Thank God—Sunday is almost here. We *get* to go back to church. In order to help us get ready for Worship, here is Jonathan Edwards, from his, “Char-ity and Its Fruits” book. Pastor Edwards is explicating 1 Cor. 13:3. . . .
“He who has no sincerity in his heart has no real respect for God in what he seems to give, or in all his performances or sufferings; and therefore God is not his great end in what he does or gives. What is given is given to that which the individual makes his great end in giving. If his end is only himself, then it is given only to himself and not to God. If his aim is his own honor, ease, or worldly profit, then the gift is but an offering to these things. The gift is an offering to him to whom the giver’s heart devotes, and for whom he de-signs it."It is the aim of the heart that makes the reality of the gift. And if the sincere aim of the heart is not to God, then there is in reality nothing given to Him, no matter what is performed or suffered. So it would be a great absurdity to sup-pose that anything that can be offered or given to God can make up for the absence of love in the heart for Him. For without this, nothing is truly given, and the seeming gift is but a mockery of the Most High."
