LOVING YOUR BROTHER

 

“But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:22)

In our world of contempt we have incorporated some pretty demeaning definitions of one another which is making it more and more difficult to love those who are not easy to love. By the above scripture, any form of negative interaction with another person is a serious offence. ‘Raca’ suggests derision in both Aramaic and Greek. The definition of derision in the English dictionary is: contemptuous ridicule and mockery. Anciently, ‘fool’ was a common definition of someone but we have swapped it for a more modern title of ‘idiot’. Same meaning and same serious consequences.

Imagine being in danger of hell by ridiculing or mocking someone. This is how seriously God takes our treatment of one another. And this is why. In this weakened state of mortality our understanding, perception, and even intelligence is somewhat impaired. We can only judge by what we see and what we see is not adequate knowledge to determine why someone does what they do.

We are not privy to other people’s life experiences, their pains, their mentality, their perceptions and their motivations. Nobody has lived in another person’s skin. I heard someone say recently that they hate the word ‘empathy’. He said empathy does not exist. The definition of it is to walk in another’s shoes to feel what it is like to be them and that is simply not possible.

I am constantly amazed that the Saviour loves us in this mortal state because we are so lacking. By virtue of the Atonement, however, the Saviour has complete understanding of why we do what we do and behave as we do. He knows the feel of our skin….because he has been in it. He is the only one who can lay claim to empathy. Because of it He will be able to judge us righteously and perfectly and I can assure you that because of it He will call nobody a fool.

 

Tread softly on my tender heart;

Even though in likeness

We are miles apart.

Though we are separate

In both body and mind;

We are linked together on humanity’s path.

Tread softly on my tender heart…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Eternal Love For You by Annie Henrie Nader)

TRAIL OF LOVE

 

When the lawyer asked Jesus, “Which is the great commandment in the law?”, Jesus answered:  “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

The first one is rather simple: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). The second one, in my opinion, is a little bit more complex. The inference here is selflessness as opposed to selfishness, that we should want for others what we want for ourselves, and that we should treat others as we would want to be treated.

The question begs to be asked, how much do we love ourselves? Our behaviour towards others is often a mirror of our inner selves. Do we love ourselves enough to make others feel loved? I am not talking about prideful love of self that elevates us in our minds to be above everyone else, but an appreciation of self and our self-worth.

If we see ourselves less than everyone else, and think nothing of ourselves, we will think nothing of others too. You simply cannot exude love if you don’t have it within you. How we see ourselves is usually how we see others too. If we are in the habit of undermining ourselves, we will tend to do the same to others.

If we do not love ourselves, we will most likely suffer from low self-esteem, depression, anger, resentment and unhappiness and this will reflect in our behaviour towards others. Love is much needed in this world and it needs to start with us so that we can extend it to others.

I am generalizing here and do acknowledge that there are exceptions to the rule. As a rule of thumb though, lack of self-love seems to be true for a lot of people and often it has a lot to do with our upbringing, abandonment, abuse, constant criticism etc. This is a deep issue that requires insight into the root of self-perception and realization that healing is needed both on the psychological and spiritual level. All I am saying here is that you cannot assuage someone’s thirst from an empty well so the well might need some serious attention.

As we draw closer to God and discover our spiritual identity, healing becomes a reality affording us an understanding of our self-worth. From there self-love is much easier to embrace.

Some people are natural conduits of love. It is their spiritual gift…..for the rest of us it is a challenge in one way or another but for all of us it is a commandment. The Saviour is the epitome of selflessness. He has left a trail for us to follow so we can become like Him, but until then, may we allow His selfless love for all to flow through us to our neighbour…..and lastly, if we love God, other commandments just follow….

Your footsteps, so big and so deep

Swallow my feeble feet;

I try to keep up

To tend Your vulnerable sheep;

To gather the lost,

To clothe, to feed;

So many for my poorly

Devised shelter to keep.

Illuminate my steps dear Saviour

With Thy glorious light;

And grant me Thy power

To feed them from Thy godly heart.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Guardian by Kelsey and Jesse Lightweave)

AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

 

Section 45 of the Doctrine and Covenants gives us the Olivet Discourse which the Saviour gave to His disciples during the last week of His life in A.D. 33. It describes in detail the signs of His coming and also the state of the world prior to His appearing.

One of the most correct descriptions of our present world is summarized thus: “And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound” (v 27). Never in the history of this world has hatred run so rampant as it is now, and this is the reason: lawlessness, immorality, wickedness, distortion or what is good and right, a violation of God’s law. This is what iniquity means.

In our day of self-interest which has led to so much crime and hatred toward one another, “we seem to be lacking genuine Christian love, unity and harmony….its absence in the majority of men is one of the signs of the end.” (Smith and Sjodahl, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, p 262). That lack of brotherly love in the world is a sign of the end is a very sobering thought.

There has been a lot of emphasis on the Saviour’s Second Coming by the leaders of the Church. Among their admonition for preparation has been the mandate to stop the tide of hate. President Nelson, in particular has advised us that we must love one another in preparation for the Saviour’s coming so that “when He appears, we shall be like Him” (Moroni 7:48).  This will be the proof of our discipleship and our claim on His mercy.

I read an interesting book recently called “Children of the Covenant: What Christians Should Know About Jews” by Marshall D. Isaacson, a Jewish convert to Christianity. In his outline of Jewish beliefs, the author discusses the Jewish attitudes toward sin and highlights that the Jews do not believe in “original sin”. They believe that man is born innocent and good and therefore there is no need for redemption from “inherited sin from Adam”. We of course know that Christ’s redemption covers The Fall which is the reason we are born innocent into a world of evil (see Moroni 8:10-21). Because of this, all of us, as children of God, are born on equal footing.

The Jewish belief that everyone is born good strikes a chord though. It is impossible to be an offspring of God and not be born without seeds of deity in us. Therefore, we all have a redeeming feature whether big or small. This will be taken into account on Judgment Day. The Saviour knows those redeeming features because of His personal access to each of us during the Atonement. Because of this He will be willing to extend forgiveness and mercy to the worst of us.

It is easy to love the ‘lovelies’. Those who are not loveable are here to help us overcome our propensity to hate. That, I believe, is one of the reasons why evil people are allowed to exist. We live in a world of opposition without which growth is impossible hence Christ’s admonition to ‘love our enemies and to do good to them who hate us’ (Matthew 5:43-48)

May we ‘be the light of the world for a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid…..(Matthew 5:16). The brighter we shine, and the more love we spread, the less hate there will be.

And then there is this: “…love one another, as I have loved you….by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples…..(John 13:34,5)

Tread softly on my tender heart;

Even though in likeness

We are miles apart.

Though we are separate

In both body and mind;

We are linked together on humanity’s path.

Tread softly on my tender heart.....

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: As I Have Loved You by B. Laura Wilson)

THE INEVITABLE PRICE

 

THE INEVITABLE PRICE

 

Very often we get lost in our admiration of Paul the apostle and we miss the most important lesson we can learn from him, and that lesson is this: all our actions have consequences that cannot be escaped because what we send into the lives of others, comes back into our own.

 

Alma the Younger gave his son Corianton some interesting advice that we can relate to Paul. He admonished him to be merciful to his brethren and he shall have mercy; to deal justly and he shall have justice; to judge righteously and he shall be righteously judged and to do good continually and he shall have good rewarded to him…..and then he said summed it up beautifully: ‘for that which ye do send out shall return unto you again….’ (Alma 41:14,15). 

 

When the Lord said of Paul, ‘For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake’, He wasn’t kidding (Acts 9:16). Paul suffered five scourgings, three beatings with a rod, one stoning, one shipwreck, lengthy imprisonment, and endurance of peril, hunger, painfulness and weariness wherever he went but most of all, if you read the book of Acts, constant persecution by the Jews (2 Corinthians 11:24-27). And so you see, Paul the persecutor became Paul the persecuted…..

 

No wicked act committed against another will go unnoticed. Those who do not repent of unjust behaviour toward others will have to confront that accountability on that day ‘when the Lord shall come to ‘recompense unto every man according to his work, and measure to every man according to the measure which he has measured to his fellow man’ (D&C 1:10). We mostly focus on Saviour’s mercy these days because we want to believe that we will be forgiven for anything and we overlook the fact that He will also come to execute justice for those whose lives and spirits were crushed and damaged by others.

 

There is another great lesson here. We cannot eternally live with the God of love if we do not love one another. We cannot live with the Saviour if we are not like Him. Love is central to His character. His love transcends our weaknesses, our flaws and even our sins. Paul learnt this lesson well. In extolling the high status of charity to the Corinthians he said: even if I speak with the tongue of angels and have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge and have faith to move mountains, and bestow all my goods to the poor and give my body to be burned and have not charity toward others, I am nothing…..(1 Corinthians 13:1-8). 

I kept my love close to my heart

Until it became too heavy to bear.

It overflowed my weakened arms

And scattered along humanity’s path.

Like crumbs from the table it fed a few,

The lonely, the weak and the weary

And gladdened my giving heart.

I spread my arms wide

And fed a throng for many years

Until each cared for soul

Paved the trail of my happy tears.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: As I Have Loved You by Greg Olsen)