Sometimes my dad and I get to talking about charity and how helping others should be done by individuals. Not that charity organizations are bad, but when helping people becomes something that others do without your help, we tend to stop helping altogether.
The word “charity” has come to mean helping those in need, but that definition has become a little emptier than it should be. We’ve forgotten why we help those in need, and sometimes even how. Before charity meant just helping others, it was connected to words like love, compassion, mercy, costliness, esteem, and affection, especially connected to Christians and our expression of these things to others. Charity isn’t something you do because you feel sorry for all the “poor wretches,” charity means to hold someone in value and to love them. When you value and love someone, you help and give to them because of that love.
God has called us to love the people around us, to come alongside them and walk with them. Charity is not something only for big organizations, and originally we didn’t have them. Originally, charity is for you and me to help the people around us on an individual, personal level. Not only are things more tailored at the personal level, it also means much more to both the receiver and the giver.
A little more on loving and helping others: Remote Christianity