Big Daddy and I were assigned the talks in church yesterday. Here is mine... (while his will probably show up published in some book sometime)
In the book of Matthew, we learn the story of a man who once asked Jesus, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus replied: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”.
We know from the book of Moroni that Charity is “the pure love of Christ”. It includes God’s eternal love for all His children. We are to seek to develop that kind of love. When you are filled with charity, you obey God’s commandments and do all you can to serve others and help them receive the restored gospel. Charity is a gift from God. The prophet Mormon said that we should “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love”.
We learn that as we follow this counsel and strive to do righteous works, our love for all people will increase. We come to feel a sincere concern for the eternal welfare and happiness of other people. We see them as children of God with the potential of becoming like our Heavenly Father. We avoid negative feelings such as anger, envy, lust, or covetousness. We avoid judging others, criticizing them, or saying negative things about them. We try to understand them and their points of view. We are be patient with them and try to help them when they are struggling or discouraged. Charity, like faith, leads to action. We develop charity as we look for opportunities to serve others and give of ourselves.
I have my work cut out for me with regard to being more charitable, but I take heart in the charity shown to me throughout my life– I can find strength in the charitable examples others. My first vivid memory of charity was a fridge that wouldn’t shut because it was so full of food. I was 11 and my father had just passed away leaving my mother to attend junior high and high school graduations for my sisters just two days later. Charity is the Stake President who was the first to arrive at our home that day and offer comfort and words of wisdom to my mom. Charity is the multitude of arms around me as I attended my dad’s funeral. But charity is more than funeral potatoes and dinner rolls. Charity is long-suffering Primary and Sunday school teachers who came prepared each week and loved me no matter how rowdy or impertinent I was. Charity is Young Women leaders who opened their hearts and homes to me and who exemplified the words they spoke each Sunday. Charity is an anonymous ward member who donated money so my sister and I could attend a very expensive Youth Conference rafting down the Colorado River one summer. Charity is a home teacher who arrived with his snow blower every time it snowed so my mom’s driveway would be clear. Charity is that same home teacher who never missed a month even when his wife was gravely ill for six months. Charity is an uncle who shows up like clockwork to prune my mother’s trees each year. Charity is a former neighbor who shows up each spring to till my mother’s garden. Charity is a big sister who lays her very burdened life aside each week and makes two trips to the church rounding up all her scouts like a hen would gather her chicks. Charity is my mother’s long time visiting teaching companion who took the time to send me a letter from Utah when she was worried about my mother’s health. Charity is my mother’s visiting teachers who keep track of her and support her, listen to her and love her.
But the greatest example of charity that I know, that we know, is that of our Savior. We learn in Nephi of his boundless charity: “And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge Him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge Him and He suffereth it; and they smite Him, and He suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon Him, and He suffereth it, because of His loving kindness and His long-suffering towards the children of men.”
And again, I remember that though hast said that thou hast loved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world, that thou mightest take it again to prepare a place for the children of men. And now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity; wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.
It is my hope that we may all inherit that place which has been prepared for us and let us not forget that charity insures that greatest of all inheritances.
