Charity and Love.

     Love is so important. Quite literally it is what makes the world go around. If God didn't love us he never would have organized the Earth. Therefore it wouldn't go around at all. I rest my case.

    I try my best to Love everyone and to show that to everyone. Love is such a powerful force. I however can't stand the "I love you" of the current world. Love is a verb. Love is a doing word. I don't care how much you say "I love you" I care how much you show it. Don't get me wrong, we should always tell the ones we love that we love them, but I think we should show it 10x more than we say it. In everything we do, in everything we say we should show we love those around us. When you have Charity you "see [others] as children of God,... you will labor in their behalf. You will avoid negative feeligns such as anger, envy, lust, or covetousness. You will avoid judging others , criticizing them, or saying negative things about them." PMG chapter 6. And Charity is Pure Love.

     Moroni 7:45 reads "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 tings, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." And again in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 it reads "4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all tings, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." Here we have two clear examples of what it means to have ture Charity. We will suffer long, not that doens't mean we have to suffer, it means we are patient in affliction. It means we dont break down and complain when things are hard. We are kind. We do not envy others. We are not prideful. We do not boast. We behave according to the situation. We do not seek after our own benefit or profit. We are slow to anger. We are Vurtuous. We love and rejoice in truth. We bear all things that the Lord sees fit to put us through. We believe all things. We hope all things. We endure all things.

     Repeatedly in scripture we hear that we must have Faith, Hope, and Charity. (Alma 7:24, Alma 13:29 Ether 12:28, D&C18:19) Also that we are nothing without Charity and that we cannot obatin heaven without it. (Alma 34:29, 2 Nephi 26:30, Moroni 7:44, Ether 12:34, Moroni 10:21) Seems that Charity is really important if you ask me. And it is, Moroni also says it is the greatest of all, and in Matthew 22:36-39 we read of the lawyer asking Christ a question. "36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jeus said unto him, thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all they soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt Love thy neigbour as thyself." Charity and Love are vital for our growth, our entrence into heaven, and all other things pertaining to the Gospel.

     "Charity is a gift from God. The prophet Mormon said that we should "pay unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love" "(PMG chapter 6) We should constantly strive to have and be filled with Charity, with the Pure love of Christ. As I have shown, it is vital to our admittance into heaven, and it is the greatest of commandmetns. Charity will help us as we strive to be obedient and follow all the commandments. Also, as we obey the commandments and serve others we will be filled with Charity and Love.

     In Moroni 7:47 we read that "...Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever;..." And we hear again and again in scripture that Charity never faileth and that it edureth all things. The Love of God, the Pure love of Christ is the act of the Atonement. It is the greatest act of Charity the Universe has ever witenessed. Nothing can or ever will compare to the Love, Compassion, or Mercy shown and contained in that single act. In 1 Nephi 11:20-22 we read "20 And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms. 21 And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? 22 And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things." It is obvious that there is a connection between the Love of God, the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Tree. Just a before this we read in verse 9 we read "And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree which is precious above all." What is precious above all? what is the most desiable above all things? The Love of God, which is Repentance. In John 3:16 we read "For God so loved the world, taht he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." God loved the world so he gave his Son, gave his Son as a sacrafice for sin. His Son accomplished the Atonement, so that if we Believe in Him we may be forgiven of our sins. This is the Love of God, This is Charity, the Pure Love of Christ. This is why we love Him, praise Him, and have Faith in Him.