My Talk on Charity

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. I am very grateful to have this opportunity to stand before you today and share a message and my testimony before I leave. Today I have been asked to speak on a topic that is both easily explained and easily understood. However, putting this principle into action is perhaps one of the greatest challenges in our daily lives, and one that we cannot hope to perfect in this lifetime. The topic I will be speaking about is the pure love of Christ, which we refer to as “charity”.

                 Charity is given as a commandment to every one of us. In 2 Nephi chapter 26 verse 30, Nephi says “Wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men shall have charity, which charity is love.”… Jesus, having been asked which of the commandments was the greatest, tells the Pharisees, “Thou shalt love the Lord 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 neighbor as thyself.” It is interesting that out of the many commandments Heavenly Father has given us, all of them can be summarized by these two.  This ought to impress upon us the importance God has placed on love. It is a characteristic that we are expected to develop throughout our lives.  The Youth of the ward should recognize the following verse from 1 Timothy chapter 4, which was our Young men/young women’s theme in 2009. Paul says, “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” How important this charge is to each of us as latter-day Saints, to be an example of the believers by showing charity. It is not enough for us to be examples by simply living the Mormon lifestyle if we are neglecting to pay heed to the most important aspect of Christ’s ministry; love and service toward our fellow men.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul says, “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”  This scripture shows us that there is no replacement for charity. We could possess an understanding of all things and have perfect faith, but it would avail us nothing if we neglect to serve and love each other.

So how do we as latter-day Saints live a life of charity? President Thomas S. Monson defines charity as “love in action.” This means we can be charitable simply by living our lives as Jesus lived His. Jesus served his fellow men; healed them, blessed them, taught them. He loved his enemies, did good to them that hated him, blessed them that cursed him. To those who smote his cheek he offered the other. He forgave them. He suffered to satisfy the demands of justice, taking upon himself the sins and afflictions of the world. And finally, he died that we might live again. Now most of us are not presented daily with the opportunity to heal someone, to raise someone from the dead, or to die for someone. Obviously none of us could do for others what Christ did for us, but we can serve others by the same love that Christ served us… We can gain a better understanding of how to do that by reading verse 45 of Moroni chapter 8. It says,

“45) And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

The first characteristic Moroni mentions is suffering long. I find it funny that long-suffering is at the top of the list, as it is definitely the area I could improve most on. Living with my 3 brothers has surely been a challenge at times. Many times my limits have been pushed and my patience has been tried, and I regret to say that many times my patience has failed. It occurs to me that I can learn a lot about long-suffering from my parents, who have had to put up with me these long nineteen years. They put up with my crying as a baby, my selfishness as a teenager, my crying as a high schooler…that last one was a joke. But despite the aggravation I caused them, my parents continued to forgive me. They knew I was still learning, and today they know that I am still learning. This continual patience of my parents is a perfect example of charity, a perfect demonstration of Christ-like love. Christ sees us make mistakes constantly, and most often sees us make the same mistake many times. How frustrating it should be for Him, to watch us continually do that which we know is wrong, make decisions based on our carnal and worldly desires, and deny that which we know is true. But Christ doesn’t get angry with us. He knows we are learning. He helps us know that what we’ve done is wrong, and then waits patiently for us to approach him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. What an example He is, and I am so grateful for the power of repentance and for the long-suffering and patience of Christ. As I serve a mission I hope to be able to develop my sense of long-suffering further. In the small zone I will be serving in I will have the opportunity to have the same companions multiple times. Two of my five future companions will be entering the MTC with me, and I imagine the importance of patience will be clear almost immediately as we get to know each other and discover each other’s quirks and habits. As latter-day Saints it is important that we gain a sense of long-suffering within our families, within our neighborhoods, within our ward, and even within our nation. Within our families, we can be sympathetic to each other’s situations. Parents can work to understand that we as the youth are completely clueless. We may know the clothing that’s in style, but other than that we’re basically stupid. And to the youth, we should learn to be more patient with our parents. They think they know what we’re going through, so let’s just let them keep thinking that. Haha, just kidding. I’m pretty sure they do. Within our neighborhoods and ward we can be less easily offended. I try to not take it personally when our neighbors mow their lawns at 1 in the afternoon while I’m still trying to sleep. Long-suffering toward our neighbors means walking in their shoes, trying to understand why they do what they do, then using this to let it go… In the nation we can be sympathetic to those with different viewpoints. No, we don’t have to agree with them or support their causes. But we should certainly not treat them with disrespect and name-calling because they have a slightly different perspective…We can gain greater patience and long-suffering toward our fellow men by keeping ourselves in a more spiritual state of mind. This can be accomplished by keeping a prayer in our hearts, reading the scriptures, serving others, and going to the temple often.

The second characteristic Moroni mentions is kindness. Of course, kindness means treating others with the respect we would wanted to be treated with. Another important aspect of this quality is being non-judgmental.  I’m sure we all remember the bumper sticker President Uchtdorf quoted during the last general conference: “don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.” It goes without saying that nobody here is perfect. Most of us try very hard to hide those imperfections, and some are good at it. Sometimes our imperfections and mistakes become known. But just because one person’s imperfections become public does not place us above them. It certainly gives us no right to judge them. In fact, in many cases even discussing someone else’s situation can do damage. To quote President Monson, “needed is the charity which refuses to find satisfaction in hearing or in repeating the reports of misfortunes that come to others.” … To be non-judgmental is to be Christ-like. When an adulterer was brought before Jesus, her sin was known by everyone. But what did Christ say? “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” To quote Mother Theresa: “if you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

Next, Moroni says, “charity is not puffed up.” I’m not going to get into pride too much, because there’s so much to cover; but I do want to share a quick story that comes to mind whenever I think of being puffed up. This is a true story shared by my roommate at BYU about his parents when they moved to Utah shortly after being married. They were not members. Shortly after settling in, one of their neighbors came over to their house with a cake. My roommate’s parents invited her in, and she graciously welcomed them to the ward and gave them the cake. It was then that they mentioned to her that they were not members. The woman picked up the cake, and left the house without a word. Because of this experience it took them almost 10 years to accept the gospel; one can’t help but think they would have accepted it much sooner had their first impression been of a Christ-like people. Membership in this church does not give us superiority over others. Christ loves all his children equally. Though we have more knowledge concerning God and the Plan of Salvation than non-members, this knowledge should not be flaunted or used to boast, even among ourselves.

Next, Moroni says that charity “seeketh not her own.” This means that our work should be focused around others. “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.” In 2 Nephi chapter 26 verses 30 and 31, it says, “Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish. But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish.”…Our labors should be to build up the kingdom and serve one another, not to collect the rewards ourselves.

                The next characteristic of Charity I would like to talk about is rejoicing in truth. This gospel makes known unto us glorious truths that we ought to rejoice in every day. As youth of the church we sometimes forget or fail to fully comprehend the beauty of God’s plan; it is important to be an example of faith by openly expressing gratitude for the knowledge we have.  How great it is to know that families are eternal, that we can inherit the kingdom of heaven. How amazing it is that Christ atoned for us so that we can repent when we have committed sin. How unique it is to have the power of the priesthood in our homes, the gift of the Holy Ghost in our members, a living prophet at the head to guide us. 

 It is in these truths that I rejoice and now leave for two years to share... My reason for serving a mission used to stem from obligation, as I think it does for many young men. But at some point in the last few years I gained a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, and with this conviction comes the desire to share these truths. I am so grateful at this time to know the truths of the gospel, to have a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon, and to have this opportunity to serve as a missionary. I am truly humbled to act as God’s servant and messenger, and I look forward to declaring the good news.

I’d like to share one final scripture before I close. The scripture is Alma 7:24, and it says, “And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.” Brothers and sisters, as we try our hardest to have the pure love of Christ with us, our desire to serve each other will grow with it. I would like to bear my testimony of the sacredness of this commandment; to love one another, to serve one another, to suffer long, to envy not; to believe, hope, and endure all things. If we live our lives with the same love Christ did, it shall be well with us. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.