Justin 02
I was pondering on the Come Follow Me prompt, "As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I should love all people, regardless of their circumstances".
I wish to speak a little about the need for charity in this world where the hearts of men shall wax cold.
I would like to share with you some of the words of Moroni with regards to charity:
"If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.
45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."
The above quote is from Moroni 7:44-48, and it strengthens my understanding of charity as well as the importance of having that pure love of Christ within our hearts.
Do you know that without charity, we cannot be saved? We all know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ comprised of 5 principles and ordinances, and I'm sure that we are all familiar with them, but learning about the Gospel should not be just surface learning, we need to take deep dives into the scriptures. Although the Gospel is categorized into 5 different steps, please do not take it as it is. Please do not neglect the intricacies of the Gospel. One such intricacy is that of charity. Some of our fellow saints fail to recognize that charity is essential to salvation. Charity is never a "good-to-have", it's a "must have".
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, there is so much to gospel living and discipleship. It's a life-long strive with Christ by our side. Charity is even greater than that of faith and hope, for charity never faileth and will endure forever, therefore, it is the greatest of all.
We cannot follow Christ in some aspects, and follow the world in others. Moroni makes it pretty clear that "a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water; neither can a good fountain bring forth bitter water; wherefore, a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ; and if he follow Christ he cannot be a servant of the devil" (Moroni 7:11). We must make a conscious and concerted effort to be true followers of Christ. If we want to follow Christ, we must strive to forsake all of our bad habits and favorite sins, and start taking the words of Christ more seriously. This is a reminder for all of us, especially myself. I don't want to risk being sentenced with hypocrisy before the Judgment Seat of Christ. All I want to hear is this: "Son, I am well pleased with thy works and with thy labor in my vineyard. Welcome home, I have missed thee dearly". In order for me to, one day, hear such words from my Heavenly Father, I need to have charity above all else. If I don't have charity, I'm nothing.
Charity should be the reason for the need of partaking in the labor of love. Charity should be the reason why anyone decides to serve on a mission. Charity is the source that drives and fuels us to serve, to labor, to sacrifice, to believe, to testify, to live, to consecrate our lives to Christ, to be willing to die for the sake of Christ, to be betrayed, humiliated, bruised and battered, spat on, kicked, punched, slapped, tortured, bullied, interrogated, and sentenced unfairly because of our faithful and undying allegiance to Jesus Christ, and yet remain silent.
Charity is the pure love of Christ, that enables us to love God and to love our neighbors. I would like to talk about loving our neighbors. This is the second greatest commandments Jesus ever gave. We need to love our neighbors as ourselves, regardless of all of our differences. Our neighbors are everyone, including strangers and acquaintances, friends and family members, classmates and colleagues, members and non-members, rich and poor, those who love us and those who hate us, those who comfort us and those who despitefully use us, and those who lead us and those whom we lead.
If you would recall, Jesus taught us something very critical as we live in the last days:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do" (3 Nephi 27:21).
Were it not that the things that Jesus had done in His ministry to His sheep, centered upon the pure love of Christ?
This is why Jesus gave His beloved disciples a new commandment, to be obeyed now, but more so after Jesus has ascended up to Heaven and be not physically with them anymore:
"Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:33-35).
The ministry of Christ to the ancient Israel, to the ancient Americas, and to every place where His fold may be found, are all centered around charity, so it must needs be that to be like Christ, to be His instruments and His Spirit's chosen vessels, to be examples and beacons of light unto others, we need to also be charitable.
Can you imagine a world without charity? What kind of dystopia it would be? Have we not heard that the hearts of men shall waxed cold, even at the latter days? This knowledge should empower and inspire us to lead a life of charity. We must not be led by blind guides that lead us according to the ways of the world and the philosophies of man, we must be led by leaders who are firm and steadfast in their faith, always abounding in charity. I can't stress enough the need for us to have the pure love of Christ in our hearts.
I would like to close with a question to all of you:
What do you think is stopping us from becoming a community that unites in serving and ministering, one unto another, with charity?