“If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less. There is, indeed, one exception. If you do him a good turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving chap you are, and to put him in your debt, and then sit down to wait for his “gratitude,” you will probably be disappointed. (People are not fools: they have a very quick eye for anything like showing off, or patronage.) But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.”
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Mere Christianity, excerpt from chapter nine on “Charity”. I chose to read from this classic today because of the simple brilliance of it. Also, it reminds me of my brothers. up here in Mott, North Dakota, who do good to others: John Roswech and Shawn MacFarland.
Yesterday was a great day! We shot pheasant and enjoyed sweet fellowship! One of my favorite parts was watching the dogs work. God made them to find birds, which got me thinking. What did He make, or perhaps now that we are in Christ, what did God “remake” us to do? One word: love.
Lewis calls it the “law of charity” and it is precisely what God remade us to do! A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35