A LOVE SO PURE

"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."  

(1 Corinthians 13:7)

In Paul's attempt to bring the Corinthian saints closer to Christ and His character which He hoped they would emulate, he delivered the most poetic and inspiring discourse on the attribute of charity, a quality without which according to Paul we are nothing.  Understanding the nature of charity makes sense of this statement. It is crucial that we know and understand what charity is not to fully understand what it truly is. Charity is not acts of kindness for Paul states that even giving all our possessions to the poor is possible without possessing charity. He goes on to say that it is possible to even speak with the tongue of angels and prophesy without charity and no doubt do many things which would make us appear good to others and which could be acts born from selfish and wrongful desires. Likewise, long suffering, absence of envy, lack of pride, good behaviour, righteousness, faith, hope and rejoicing in truth that Paul also speaks of are not really charity but rather products of it and evidences that a person possesses this quality.  Charity therefore is an outward expression of the inner state of our hearts. Rather than alms or deeds, charity is the motive, the pure motive which prompts or inspires the acts of good will.

Moroni teaches us that charity is the pure love of Christ (Moroni 7:47) without which we cannot become like the Saviour. Why the emphasis on 'pure'? Why not just 'the love of Christ' which inspires men to do good? Christ's love is pure because it is free of any ulterior motives or hidden agendas. Christ's only desire is to bring each one of us to His own station of perfection, glory, power and dominion (Larry Keeler, I Do Always Those Things That Please Him, p 2). When He said 'here am I, send me' (Abraham 3:27) He asked for nothing but glory for the Father, unlike Lucifer who wanted the glory for himself; and when He said 'for behold this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39), He meant that He had no wish to elevate Himself through this work, but that His love was the only motivation for offering us salvation. It is this selflessness and presence of pure love that enabled the Saviour of all mankind to submit His will to the Father in His greatest agony. It is this pure love of Christ that would likewise enable us to lift another to salvation, to extend brotherly love through selfless acts of kindness, to do good and serve others in all things and in all places.

Christ's entire mortal life exemplified the pure love He has for all of us, especially those of us who through acceptance of His eternal sacrifice would become His spiritually begotten children, to share His rightful inheritance in the Kingdom of the Eternal Father. The evidence of His love is with us today in the form of ordinances which have been instituted for the salvation of all mankind. A closer look at the three most prominent can teach us to recognise the gift of love in the rest:

• Baptism: Through accepting the ordinance of baptism, we 're-enact the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and are ensured a place in His Kingdom. Jesus Christ, the only person who ever lived who did not have to die, chose to die as an act of charity for us because in doing so He conquered death for each of us and ensured our resurrection' (Breck England, NT Lesson 34, Keep the Ordinance As I Delivered Them). Death of a loved one can teaches us that the Saviour's gift of resurrection is a profound act of love, a gift that re-unites families and restores each of us to life and immortality. 

• Sacrament:  Each Sunday we have the privilege of taking the sacrament in remembrance of the ultimate and supreme act of love the Saviour had gifted to each of us for He 'so loved the world that He gave His own life that as many as believed might become the sons of God' (D&C 34:3). We learn from Paul that one of the evidences of charity is 'long suffering'. Surely the Lord Jesus had suffered the longest of us all by experiencing exquisite pain for our sins. Paul also says that those who have charity 'bear all things' and 'endure all things'. Is it not true that Jesus bore our griefs and endured all our sorrows? The ordinance of the sacrament helps us to reflect on these fruits of charity, to marvel at the love so pure that would enable even God to bleed at every pore. 

• Sealing:  It is through the sealing power of marriage that we gain the greatest gift of all, the gift of eternal life, meaning we are exalted to live with God in family units. "The sealing ordinance represents our Saviour's ultimate act of charity, for through this ordinance we are sealed up to eternal life as co-heir with Him and a co-partaker of 'all that the Father hath' (John 16:15). It is His supreme charity because He literally gives it all; He can give each of us no more than all that He has. If you receive the sealing ordinance and remain faithful, He promises that you 'shall receive your exaltation, that where I am ye shall be also' (D&C 132:23) (Breck England, NT Lesson 34, Keep The Ordinances, As I Delivered Them)

The purpose of the ordinances of the Gospel is not only to advance us in our progression to godhood but to draw us closer to the Saviour and to become like Him. It is our duty to grasp the concept of charity, or the pure love He has for us so that we can emulate that love in our own lives towards others. If we do not grasp the Saviour's love we go unchanged and unaffected and fail to become as He is. If we do not become like Him, we cannot share the inheritance with Him in celestial worlds on high. Lest we be overcome with the magnitude of this charge, we need to know that we cannot acquire or develop the pure love of Christ of our own selves. The pure love of Christ is a gift to all who show obedience and faithfulness as His disciples. After all we can do, by the grace of God, we qualify to receive this love as a gift 'bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ' (Moroni 7:48). It is to our everlasting advantage to 'pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that we may be filled with this love.....that when he shall appear we shall be like him...' (Moroni 7:48)

We cannot become pure, powerful or perfect relying on our efforts alone. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian saints, he acknowledged that he was the least of the apostles and not worthy to be called such because he persecuted the church of God but he also acknowledged that he had become as good as the great work he performed by exclaiming 'by the grace of God I am what I am' (1 Cor 15:9,10). He alone, whom we worship and accept as our personal Saviour, can make of us what we should be. By yielding our hearts to Him and striving to obey Him in all things, we too can possess a love so pure and so divine that we will be granted the purity of character worthy of God's presence and all that is His. May we strive to be recipients of the greatest love of all and may we bless each other's lives with its' power now and forever. May we reach across boundaries, limits and fears and shrink not from love which will lead us to salvation and to that place where we will at last, once more, once again and forever, see the face of God.

A TOKEN OF LOVE

"I spoke at my granddaughter's baptism in July. My assigned topic was the Holy Ghost. I told her that I have a picture of her with her sister on my computer wallpaper. 'Every time I turn on the computer, she is there with you', I said. 'If she could be with you all the time in your life, would she help you choose the right?' This 8 year old was pretty sure she would. I asked the same questions about her mom and dad. She thought that if one or both of them could be with her all the time, she would be able to make pretty good decisions because someone would always be there who knew more than she did to help her. I even asked about President Hinckley. This little girl thought that he would help her with her decisions too. But she agreed with me that he might be too busy to follow her around 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 'But if he could, you would always know the best thing to do, wouldn't you?', I asked. She was pretty sure that was true. Then I asked her what it would be like to have a member of the Godhead with her all the time. We then read 2 Nephi 32:5: 

'For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do' (2 Nephi 32:5)

I am amazed at this - that God would give all of his covenanting children continuous access to a being who knows everything..........."         (Ted L. Gibbons, NT Lesson 32, "Live in the Spirit")


The gift of the Holy Ghost is second to the Atonement as a token of God's great love for us. It is also one of the blessings most often taken for granted. Very few of us reflect daily or even occasionally on the gift of love that this third member of the Godhead is. When the Father sent us out into the world to find ourselves, He did so making sure we didn't go without a connection to home. There are several things that make Christ's Church stand apart from other religions but none as powerful and useful to us in our daily lives as the gift of the Holy Ghost. Having this gift can be akin to walking with and talking to God face to face on daily basis. There are three major benefits of having the gift of the Holy Ghost that are worthy of mention:

1. At the time of baptism, the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost makes us clean from any sin that we had up to then committed. This sanctifying power can be renewed every time we partake of the sacrament with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. If we live worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost on a continual basis and 'walk in the spirit' as Apostle Paul taught, we will have the power to subdue 'the natural man' (Galatians 5:16). Not subduing the natural man means living after the manner of the flesh, the fruits of which are 'adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like' (Galatians 5:19-21). However, the fruits of living after the manner of the Spirit are 'love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance' (Galatians 5:22-25). We need the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost if we are to ultimately qualify for God's presence for 'no unclean thing can enter into His kingdom' (3 Nephi 27:19). This sanctification is available to all who accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour and make covenants to live His Gospel. Where His Atonement absolves us from sin, the Holy Ghost purifies us from it.

2. One of the main roles of the Holy Ghost is to endow members of the Church with spiritual gifts. Every member of the Church receives them following baptism. In the early Church they were immediately manifest mainly through speaking in tongues and prophesying (Acts 19:5,6). Spiritual gifts are often called 'fruits of the Spirit' and they are one of the greatest tools we have for developing traits we lack and need to have, not only for our benefit but most importantly for the benefit of the Church for it is for this purpose they are given. Joseph Smith said on one occasion that the Church would be dead without the gifts of the spirit. He compared it to being invited to a feast [Church] and sitting at the table not partaking of the foods laden before you. The gifts of the spirit are many and varied. It is our responsibility to seek them and develop them. They are, however, not only to be used for the building of the Kingdom but for our individual journey to perfection. It is through possession of these gifts that we can overcome weaknesses and imperfections and thus progress to a more Christlike character (on more information regarding this please refer to my blog post entitled "On Spiritual Gifts and Weaknesses", October 2013).

3. Paul taught the Galatian saints to 'stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage' (Galatians 5:1). The yoke of bondage that Paul referred to was the ritualism inherent in the law of Moses which had become a way of life for the Jews and which caused 'spirituality to wither almost to death in the hearts of the people. When a member of the Church is given to ritualism, or even living the gospel by habit or tradition, the purity of intent that is required to live the gospel at its highest is most often lost. Such ceremonialism had become a yoke of bondage for the Jews'.........When habit or tradition governs the behaviour of a member of the Church, he or she has lost the liberty of living the gospel with pure intent. The gospel becomes a burden to be carried rather than a means of liberating the soul. In such a person, the fire of the Holy Ghost has little place. Without that fire, the natural man begins to take over what it has lost when the recipient was first converted to the gospel' (Bruce Satterfield, NT Lesson 32 'Live In the Spirit', Meridian Magazine). Living by the Spirit ensures that our motives for Church activity and Gospel living are strong and pure and not habitual and bereft of real intent.

With so much unrest, fear, doubt and insecurity in our world today, we cannot afford to live without the guidance and influence of the Holy Ghost. It is the daily connection we have with the powers of heaven, a connection we sorely need. Several years after the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred, he appeared to President Brigham Young and shared this timeless counsel: "Tell the people to be humble and faithful and [be] sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small, still voice; it will teach [you what] to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them; their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the spirit of the Lord from all other spirits. It will whisper peace and joy to their souls, and it will take malice, hatred, envying, strife, and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right" (Joseph Smith, Teachings:Joseph Smith, p 98)

We not only need the Holy Ghost for guidance but also for personal edification of our body, spirit and intellect: "The Holy Ghost.....quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections, and adepts them by the gift of wisdom to their lawful use. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual mind. It strengthens, invigorates and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being" (Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, 9th ed. [1965] p. 101). Indeed we can say that the Holy Ghost is a life force we cannot live without. It therefore behooves us to live so that we would be worthy of its' companionship constantly. Keeping ourselves unspotted from the world and hungering after righteousness ensures that we form a partnership with this member of the Godhead who has been relegated to be our lifeline in mortality. 

When Jesus told His apostles that He would shortly be crucified for the sins of the world, they sorrowed because He would no longer be with them but He in return offered immense hope: "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (John 16:7). With this statement, the Saviour was saying "you will have me with you always". For us, nearly 2,000 years after the fact, this should have more meaning than to the apostles of old. They had known Him personally, walked and talked with Him every day, heard His words, felt His touch, were no doubt embraced by His arms and kissed with a holy kiss. We of the 21st century, have experienced none of these personal moments with the Savior in our mortality. There is one, however, whom the Saviour has sent in His stead so that we too can feel His personal love, feel the power of His spirit and be convinced of the reality of His existence; the one who has the power to remind us of our heavenly home, to keep us on the strait and narrow, to let us know that we are not forgotten. He will comfort us in times of sorrow, teach us what we need to know and strengthen us with Atonement's power. He is the conduit through which all heavenly connection comes. All this so we can return to inherit eternal life in the realms above. Such is the power and might of the member of the Godhood we call The Holy Ghost, The Comforter, The Spirit of Truth, the token of our Father's love.