Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
I am acquainted with a wealthy woman who gives much money away and complains constantly about people and about mailings that come to her in vast forms as a result of the money she gives away.
This woman is one of the most uncharitable people I have ever known.
What is charity?
Charity is defined as follows ...
I Cor. 13 ... 1 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.
2 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.
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.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth:
but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child:but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
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Charity is a by-product of loving God and loving the Word of God.
Charity comes from within without much, if any, thought on our part. It happens as a result of our being emersed in the word of God.
It is not even something we plan. It just happens because the Word of God is working in us.
Recently I had an example of charity rising within me and it surprised me. I was at the eye-doctor's office. (I have eye disease, glaucoma.) A young woman was giving me a number of eye tests. It was very clear to me that she didn't know what she was trying to do, nor was she well suited for this kind of work.
She kept trying to take a picture of my eyes. She wasn't satisfied with the results she was getting. Finally she left room to get another woman to help her.
Then she tried to put drops in my eyes to check the eye pressure. The liquid ran down my face. She greatly apologized. I told her that was alright, that sometimes I end up doing that when I try to put drops in my eyes.
Then she tried to check pressure and was unsatisfied with the results and she said she would call it to doctor's attention and he could recheck pressure. (It was about 5 points lower than usual.) When doctor appeared and read the chart, he was thrilled with the lower pressure. I don't think this young woman told him there might be a need to recheck the pressure.
During all this, I said nothing at all unkind.
Later I was thinking about charity and how it is "long suffering" and "kind" ... (very unlike me) ... and I knew this charity was from God ...
And I know it is a by-product of love of God and the Word of God.
It is a totally different experience from that which we might design from our minds as humans. Even if we, as humans, try to act in charity, it wouldn't be like I experienced that day at eye-doctor's office.