them is because they don't have charity. Paul said it well, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 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." This was an interesting moment as I made this realization for two reasons: 1) It made me realize that I need to work on charity myself. 2) It made me realize how my preferences for people are changing. I used to like people on the basis of their physical attributes, their interesting personalities, and their sense of humor. I still evaluate my friendships with people based on these qualities, but increasingly I base it off of charity. This assumes that I can judge if someone has charity, which I know I can't always do perfectly, but at least I'm looking for it; and when I find it, I like it.
I just used a semi-colon. I'm so proud of myself!

1 comment:

yours truly said...

you're better than me. I like people based on how awkward or comfortable I feel around them.