Charity - The Pure Love of Christ

Greatest in the Kingdom - by J. Kirk Richards

One of my favorite things about participating in Pathway is that it has given me the opportunity to work on developing attributes of Christ. Last semester we chose just one attribute to focus on, and I chose to be prayerful. It was a wonderful experience that helped me understand more deeply my need for the Savior and the importance of communing with my Father in Heaven. Even though I spent 12 weeks focusing on being more prayerful, I am still a work in progress and will always be striving to become a prayerful person like the Savior. Nevertheless, these experiences of focusing on a specific attribute have been a powerful practice in my life, and I plan to continue working to develop specific attributes even when I have finished the Pathway program.

This semester, we have been able to choose three different attributes and focus on them for four weeks at a time. Earlier this semester I chose the attributes Gratitude and Service as the qualities of Christ that I would like to develop. It has been wonderful to center my life on these traits and as I have looked inward to develop gratitude, and outward to develop service, I have felt changes in my attitude and found more happiness in my life. Now, with the opportunity to look upward, I have chosen to work on developing Charity, the pure love of Christ.

For me, developing Charity encompasses the qualities of brotherly kindness, love, compassion, and sincere generosity. I have chosen charity because I struggle with having kind thoughts towards those who annoy me, are unkind towards me or others, and those who are unpleasant to be around. I know that the Savior lived his life with perfect love for all, even those who betrayed him, mocked him, tortured him, and ultimately crucified him. I know that if I strive to live more like the Savior and focus my efforts on becoming more charitable, I can overcome this weakness. I want to be more generous in my thoughts towards my fellow man, even those who are “hard to love”, ....like Donald Trump :)

I also want to continue working to fill my life with service and acts of kindness for others with a cheerful heart. I want to be like the Savior and have compassion on my fellow man. I want to create a legacy of love for others that my children can learn from and work to develop in their lives also.
My plan for incorporating this attribute into my life is to do these specific and deliberate things each and every day:

1. Pray each morning for opportunities to show kindness, love, and compassion.
2. Ask my Heavenly Father each morning for the ability to think kind thoughts towards others even in the most difficult circumstances.
3. Study and search in the scriptures for examples of charity. Highlight them and write my thoughts about them in my journal.
4. Make service a priority by choosing to serve someone, even simple random acts of kindness, every day and write about my progress each night in my journal.
5. When unkind thoughts go through my mind, I will make a dedicated effort to change the negative thought into a positive.
6. Report to my Heavenly Father every night on how the day went.

I expect that having generous thoughts will be the hardest aspect of this project, but it is the thing I am most hoping to overcome. Whenever I have unkind thoughts towards others, I don’t feel good about myself and know that I am judging them in my heart. I want to turn this weakness into a strength by changing those negative thoughts into kind and positive thoughts so I will work very hard over these next two weeks to see real change in myself.

I have searched the scriptures for verses that support this attribute and plan, and feel validated that this is the attribute I should work on. As I chose these verses, I felt the Holy Ghost confirm to me that this was the path I needed to walk. I am grateful for that and know that it will provide me more resolve to do my very best.

• 3 Nephi 12:44 – “But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you;” This scripture reminds me of the way the Savior lived. He did these things perfectly, and I know that this is how I too need to live. If I can strive to apply these teachings to my life, I can overcome the negative and unkind thoughts I have towards others.

• Ether 12:34-35 – “And now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity; wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father. Wherefore, I know by this thing which thou hast said, that if the Gentiles have not charity, because of our weakness, that thou wilt prove them, and take away their talent, yea, even that which they have received, and give unto them who shall have more abundantly.” These verses serve as a warning to me that if I do not strive to develop charity, I will not receive all the blessings my Heavenly Father has in store for me.

• Moroni 7: 45-47 –  “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. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail— But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.” This passage sums up exactly how I want to live my life and when I feel discouraged, I can read this and remember how important it is to have charity in thought, word, and deed.

• Moroni 10:32 – “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.” This is my favorite scripture of all time, (and the namesake for this blog!) and is the verse that provides me the most comfort and hope. I know that as I strive to develop charity and work to deny myself of all ungodliness, that the Savior’s grace will be sufficient to perfect me. I know that this will be a lifetime of effort, and not just a four week effort, but this is the verse that gives me the strength to endure to the end and to work with all my might, mind and strength. I am so grateful for the promise of grace and the Savior’s love and mercy to make up the difference when I fall short.

I love this Bible Video that depicts Paul teaching the importance of Charity, or the pure love of Christ.