Moroni 7:44-48
7:44 - God is so good, I’ve spent the last 24 hours in meltdown mode, the Lord comforted me and taught me many things and he protected me and I’m so grateful. He’s faithful in all things, and I’ve had an interesting insight into the concept of doubt. I don’t doubt that the Lord can do anything, I know that he is all powerful, it’s not that I doubt his abilities, it’s that I doubt my worthiness. But that doesn’t get me anywhere, I need to learn to trust that if I’m doing my best, then that’s acceptable to God, if I really feel like I’m giving 100%. I’ve done some listening about the concept of meekness and there were a couple of incredible talks that I’ll link to, but they were very eye opening, both in counsel and in comfort. There were several times when the general authorities said that obtaining the gift of meekness is a process, that it doesn’t happen overnight, that it takes time and concentrated diligence to obtain, very humbling and comforting when I felt like such an epic failure as a human being. Recognizing that I am in fact quite terrible to many people, leads into a self-evaluation, which leads into Mormon’s next lesson, faith feeds into hope, hope feeds into humility and meekness, which feeds into verse 44, saying, “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.” It’s really interesting as I’ve done this dance over the last day, recognizing my own flawed personality, truly desiring to not be like that, and being sorry for what pain I’ve caused others, it made me look at others in a different way. Those I wronged, I feel truly sorry, even if I felt like they were in the wrong as well, I was able to see how my actions were at least equally, if not more so, terrible than theirs. I saw my complete dependence on the Savior for any kind of favorable action, for any protection, and then I saw those who I felt had wronged me, in the same position, all dependent on the Lord for any good thing, I didn’t want them to suffer, I only wanted good things for everyone. I felt this way because if I’m going to accept that I am still a treasured child of God, despite my exceptionally flawed state, I have to accept that it is true of all others as well. I consider my own suffering at the hands of my misdeeds and I have to accept that the misdeeds of others, though directed at me, were as equally devastating to themselves. If my suffering is valid because of my actions, then their suffering has to be valid because of their actions, and anyone who takes pleasure in the suffering of others is a sick individual with greater problems. I’ve really worked hard to try to see others the way the Lord sees them for the last couple of years. It started at work when I would be irritated with a patient or the work load, and I would have to look at them as say “if this was Jesus, would you treat this patient poorly?” Of course not, then why is it ok to treat them poorly just because they aren’t Jesus. I began to see others where they were, struggling, insecure, sometimes selfish and hostile, arrogant, and in those cases, I had to accept that they are acting that way because they are in terrible spiritual pain, because happy people don’t act like that. I’m sometimes able to see their struggles and really feel for them. It’s really a beautiful thing. HN says, "charity puts the stamp of authenticity on the whole thing. Without charity there's always an element of ulterior motives, calculation, self-interest, and manipulation... Charity is the love one has for children- he talks a lot about children- and you expect nothing in return. It's completely spontaneous, and it's irrepressible. Mormon broke his oath out of charity, you see. He had to. Charity finds the suffering of others unbearable, you see. Mormon just couldn't leave them alone. They were his people. He knew they were wrong. He knew they were going to be destroyed and everything else, but his charity was too great. He just couldn't do it. He realized that he might alleviate the suffering and give them a bit of cheer for a while, and that's what he did." I really like when he says "charity finds the suffering of others unbearable." That's what I had just been talking about, and I think most of us can understand that sentiment to a certain extent, but true charity doesn't just want to end to suffering of those we love and who love us, but it also finds the suffering of our enemies unbearable. I remember back when the Columbine shootings happened over a decade ago and someone had put up like 14 crosses, one for each of the kids who had died in the incident. Someone else put up two additional crosses, one for each of the shooters who also died that day, and the people were livid, it seems absolutely incomprehensible to everyone that the two boys who caused the deaths of all the others and died themselves, should be recognized as having lost their lives that day, it was not acceptable to acknowledge that those boys had suffered, not only death that day but also the years and months leading up to the event. Their lives didn't matter, their suffering didn't exist because it caused the suffering of others, their families had no right to mourn the loss of their sons because of the atrocities that they committed. But really, that's no different than what I experienced yesterday, by that logic, my suffering wasn't real because I hurt the feelings of someone else, and their suffering wasn't real because they hurt my feelings. That doesn't make any sense, the suffering was real on both sides, and in order to fully and actually see the other person you have to accept that their suffering is/was as real as your own regardless of how it effected others. I see patients that come in in tremendous pain, in fact I had an incredible insight into the atonement one night as I listened to a drug addict scream for her daughter that she thought had been taken away from her. Most people laughed, the rest rolled their eyes in annoyance, but I could only see the Savior laying in that bed holding her, because to her, the pain was real, thus to the Savior it was real, and therefore he suffered it, in exactness in detail and to the same extent that she felt it. It was a heart wrenching, honestly, really difficult to watch and be around because while perhaps there was no physical reason for her pain, but that doesn't mean that it was not real, and most importantly, that doesn't mean that the Savior didn't suffer for it. If there was one person who could have held her hand or talked to her or just treated her like a human being perhaps it would have lessened her suffering, and therefore lessened the suffering of the Savior, because to Him, she is His precious daughter. The IM quotes Elder M. Russell Ballard as teaching, "The Apostle Paul taught that three divine principles form a foundation upon which we can build the structure of our lives. They are faith, hope, and charity. Together they give us a base of support like the legs of a three-legged stool. Each principle is significant within itself, but each also plays an important supporting role. Each in incomplete without the others. Hope helps faith develop. Likewise, true faith gives birth to hope. When we begin to lose hope, we are faltering also in our measure of faith. The principles of faith and hope working together must be accompanied by charity, which is the greatest of all. According to Mormon, 'charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever.' It is the perfect manifestation of our faith and hope. Working together, these three eternal principles will help give us the broad eternal perspective we need to face life's toughest challenges, including the prophesied ordeals of the last days. Real faith fosters hope for the future; it allows us to look beyond ourselves and our present cares. Fortified by hope, we are moved to demonstrate the pure love of Christ through daily acts of obedience and Christian service." The IM continues by quoting Elder Neal A. Maxwell as teaching, "unsurprisingly the triad of faith, hope, and charity, which brings us to Christ, has strong and converging linkage: faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, hope is in His atonement, and charity is the 'pure love of Christ.' Each of these attributes qualifies us for the celestial kingdom. Each, first of all, requires us to be meek and lowly. Faith and hope are constantly interactive and may not always be precisely distinguished or sequenced. Though not perfect knowledge either, hope's enlivening expectations are 'with surety' true. In the geometry of restored theology, hope has a greater circumference than faith. If faith increases, the perimeter of hope stretches correspondingly." Oh I like that analogy of faith and hope in geometry. I'm going to have to think about that. I'm out of time, but I'm going to screenshot the rest of the IM, and I'm going to have to listen to it tomorrow. It's been an exhausting and uplifting day, and I'm grateful.
7:45- - Let's keep going with charity. I love the search function on the LDS.org website because it gave me the October 2000 general conference talk entitled "Faces of Worldly Pride in the Book of Mormon," where Douglas Basset teaches, "Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hardheartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepenant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers... the haughty attitudes of those who become puffed up because of riches. He implied that pride based on outward appearance created a rationalization which allowed the Nephites to persecute their brethren 'because ye suppose that ye are better than they.'" Throughout his talk, Brother Basset associated being "puffed up" with pride, the wearing of costly apparel, social classes and hierarchy, the love of material things. So how is charity the opposite of that? Well, Christ didn't care if someone was a saint or a sinner, he still treated them with respect, human dignity, if we feel ourselves better than someone else in any way, then that is being "puffed up." And we really have to think if the Savior believed himself better than the rest of us because he was the Savior and because he was perfect and because he was the chosen one and because he was the only begotten Son of the Father. Does he legitimately have the right to feel better than us? Sure, because he is. But the beauty of the Savior is that even though he can, he doesn't, he loves us just as much as he loves himself and just as much as he loves His Father. Charity "seeketh not her own." This goes back into envying, we love each other not for what we can get out of each other but for what we can give to each other. I had an experience with that today actually, my dad was telling me about a friend of his who was really struggling who also happened to be rich. I told my dad to invite him over, then I had to stop and ask myself, "would you still want to invite him over if he didn't have any money?" I had to stop and think about that for a minute. There's an aspect of non-psycho-ness that comes with having money, it definitely makes me feel safer as far as his company is concerned but I had to really ask myself if I was valuing him or his wealth. I’ve always struggled with the concept of offense, specifically being offended or “easily provoked.” I was shocked the first time that I heard that being offended is our own fault, that we choose it, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, that was crazy talk. But as I thought about it and saw that principle in action I realized that it was true, being offended is a choice, it’s assuming the worst about people and it wasn’t until I saw myself as an offender that I was able to put together, most people don’t mean to be offensive or hurt other people’s feelings, it’s an accident. I saw all the times that I probably hurt someone’s feelings and didn’t mean to and wanted someone’s understanding for my case. How can I expect other people’s understanding when I make mistakes if I can’t extend that same courtesy to them? It was an eye opener for me, if I wanted people to not assume the worst about me, I had to not assume the worst about them. But then that begs the question, what if they did mean to hurt my feelings? Surely I would be justified in my ill feelings towards that person. It wasn’t until I again saw myself in the offenders position that I was able to understand that people act poorly towards others only as a reflection of their own misery and self-loathing. So really, when people offended me, I had to assume that they didn’t mean it and if they realized what their words had done to my feelings, they would have felt terrible about it themselves. And if that assumption didn’t work, then I had to understand the misery that they themselves were wallowing in in order to purposely try and hurt me, and so instead of being angry, I was sad for them, because their suffering is unbearable to me, I couldn’t bring myself to compound it by adding hatred and negativity to their lives. I’m not perfect at it, I definitely have room for improvement, always, but I am getting better. Thinking evil goes hand in hand with this one, and I really need to work on it. To me, thinking evil has to do with assuming the worst about people, about stewing in the negativity, letting it breed, and I’m notorious for that, and I really need to put that beast to sleep. Charity “rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth.” It’s an interesting word association here, the way that it is phrased makes it seem like iniquity is the antithesis of truth, I don’t know if I’ve heard the two words related to each other in that way before, interestingly, in an October 2009 Ensign article entitled “Finding Strength Through Obedience” President Monson defines truth as revealed “through the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio, in May 1833, the Lord declared: ‘Truth in knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;… The Spirit of truth is of God… He(Jesus) received a fullness of truth…’ And no man received a fullness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments received truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.” It was the last part that perhaps put these two concepts together for me. We can’t have truth unless we keep the commandments, and we don’t keep the commandments by being iniquitous. Those who have the pure love of Christ, can see sin for what it really is, destruction, pain, misery. There is no fun involved in breaking the commandments, ever, under any circumstances, the pure love of Christ would not be happy at the sin of another because they know the pain that not only that individual will have to endure in order to repent, but also the pain that the Savior had to endure during that portion of the atonement. Charity “beareth all things.” This is definitely a challenge for me, I just constantly feel so overwhelmed and crush by responsibility that I usually turn into a ball of craziness, and that’s not the way that the Lord wants it for me. I heard something last week that I can’t find now, but it said something like “patience is enduring your trials without complaining.” I’m definitely a complainer, a venter, and that’s not patience. I try to have a good attitude about stuff, but I could really try harder. Charity “believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” I feel like this is part of the deep rooted belief in and hope through the gospel. It doesn’t mean to hope all things that have ever been said are true, not at all, I think that it ties back in with the truth mentioned earlier. Charity thrives in the environment of truth, I guess it’s possible for someone to have charity who is not fully immersed in and fully converted to the gospel, but I think that that would be a rare individual indeed. This sermon is quite famous and Paul teaches it in the New Testament, so how did Mormon and Paul both teach basically the same thing thousands of miles and hundreds of years apart. HN gives some interesting insight when he says, “Paul’s definition is quoted in the Book of Mormon. It’s a long one. But Paul was quoting an old hermetic work on the subject. Richard Reitzenstein and some others showed that some years ago, and it’s typical of hermetic writings. In fact, yesterday I was reading an apocalyptic work I’d never read before, and it gives exactly the same analysis of charity. This was a very common theme, not only with the philosophers. We know, especially from recent research, that Paul quoted all over the place. He quoted about every classical writer you can name. Possibly half the statements in Paul are quotations from the classics, from the orators, from the plays, etc. Paul quoted all over the place; he was a very learned man. What he’s quoting here (in 1 Corinthians 13) is from an ancient writing, and it’s quoted here in the Book of Mormon. Where we find it in the hermetic writings which were taken over from the Jews at a very early time. Remember, (Moroni) was going through the records now and picking out the best things. So he picked Paul’s definition.” Very interesting thought there, that there was a common ancient source of insight into these eternal truths and that that’s where some of the ideas might have come from, very interesting indeed.
7:48 – What I find most interesting about verse 48 is that Mormon tells us that charity is not a natural state of being for most people, in fact, obtaining true charity takes a concerted effort, therefore he advises “pray unto the Father with all the energy of hears, that ye may be filled with this love.” The IM quotes Elder Robert J. Whetten as teaching, “Like faith, Christlike love is a gift of the Spirit, is granted upon the principles of personal righteousness and in accordance to our level of obedience to the laws upon which it is predicated. And like faith, love must be exercised to grow.” The IM continues by quoting Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching, “Charity, ‘the pure love of Christ,’ is not an act but a condition of state of being. Charity of attained through a succession of acts that result in conversion. Charity is something one becomes. Thus, as Moroni declared, ‘except men shall have charity they cannot inherit’ the place prepared for them in the mansions of the Father.” Again the IM continues by quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as teaching, “The greater definition of ‘the pure love of Christ,’ however, is not what we as Christians try but largely fail to demonstrate toward others but rather was Christ totally succeeded in demonstrating toward us. True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. It is Christ’s love for us that ‘suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not.’ It is his love for us that is not ‘puffed up…, not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.’ It is Christ love for us that ‘beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.’ It is as demonstrated in Christ that ‘charity never faileth.’ It is that charity- his pure love for us- without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possess of the blessings of his love at the last day- the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise- surely it shall be well with them. This does not in any way minimize the commandment that we are to try to acquire this kind of live for one another… We should try to be more constant and unfailing, more longsuffering and kind, less envious and puffed up in our relationships with others. As Christ lived so should we live, and as Christ loved so should we love. But the ‘pure love of Christ’ Mormon spoke of is precisely that- Christ’s love. That that divine gift, that redeeming bestowal, we have everything; without it we have nothing and ultimately are nothing, except in the end devils (and) angels to a devil.’ Life has its share of fears and failures. Sometimes things fall short. Sometimes people fail us, or economies or businesses or governments fail us. But one thing in time or eternity does not fail us – the pure love of Christ… Thus, the miracle of Christ’s charity both saves and changes us. His atoning love saves us from death and hell as well as from carnal, sensual, and devilish behavior. That redeeming love also transforms the soul, lifting it above fallen standards to something far more noble, far more holy. Wherefore, we must ‘cleave unto charity’- Christ’s pure love of us and our determined effort toward pure love of him and all others- for without it we are nothing, and our plan for eternal happiness is utterly wasted. Without the redeeming love of Christ in our lives, all other qualities- even virtuous qualities and exemplary good works- fall short of salvation and joy.” I love that take on Charity never faileth, that Christ’s love for us is constant and he is always there, always faithful. It is His love for us that gives this life purpose and meaning, it is this that is eternal, that gives hope and spawns faith.
7:45- - Let's keep going with charity. I love the search function on the LDS.org website because it gave me the October 2000 general conference talk entitled "Faces of Worldly Pride in the Book of Mormon," where Douglas Basset teaches, "Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hardheartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepenant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers... the haughty attitudes of those who become puffed up because of riches. He implied that pride based on outward appearance created a rationalization which allowed the Nephites to persecute their brethren 'because ye suppose that ye are better than they.'" Throughout his talk, Brother Basset associated being "puffed up" with pride, the wearing of costly apparel, social classes and hierarchy, the love of material things. So how is charity the opposite of that? Well, Christ didn't care if someone was a saint or a sinner, he still treated them with respect, human dignity, if we feel ourselves better than someone else in any way, then that is being "puffed up." And we really have to think if the Savior believed himself better than the rest of us because he was the Savior and because he was perfect and because he was the chosen one and because he was the only begotten Son of the Father. Does he legitimately have the right to feel better than us? Sure, because he is. But the beauty of the Savior is that even though he can, he doesn't, he loves us just as much as he loves himself and just as much as he loves His Father. Charity "seeketh not her own." This goes back into envying, we love each other not for what we can get out of each other but for what we can give to each other. I had an experience with that today actually, my dad was telling me about a friend of his who was really struggling who also happened to be rich. I told my dad to invite him over, then I had to stop and ask myself, "would you still want to invite him over if he didn't have any money?" I had to stop and think about that for a minute. There's an aspect of non-psycho-ness that comes with having money, it definitely makes me feel safer as far as his company is concerned but I had to really ask myself if I was valuing him or his wealth. I’ve always struggled with the concept of offense, specifically being offended or “easily provoked.” I was shocked the first time that I heard that being offended is our own fault, that we choose it, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, that was crazy talk. But as I thought about it and saw that principle in action I realized that it was true, being offended is a choice, it’s assuming the worst about people and it wasn’t until I saw myself as an offender that I was able to put together, most people don’t mean to be offensive or hurt other people’s feelings, it’s an accident. I saw all the times that I probably hurt someone’s feelings and didn’t mean to and wanted someone’s understanding for my case. How can I expect other people’s understanding when I make mistakes if I can’t extend that same courtesy to them? It was an eye opener for me, if I wanted people to not assume the worst about me, I had to not assume the worst about them. But then that begs the question, what if they did mean to hurt my feelings? Surely I would be justified in my ill feelings towards that person. It wasn’t until I again saw myself in the offenders position that I was able to understand that people act poorly towards others only as a reflection of their own misery and self-loathing. So really, when people offended me, I had to assume that they didn’t mean it and if they realized what their words had done to my feelings, they would have felt terrible about it themselves. And if that assumption didn’t work, then I had to understand the misery that they themselves were wallowing in in order to purposely try and hurt me, and so instead of being angry, I was sad for them, because their suffering is unbearable to me, I couldn’t bring myself to compound it by adding hatred and negativity to their lives. I’m not perfect at it, I definitely have room for improvement, always, but I am getting better. Thinking evil goes hand in hand with this one, and I really need to work on it. To me, thinking evil has to do with assuming the worst about people, about stewing in the negativity, letting it breed, and I’m notorious for that, and I really need to put that beast to sleep. Charity “rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth.” It’s an interesting word association here, the way that it is phrased makes it seem like iniquity is the antithesis of truth, I don’t know if I’ve heard the two words related to each other in that way before, interestingly, in an October 2009 Ensign article entitled “Finding Strength Through Obedience” President Monson defines truth as revealed “through the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio, in May 1833, the Lord declared: ‘Truth in knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;… The Spirit of truth is of God… He(Jesus) received a fullness of truth…’ And no man received a fullness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments received truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.” It was the last part that perhaps put these two concepts together for me. We can’t have truth unless we keep the commandments, and we don’t keep the commandments by being iniquitous. Those who have the pure love of Christ, can see sin for what it really is, destruction, pain, misery. There is no fun involved in breaking the commandments, ever, under any circumstances, the pure love of Christ would not be happy at the sin of another because they know the pain that not only that individual will have to endure in order to repent, but also the pain that the Savior had to endure during that portion of the atonement. Charity “beareth all things.” This is definitely a challenge for me, I just constantly feel so overwhelmed and crush by responsibility that I usually turn into a ball of craziness, and that’s not the way that the Lord wants it for me. I heard something last week that I can’t find now, but it said something like “patience is enduring your trials without complaining.” I’m definitely a complainer, a venter, and that’s not patience. I try to have a good attitude about stuff, but I could really try harder. Charity “believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” I feel like this is part of the deep rooted belief in and hope through the gospel. It doesn’t mean to hope all things that have ever been said are true, not at all, I think that it ties back in with the truth mentioned earlier. Charity thrives in the environment of truth, I guess it’s possible for someone to have charity who is not fully immersed in and fully converted to the gospel, but I think that that would be a rare individual indeed. This sermon is quite famous and Paul teaches it in the New Testament, so how did Mormon and Paul both teach basically the same thing thousands of miles and hundreds of years apart. HN gives some interesting insight when he says, “Paul’s definition is quoted in the Book of Mormon. It’s a long one. But Paul was quoting an old hermetic work on the subject. Richard Reitzenstein and some others showed that some years ago, and it’s typical of hermetic writings. In fact, yesterday I was reading an apocalyptic work I’d never read before, and it gives exactly the same analysis of charity. This was a very common theme, not only with the philosophers. We know, especially from recent research, that Paul quoted all over the place. He quoted about every classical writer you can name. Possibly half the statements in Paul are quotations from the classics, from the orators, from the plays, etc. Paul quoted all over the place; he was a very learned man. What he’s quoting here (in 1 Corinthians 13) is from an ancient writing, and it’s quoted here in the Book of Mormon. Where we find it in the hermetic writings which were taken over from the Jews at a very early time. Remember, (Moroni) was going through the records now and picking out the best things. So he picked Paul’s definition.” Very interesting thought there, that there was a common ancient source of insight into these eternal truths and that that’s where some of the ideas might have come from, very interesting indeed.
7:48 – What I find most interesting about verse 48 is that Mormon tells us that charity is not a natural state of being for most people, in fact, obtaining true charity takes a concerted effort, therefore he advises “pray unto the Father with all the energy of hears, that ye may be filled with this love.” The IM quotes Elder Robert J. Whetten as teaching, “Like faith, Christlike love is a gift of the Spirit, is granted upon the principles of personal righteousness and in accordance to our level of obedience to the laws upon which it is predicated. And like faith, love must be exercised to grow.” The IM continues by quoting Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching, “Charity, ‘the pure love of Christ,’ is not an act but a condition of state of being. Charity of attained through a succession of acts that result in conversion. Charity is something one becomes. Thus, as Moroni declared, ‘except men shall have charity they cannot inherit’ the place prepared for them in the mansions of the Father.” Again the IM continues by quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as teaching, “The greater definition of ‘the pure love of Christ,’ however, is not what we as Christians try but largely fail to demonstrate toward others but rather was Christ totally succeeded in demonstrating toward us. True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. It is Christ’s love for us that ‘suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not.’ It is his love for us that is not ‘puffed up…, not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.’ It is Christ love for us that ‘beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.’ It is as demonstrated in Christ that ‘charity never faileth.’ It is that charity- his pure love for us- without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possess of the blessings of his love at the last day- the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise- surely it shall be well with them. This does not in any way minimize the commandment that we are to try to acquire this kind of live for one another… We should try to be more constant and unfailing, more longsuffering and kind, less envious and puffed up in our relationships with others. As Christ lived so should we live, and as Christ loved so should we love. But the ‘pure love of Christ’ Mormon spoke of is precisely that- Christ’s love. That that divine gift, that redeeming bestowal, we have everything; without it we have nothing and ultimately are nothing, except in the end devils (and) angels to a devil.’ Life has its share of fears and failures. Sometimes things fall short. Sometimes people fail us, or economies or businesses or governments fail us. But one thing in time or eternity does not fail us – the pure love of Christ… Thus, the miracle of Christ’s charity both saves and changes us. His atoning love saves us from death and hell as well as from carnal, sensual, and devilish behavior. That redeeming love also transforms the soul, lifting it above fallen standards to something far more noble, far more holy. Wherefore, we must ‘cleave unto charity’- Christ’s pure love of us and our determined effort toward pure love of him and all others- for without it we are nothing, and our plan for eternal happiness is utterly wasted. Without the redeeming love of Christ in our lives, all other qualities- even virtuous qualities and exemplary good works- fall short of salvation and joy.” I love that take on Charity never faileth, that Christ’s love for us is constant and he is always there, always faithful. It is His love for us that gives this life purpose and meaning, it is this that is eternal, that gives hope and spawns faith.
Comments
Post a Comment