Charity - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Giving an overview of the spiritual gifts that he was just talking about, Paul says, “though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, and have no charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” The surprise “more excellent way” from yesterday is… charity. This can be a difficult concept because in our society, charity is considered something that we give to organizations. That is pretty far from the definition of the “pure love of Christ.” Paul continues that even possessing the gift of prophecy, knowledge, “and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” The IM quotes Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin as teaching, “Paul’s message to (the Corinthian Saints) was simple and direct: nothing you do makes much of a difference if you do not have charity… Love is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the pathway of discipleship.”

Again, “love” is a difficult concept to understand because it is so abstract, especially in my culture and the English language because the word “love” is used to mean affection between romantic partners, feelings of loyalty to family members, greedy desire for material goods, a strong admiration of a design, etc. There is one word, “love” meant to convey all those feelings, whereas in other languages there are many words used to designate what kind of love is being addressed. So when we hear “love your neighbor as yourself,” we have to stop and think, does that mean romantically, or spiritually, does it mean to be physically affectionate, or to pick out cute clothes together. Not only is the word hard to define in English, but the lack of a firm description we can let ourselves off the hook too easily, we can give ourselves credit for having the “pure love of Christ” simply by not bothering our neighbor, or however we choose to define “love” at that moment.

The IM quotes Joseph Smith as giving the explanation, “a man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.” This can mean that a part of charity is serving and desiring the happiness of every single person, regardless of their relationship to us. The desire for others to be happy is our motivation in loving others charitably. In the article for this chapter on gospeldoctrine.com there is a quote from H. Burke Peterson which says, “we have been taught in other scripture that no matter who great and significant our mortal accomplishments, no matter how much was accomplished under our hand- as a bishop, a clerk, a president, a teacher, or a parent- unless we learn to exhibit charity, we are nothing. All our good deeds will not weigh in our favor if charity is lacking.”

This quote surprised me because, why would someone be a bishop or a clerk, or a president, or a teacher, or a parent if they weren’t motivated out of love of others? To me, the only reason to do any of those things is either because you love God and/or other people because these jobs are not easy, they require a lot of hard work and sacrifice, so why do them if you aren’t internally motivated for good? If we consider that H. Burke Peterson is a general authority from a couple of generations ago, there is some context to his statements. A person who heard this statement originally was probably born and raised in Utah, with pioneer ancestors, from a small town without many options to leave. That person might have served in their youth organization because their parents expected them to, or because they got extra attention for being a “leader.”

 They might have served a mission because girls wouldn’t marry a non-return missionary. They might have gone to church every Sunday because they don’t want to be the subject of small town gossip. They might have served as bishop, clerk, president, or teacher because it gave them power over someone else. Bishop is a prestigious calling and can earn a lifetime of respect, that might be a motivating factor for someone who is not interested in charity. It is easy to see, all this considered, that those to whom brother Peterson was speaking very well could have gone a whole lifetime of church activity and service without ever really caring about the people that he affected around him. And that can happen here with us now too. Honestly, it’s harder to be a member of the Church now, or at least it’s much less popular, so those of us who stick it out, probably have motivations that go beyond what personal, immediate benefits we can achieve. But that’s not to say that we have charity for others.

I personally really struggle with caring about other people. It’s a self-defense mechanism for me, but then again, if I truly trusted God then I wouldn’t need to protect myself from others. Another aspect off my lack of charity is that the need of other people is just so immense, that I get overwhelmed and end up getting way more involved with their problems than is healthy. I definitely need to learn moderation in that aspect. I only have so much to give, financially, physically, emotionally and I will easily get sucked into someone’s problems to the point where I’m enabling them. I just have so many of my own problems that I take on other people’s problems to “help” them but also to ignore my own stuff I should take care of. I guess that’s not motivated by the pure love of Christ then is it? It appears that motivation is the defining characteristic of charity, why are you doing what you’re doing?

Paul uses a very specific example of something that people do either with or without charity, under the guise of love, saying, “and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” The article makes a really good point about this statement and our society’s misunderstand with the term “charity”, saying that Satan has made our understanding of “charity” to mean giving material substance to organizations, and would love for us to keep it as such. It says that Paul’s use of the example of “bestow all my goods to feed the poor” is ironic because these days that is exactly what people think fulfills their obligation to charity. The article says, “it is possible to donate to the poor without really caring about them. The advantages include a tax write-off, a sense of self-righteousness, and the great relief from guilt made possible by making a contribution.” It all comes down to motivation and why we do what we do. Do we do it to look good in front of other people, do we do it for attention, or do we do what we do because we care about other people and want the best for them?