I want to share a little bit of what I talked about with you. About Charity.
And also, we are 23 weeks along with our second baby. So 17 more weeks to go. The days and weeks have gone by faster that I imagined it to be. I know the last month is the one that drags on forever. But we are trying to take it one day at a time.
Well, I hope you enjoy the talk. We will share a bit of Tim's next time.
CHARITY
CHARITY is the pure love of Christ. It is the love that Christ has for the children of men and that the children of men should have for one another. It is the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love and the most joyous to the soul. The greatest of all the gifts of God, ”perfect” and “everlasting”. All men may have the gift of love, but Charity is bestowed only upon those who are true followers of Christ.
The scriptures tell us that, Charity comes from a pure heart. We have Charity when, from the heart, we show genuine concern and compassion for all our brothers and sisters.
The Savior said that “the great commandment in the law” is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”. When we love the Lord with all our mind, soul, and heart, we love others. And charity abounds.
When we give to the needy and do not do so in compassion, then we lack Charity. The apostle Paul taught that, we are filled with good feeling for all people when we have Charity.
Jesus Christ is the perfect example of Charity. In His mortal life, he went about doing good,” teaching the gospel and showing tender compassion for the poor, afflicted, and distressed”. His crowning expression of Charity was His infinite atonement.
In John 15:13 He says “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. It may not be necessary for us to give our lives as the Savior did. But we can have charity if we make Him the center of our lives and follow His example and teachings. Like the Savior, we too can bless the lives of our brothers and sisters here on earth.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum if the Twelve Apostles said in the May 1992 Ensign talk that, “We often equate charity with visiting the sick, taking in casseroles to those in need, or sharing our excess with those who are less fortunate. But really, true charity is much, much more.
Real charity is not something you give away; it is something that you acquire and make a part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in your heart, you are never the same again.
Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended. … Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other”
Just as 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 tells us” Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth”.
In our day, I think a perfect example of Charity is seeing our young men and women and our elderly couples, leave families, friends, jobs, relationships and comforts behind to serve the Lord by bringing the knowledge of the gospel to His children who do not know or have the fullness of it. Just as Doctrine and Covenants 4:5-6 tells us that, Faith, Hope, Charity and love with an eye single to the glory of God will qualify a man for missionary work.
Ether 12:34 says” 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”.
The things we hope for lead us to faith, while the things we hope in lead us to charity. The three qualities—faith, hope, and charity—working together, grounded on the truth and light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, lead us to abound in good works.
My prayer this day is that, we may all have Hope, Faith and desire for our hearts to be filled with Charity that we may be able to be an example of the believers and through our lives and examples, bring more souls unto the Lord. And in turn, inherit the place that the Lord Jesus Christ has prepared for us in His Fathers mansions.
This I leave with you humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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