There are many ways of helping people, of being nice and kind to them, and benefiting them. We can donate to “charities,” whereby the money that we donate is used to benefit people in various ways. We can also help people directly, giving them things or even money when they are in need. Perhaps somebody is sick and you offer to do their grocery shopping for them. Sometimes it might be as simple as phoning or visiting someone who is lonely. All of these things can be called acts of charity.
There is one thing, though, that is called by Swedenborg, “charity itself.”
Charity itself is acting justly and faithfully in the office, business, and employment in which a person is engaged.
True Christian Religion 422.
The most important way in which most people can be charitable is by doing their job, and by doing it honestly and well. It might seem very ordinary, and at times perhaps a little boring. It might seem more interesting, more loving, to give money or help to someone in genuine need. There is nothing wrong with doing so if you feel so moved, provided you are careful not to enable a person’s bad habits. Nevertheless, work, as undramatic and as ordinary as it might seem, is a way of serving others in a far more extraordinary way.
When people do their jobs, what they do serves the greater economy of the community and even their country or the world. It can be very wide reaching. They may not get to see the people that they are benefiting, but they still do their work well, out of a sense of duty. Because their work is something they do every day, is something that they are very good at. They are using their very special skills to benefit a huge number of people. It is a wonderful way of serving and being charitable to one’s fellow human beings.