Charity 8 - 1 Corinthians 13

Looking at chapter 13 with a Christ centered view takes charity from "what we do to others" to "what Christ does for us." Starting out, Paul points out that no other spiritual gifts of actions matter if they aren't motivated by God's love. If we think about the Savior, he isn't called the Savior because he restored mortal life to a handful of people, started a church based on love and kindness, or healed some sick people. While these are all well and good, his actions here benefited a small group of people for a very short period of time (their mortal lifetimes.) No, Christ is called the Savior because he literally saved us from eternal pain and torment.

One perspective shift in my understanding of the atonement was then I thought about all the pain and suffering that I've endured in my life, and all that is coming. All the depressed spiritual feelings, all the desperation and despair, and I thought about the teaching that Jesus has felt every single aspect of my whole existence, from beginning to end so he knew exactly what I was feeling and how to help. That let me see that his connection to me was personal and he was highly invested in my success. That's when I realized that he not only did that for me, but he did that for every being that ever existed in the universe. After that realization came to me, I understood more just how in depth his suffering was for the atonement. I mean, I can barely function to make it through my own misery sometimes, I can't imagine what it was like to live my whole life, and then go on to experience the next person's as well and not give up. It was a very powerful realization for me.

I live this life trying to keep the commandments because I want to rest when I get to the next life. But what was Jesus' motivation for performing the atonement for us? He was perfect, he had already been granted his salvation. He didn't get extra "heaven" points for performing the atonement, he didn't get a gold star or a high five or anything like that. He literally did not benefit from the atonement at all, in any way, and only received suffering, torment, and mockery for it. If we truly comprehend the enormity the pain and suffering that he endured, the only conclusion that we can possibly come to is that he performed the atonement for the sole purpose of helping us, giving us a chance that we didn't deserve and that we couldn't provide for ourselves.

There is a saying that I saw once that I really like and it says something like, "He knew the price of sin was death, and he knew the source of those sins was you. But because he couldn't imagine a life without you, he chose the nails." That made it so personal for me, and really, there is no benefit to Him, except to have our company in the eternities. There is absolutely no other motivation for him to do it. As we know, in "The Infinite Atonement" Tad R. Callister teaches that there was the suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, but then it seems that while suspended on the cross, Christ experienced the whole amount of suffering again. I came across an idea a while ago that was said that the repeated suffering Jesus endured on the cross was for the sons of perdition, and specifically for Satan himself. I don't know how true this is, but it makes sense and when I heard this, I realized that his love for Lucifer was so great that he experienced every negative thing that ever happened, ever in the whole universe, just for him, on the off chance that he decided to repent. That was a powerful moment for me, he loved his brother SO much that he would endure everything ever, and most of it caused by Satan himself, just for him to have the opportunity to repent. It was a mind blowing concept.

Charity:

- Suffereth long - Jesus is the king of second chances, he hands them out like candy and I have taken so many of them myself. He would absolutely have the right to say, "you're toxic, I'm cutting you out of my life," but he doesn't. He says that he is always there for us and leave his level of involvement in our lives up to us. He is never the one who leaves, he's never the one who says we went too far, he's always the one who says, "welcome back, I've been expecting you."

- Is kind - I like to think of kindness as how we treat people when they can do nothing for us. Like we discussed earlier, the Savior is not benefitted at all when we are obedient. He doesn't get to wave a scepter around and get a crown, he literally gets nothing. But he still forgives easily, sets us up to live more abundantly, comforts us when it's hard, teaches us when we are ready to learn and talks with us on command. He is the only person who is just as invested in our lives as we are. I love this saying that I saw at a family members house that said, "Grace is when God gives us what we don't deserve. Mercy is when God doesn't give us what we do deserve." That's the ultimate kindness right there, and should be a roadmap for how the rest of us can be kind to others. Treat them better than we think they deserve, be patient and slow to anger.

Envieth not - if the Savior had already secured his own salvation, he was already entitled to "all that the Father hath." By allowing us the opportunity to repent, he was essentially allowing us to become "joint heirs" with him. I know that the universe's resources are unlimited, so he might not be losing out on anything, but think about it. He could have had Heavenly Father's attention all focused on himself all the time. He could have been the most important being in existence, but he didn't lust after his own possessions, he didn't want more than anyone else got. He took what the Father deemed sufficient for Him, and said thank you. Maybe something we could do too.

Vaunteth not itself - As the Savior of the world, Jesus absolutely deserves to be the worshipped God, but during his mortal ministry and even in the later scriptures, he doesn't do that, he always defers to His Father. He doesn't for one second talk about how much we all owe him for providing us with salvation. And probably even more telling, he doesn't force us to comply with any of his commandments. If we look at the commandments and their purpose, he doesn't gain anything by giving us the commandments and he doesn't gain anything by our obedience to them. Again, His salvation is already assured. But he gives them anyway, and he prepares a way for us to accomplish all of this commandments. He doesn't demand our respect and loyalty. In fact, he is openly and regularly denigrated and mocked and hated by the very beings he suffered to save. But he doesn't bring that fact up all the time, he doesn't guilt trip or manipulate us into compliance. He only encourages through "persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge."

Is not puffed up - Like when we discussed this from the human perspective, I imagine this phrase like a bird with his chest puffed up, walking around bumping into people, making himself the center of attention. If we think about Christ's influence through the Holy Ghost, this is completely the opposite of how He interacts with us. He is not interested in us viewing him as a "big man in charge" or being disruptive to our lives in obnoxious and irritating ways. The Savior wants us to accept him and obey the commandments so that we can be happy and return home, he doesn't do it so that we will worship him so he can feel good about himself. He commands us to worship him, not because he needs the praise but because we need the discipleship.

Doth not behave itself unseemly - I often hear someone say "God has a sense of humor" whenever something goes wrong, and I really don't like this because it implies that God is out to make us suffer, and that's completely untrue. God isn't trying to get us to laugh, he isn't trying to make jokes, and while this might be an admonition for us to not behave inappropriately, I think in terms of Christ like attributes, this might mean God's love means that he takes his responsibilities toward us very seriously. If we look at Christ's example in mortality and in the scriptures, he is gentle, soft spoken, contemplative, and in tune with the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father. They all work toward the same goal and none of Christ's behaviors do anything to give doubt to his loyalties and goals.  

Seeketh not her own - This is an interesting concept because previously I had thought, "well performing the atonement means that he gets to have power over the government during the millennium." But what kind of power will he have? Will he have the power to compel our obedience? Nope. He might be able to command armies and politicians, but in my experience with Christ so far, I have no reason to believe that he will wield these powers in any other way than for our benefit and for the progression of the salvation of mankind. Again, he gets literally nothing for being in charge, his salvation is already taken care of. He doesn't get a "King of Kings" merit badge for running a godly society. His only reward is the good feelings he personally gets when someone accepts his atonement and repents. 

Is not easily provoked - This is a classic characteristic of Jesus Christ, and I can attest personally to the truth of this. If we are trying to do what's right, even if we fail early and often, he is still excited for us to try again. And even when we blatantly disobey, he does not immediately judge us as unworthy and leave us to our own devices. Regardless of what we do, he is always looking out for us, looking for ways to whisper peace into our hearts and a longing to return. When I was doing my thing back in the day, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't care. I was so hurt and distrustful that I didn't care what the damage was. Was Jesus disappointed in my actions? Yes. Was he hurt that I was hurting? Yes. Was he angry? I don't think so. Because he has such an intimate first hand knowledge of me and my life, including the pre-existence and throughout the eternities, he was able to maintain a proper perspective on how to best help me turn back around.

Thinketh no evil - One of the reasons why the Savior is able to maintain this attitude of love and patience with us is because he doesn't take our misdeeds personally, he doesn't have any ego in this game. Because he has the past, present, and future knowledge of us and who we are and who we have the potential to be, he can always understand our true motivations. And when we commit sin, so much of the reason is because we are confused about ourselves or our circumstances or our purpose in this life. He doesn't automatically assume the worst about us, he doesn't wish for anything negative to happen to us. I think one of my most profound lessons about the Savior's characteristics was when I realized that even though he didn't stop someone from hurting me, he cried when I did, he hurt when I hurt. I hated God for a long time because I thought that he was indifferent to my suffering, but that wasn't the case at all. He cried with me, and that was perspective changing for me.

Beareth all things - He has already born the consequences of our sins for us, he did it so that we can repent. There is nothing that we can do that he can't forgive. I have struggled with this concept because of the sons of perdition, but I've learned that the sons of perdition can't be forgiven because they refuse to repent, not because Jesus is incapable to redeeming them. There is nothing we can do that will make him stop loving us, and there's nothing we can do that he can't redeem us from, if we choose it. 

Believeth all things - When I think of "believeth all things" in context of Christ's love for us, I think that he will always believe in the best possible version of us, will always believe that we can be better and that we will choose to be better. 

Hopeth all things - In this context, it might seem like "hope of a better future" might mean that the Savior is genuinely excited for us to reach exaltation so that we can rest and rejoice together.

Endureth all things - Ultimately, Jesus is in this with us for the long haul. He knows that life is hard, he's experienced all of our hardships in life, and he stuck around, finished the hardest part and still wants to be friends with us, still wants us in his life, even though we are so much trouble. He is the ultimate ride or die, he's amazing and I'm so grateful.