1 John 3:17 “But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
I am a believer in sharing. Most of us have been without in this world and have been in the need of help. The worse people in this world is greedy people, but even worse are the greedy Christians. God has spoken so many times in His word about helping others in need. But, when it come to the household of God and other Christians, greed should never exist. No one will ever out give God, He has given so much us that it would be impossible to ever out give him. Let us look at a few gifts of God. (1.) He gave his love, before the creation of anything God had already given a remnant of people His love, (2.) He gave of His Son, God elected that only His Blessed Son could ever deliver the sinner from their sins, therefore He sent Him to this world born of a woman to sacrifice His life and blood for our sins. (3.) God gave the blessedness of adoption into His family, God could have chosen to give heirship to any of His creation but He chose to give it to the worst of His creation, sinful man. And (4.) He gave of the rest of the list of fruits listed throughout the scriptures. God did not have to give of these things, but he did and because He did we as believers in Jesus Christ are eternally blessed by God’s compassion. The Psalmist wrote in Psalms 86:15 “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” The word compassion means - to have pity – This word compassion comes from the word mercy because it also means to have pity. Paul wrote of mercy "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us...Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)" Ephesians 2:4 – 5 God loved us because He was merciful unto us. God was not or is not forced to love us, He does not love everyone, but if you are saved then He loves you.” As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” Romans 9:13 The purpose in going through all this is to show that God is the prime example of what love and kindness is. Giving without being asked too. The hardest thing for people to give up is their money. I know it is hard, but if we are going to follow the commandments of God, then we cannot sit around and watch other Christian do without. God asked if a Christian “…shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” What would you do if you where the believer in need? Would you want someone to help you? Folk’s, we must be careful here and obey the will of God. It is easy for us to shut up the bowels of compassion, but it is not godly too. Let us all be thinking on this subject the next time we see another Christian do without because we refused to help them. God said “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2 We must be careful, because we never know whom it is that is in need. Angels have visited this world as men several times and they could again. We need to think and pray before we shut-up the bowels of compassion to those believers in need. "Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful." Psalms 116:5
