"... and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing."
As I look back on a life of accomplishment I have to place it under the lens of the above verse from 1 Corinthians 13. Not that I want to... but I'm compelled to because I fear there will be the moment in eternity when I line up to stand before the Almighty God and will have to answer for my motives. So... all that stuff that I thought was so kind, so giving, so... impressive; it may be revealed that it wasn't so loving.
The way I see it we have different motivations, if you can call them that, which cause us to "do the right thing." First there is the motivation of PRIDE. If I do this or that then others will admire me and I will be looked upon with favor and perhaps I'll get a reward or asked to serve on a prestigious board or maybe... you get the idea. The next is OBLIGATION. Not that this is a real motivator. I'm not really motivated when I feel obligated but it is what often, if not most often, causes me to do something. Obligation looks like this; if I don't do... what, this, your (fill in the blank) then I'll have to (fill in the blank)! Often, obligation is the path of least resistance. Finally, there is the motivation of GUILT. Now this may be a strange one but it is a very real one. Worst yet, many organizations recognize guilt as a powerful way to get people to give or serve their cause. I don't know about you, but I don't like to feel guilty for not doing something so I may just do "it" so I don't have to think about how horrible I am for not having done it. Again, you get the point.
On those rare occasions when I actually do something completely out of love, I am amazed how little I expect in return, how I couldn't care less about who knows about it and how much peace I carry with me about the decision.
God is love. He is the source of our love. It was because of love He sent His Son to die on a cross. It's because of love that people will know His followers... it's LOVE that should be our motivation for being Christ like. Consequently, let us consider all we do as followers of Jesus to be like Jesus. He was compassionate when his followers were consumed. While the disciples were thinking of themselves, Jesus was reeling from the news his cousin John had just been murdered... Jesus looked out on the crowd and had compassion on them (Matthew 14) so he healed them and made sure they didn't go home hungry.
Compassion is a loving ACT. In other words, compassion is not compassion unless it does something and what we do, should be from the motivation of love; not pride, obligation or guilt. So, ask yourself: What have you done lately that boosted your ego, made someone else happy or caused you to walk away wishing you hadn't walked in? If you don't you may continue to do all the right things for the wrong reasons. Which brings up another question: What's wrong with doing the right things for the wrong reasons?
As you look at this blog you'll see a link to Compassion International where you can sponsor a child in an impoverished part of the world. I would never want you to do so for pride, obligation or guilt but if you do have love... and you wish to express that love, please consider sharing that love with a child.
When I first heard the 1 Corinthians 13 passage as a young boy I had a different impression of what the Apostle Paul was trying to convey because I originally heard the passage from the King James Version of the Bible and it uses a different word for love. It says, "If I... If I... If I... don't have CHARITY I am... I am... I am... nothing!"
Charity = Love
