Caring
Wednesday 25th June
It has been said that ”people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
What good is knowledge if we are uncaring? ”Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.” There are a lot of smart people around that no one cares to be around. They flout their knowledge and enjoy showing it off. Jeremiah tells us that the wise man should not glory in his wisdom. But some would retort, ”what good is it if I can’t glory in it?” A better question would be, what good is knowledge unless it is used to help improve the quality of some life? Knowledge just for knowledge’s sake is of little value.
Knowledge dies with the individual and he can no more take it with him than he can his money. When one rich man died, someone asked, ”how much money did he leave?” and the answer was, ”all of it.” So it is with whatever knowledge we may have accumulated along the way... On our death bed, all our money and all our knowledge will be gone as we draw our last breath.
It behoves us to use our knowledge and our money, in caring for others. We can, if we choose, use our knowledge to teach and encourage others. We can use our money to help those less fortunate and then when it comes time to die, our caring attitude will be remembered by God when our money and knowledge are gone.
Peter tells us to ”cast all our cares upon God; for He careth for us.” God who knows all, cares. ”Not a sparrow shall fall on the ground without your Father” says Jesus, and he continues, ”Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” The point is, He knows and He cares. Do we know and care? Remember ”people do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Jesus told us about the man who went down from ”Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” Three men passed by; a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. All three looked at him, all had knowledge of the poor man’s needs but two ”passed by on the other side.” The Samaritan ”when he saw him, he had compassion on him.” He cared. Do we care? We are all blessed in knowing the exceeding great and precious promises which are able to make one wise unto salvation. Do we care enough to share this knowledge with others? Everyone we meet, in our everyday work-a-day life is perishing for lack of this knowledge. Do we care enough ta share the good news of the coming kingdom with them? It’s not how much we know, it’s how much we care that matters. Some with a limited knowledge of the Word but with great enthusiasm and love will tell everyone they meet that Jesus is coming and encourage them to look into the Bible for the words of life. Others may have a great understanding of the deep things of the Truth but with all their knowledge they seem not to care for the plight of others, for they never share their hope with those they meet.
It’s not how much we know that is important, it’s how much we care. If we care, God will give us the wisdom to share what we know with others. If we don’t care, all the knowledge in the world will do us little good.
”For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s and of the holy angels.”