The Golden Rule

CNN has this story. Tracy Orr was about to lose her house at auction due to foreclosure. Marilyn Mock couldn't bear to see this stranger, Orr, lose her home, so she bought it for the purpose of letting Orr buy it back. Why did she do it? She says,

"She was just so sad. You put yourself in their situation and you realize you just got to do something," says Mock, who says she has trouble walking by homeless people on the street and not helping them out.

"If it was you, you'd want somebody to stop and help you."

I don't know if Mock is a Christian, but this is an example of true Christian charity. One thing that cannot be legislated is charity. No matter how good the intentions, if giving is legislated, no one really receives the joy that both the giver and the receiver gain when a gift is freely given.

By this good deed, freely given, Mock has sacrificed knowing that someone is truly being helped, and has probably gained a good friend on the way. Orr has the knowledge that someone has truly cared for her in her time of need. This can never happen when the transaction is carried out by a bureaucracy.