The More Excellent Way

1 Corinthians 12:31 says, “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”

The “way” that Paul is talking about is charity. Some translations use the word “love” instead of charity. This is actually more confusing. Love has a number of different meanings; charity is more specific. It deals with how we see another person’s need and respond to it.

I was privileged to sit in Helen Wilson’s journalism class at Northwest Nazarene College. The assignment for the day was to recount all of the things that had transpired since rising in the morning until coming into the morning class, trying to recall each detail clearly. One of the details I remembered vividly was opening the refrigerator and seeing only a few apples. I had one for breakfast. That evening our doorbell rang. I opened the door to a couple of sacks of groceries and saw Miss Wilson’s car pulling away. Much thought had gone into her shopping. There were all the things needed to make a variety of breakfasts, starting from nothing. It was not a handout, but a heartfelt expression from a godly woman to one of her students. My wife and I were on the receiving end of charity and have been blessed over the years to extend charity to others.

In the next chapter, Paul has much to say about charity. All the spiritual gifts mean nothing if charity is lacking. He was greatly concerned about the church in Jerusalem that was struggling financially. The mother church had become poor. Many were not working. Paul himself worked as a tentmaker to cover his own expenses while he did missionary work. He encouraged his new little churches to have charity toward the Jerusalem church, and raise money to help them.

What is our attitude toward charity today? We could take a lesson from the woman with the alabaster box of ointment that broke it and poured it upon Jesus’ head (Mark 14:1-9). The bottom line was, “She hath done what she could…” The woman had this valuable ointment—we don’t know where she got it, or how many boxes she had. This was probably all that she had. If she had more, she could have done more. Jesus said that she did what she could. She did a good work. She had charity toward Jesus.

Jesus said that we will always have the poor with us. There will always be opportunity to give to the poor. Charity is not the act of giving to the poor. 1 Corinthians 13:3 says, “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.” 

Charity wants to give all. Charity puts yourself in the other person’s place. The other person becomes more important than ourselves.

Charity issues from a heart that doesn’t care what others think we should do with our money. It doesn’t wait for a better time to give; it is quick to pour out. In John 12:3-8, we have another account where Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive ointment and Judas calls her down on it. “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” He didn’t care about the poor, he cared about the money. Charity is not a money issue, but a heart issue.

Paul said to covet earnestly the best gifts, but then commands us to give the best gift, charity. That is the more excellent way!