Charity, the Grace of God

“Good Shepherd.” Oil painting by Yongsung Ki

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.  (B of M . Ether 12:34)

I think we shortchange ourselves and our understanding of the doctrine of charity in most of our lessons and discussions about this topic which Paul and Moroni discuss so passionately in the scriptures.   Generally we focus on our need to acquire the quality of possessing charity that we then extend to our fellow men in word, action, deed and thought.  While this is definitely the Christ-like state we would desire to possess in our interactions with others it is more an outcome of a far greater whole.  

In the Book of Ether Moroni gives us a broader picture.  Charity is the love God has for the children of men and without this love from God that He bestows upon us we cannot inherit a place in the mansions of the Father.  We are fallen, incapable mortals.  Even our very best efforts are woefully lacking in the quest to become like our Father.  We only obtain the opportunity of returning to our heavenly home through the great and everlasting Charity extend by our Father. 

Nephi adds more clarification as to exactly how this is done.

25 And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life; which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God.

In answer to Nephi's desire for an explanation of his father Lehi's vision, the angel then shows Nephi the life and atonement of Jesus Christ.  After telling Nephi that the Fountain of Living Waters and the Tree of Life represent the love of God (charity) the angel shows Nephi the ministry and sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Only Begotten Son who is full of grace and truth.  Through the Son of God mankind can receive that charity which will enable us to inherit a place in the mansions of the Father.  The atonement of Jesus Christ is the real life expression of God's charity towards mankind.  

 For God so loved the world, that he gave his onlybegotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16

It truly is by grace that we are saved.  Our best bet in becoming a person of charity is to receive the atonement of Jesus Christ through repentance of our sins,  through baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Then the natural outcome of this process will be an expansion of our ability to offer Christ like and Godly love to our fellow beings. 

Moroni charges us in Moroni 7:

47 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.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. 

May we receive that charity offered to us from the Father through the Savior of all mankind.

“Lord, Is it I?”- Humility in Covenant Keeping

The Deoalogue

As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are two question we should be asking on a regular basis:  The first is “Lord, is it I?” and second is “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?”

It seems to me that there is no way that we will be able to fully keep our covenants with the Lord without those two questions.  The first addresses our pride.  It is natural to think that we are not to blame, that we are not responsible.  Yet in relationship to our covenants (baptism, sacrament, temple) we must ask ourselves, “Are we covenant breakers?” And if so how might that be the case?   We must lay aside our pride and our vain ambitions and evaluate how we are keeping our covenants.   Perhaps we are not overt breakers but are we covenant neglectors?  Our covenants are supposed to be a ladder that extends into heaven.  Our covenants provide the power we need to ascend.   We can enter into covenants but if we fail to use them to progress they become null and void, anemic and without power.   

Our covenant keeping is to be between ourselves and the Lord.  We can go to him in prayer and ask what we need to do to keep our covenants.  We can ask, “What wilt thou have me do?”  How do we “always remember” the Lord.  How do we sacrifice?   What do we need to consecrate to the Lord?  There are many aspects to our covenants.  The spirit will teach each of us something different in any given moment.  This cannot be a group effort.  It is an individual journey. 

The seriousness of keeping our covenants is very significant to ourselves individually and also to the body of Saints as a whole.   The scriptures teach us and witness to us by example the outcome of keeping or not keeping covenants.  When we make covenants we have moved out of neutral territory as Joseph Smith said, and have committed ourselves in the Lord’s Kingdom.   We are promised great blessings that without our covenants we could not otherwise have received.  We are promised eternal family, posterity, an inheritance (both temporal and eternal) and exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. Our covenants are the path to not just goodness but to holiness and sanctification.

Covenants also come with penalties that are the opposite of the blessing we could have gained. This is somewhat of an unpleasant idea and is particular foreign in our permissive culture and society.  We don’t like to consider the consequences of our sins but one of the purposes of this life is to in fact learn to understand that there are irrevocable consequences to sin.  Thanks be to God that we have a Savior, but our Savior’s atonement is accessed under certain conditions and part of those conditions include covenant making and covenant keeping if we are to go beyond salvation and on into exaltation.  

An example of a covenant penalty coming upon the Lord’s people is the final destruction of the Nephite society in the Book of Mormon.  While the Lamanites who were not under the covenant suffered from the natural causes of mortal life and strife, they were not destroyed.  The Nephites who had been given the covenants of the Lord even unto having his presence and living in a Zion society were eventually destroyed for the breaking (and lack of repenting) of those covenants.

“Curse” is a word we like to ignore, hide from and pretend that it has nothing to do with us.   We recoil from the idea.  It repels us as it should.  But we must accept the reality that the scriptures are replete with warnings to the Lord’s covenant people.  The idea of covenant breaking bringing upon ourselves curses is in Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, 2 Nephi, D&C 104 and Moses 5.  President Benson talked to the entire church about the condemnation that the Lord put upon the Saints because they took the Book of Mormon lightly.

54 And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—
55 Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.
56 And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.
57 And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—
58 That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father's kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.
(Doctrine and Covenants | Section 84:54 - 58)

There are many things withheld from us because we haven’t done what we need to do with what we have been given.  Perhaps part of lifting that condemnation is for us to examine ourselves and our covenant keeping at the level we are currently at.  Again let us ask ourselves as we consider this, “Lord, is it I?”  It is so easy to think that so and so is in trouble and ignore how we ourselves might be in trouble.  We are fooling ourselves if we look past ourselves. 

The Lord is reaching out to us continually, offering repentance to us so that curses (or damnation or lack of progression) can be lifted off of us.  A curse is not necessarily an overt punishment.  It can be a barrier that stops our spiritual progression.  It can be as simple as not feeling the direction of the spirit like we used to, not receiving the revelation needed to navigate our situation.  Perhaps we have residual effects from the sins of others that are impeding us.  We have the iniquities of the fathers that entail upon their children down through the generations.   These can all be overcome by our covenant keeping.  Our covenants have been given to us as a path of deliverance through our Savior Jesus Christ.  We are taught in the temple about the redemption of Adam and Eve from the curse of the fall.  They made covenants with the Lord in order to be brought back into His presence and partake of eternal life and exaltation.  What a glorious knowledge!  What good news!!

Perhaps it is a trick of the adversary to make looking at our failure, our sins, our need for repentance so unpleasant that we never get to it.  In reality it is full of joy, relief, happiness and excitement.  If we cast off the blinders of the adversary we will run to the Lord to find out how we can have our condemnation lifted.  I have always loved how excited Adam and Eve are to hear Heavenly Father’s voice and recognize that he is coming to visit them after they have partaken of the forbidden fruit.  It is Satan who brings upon them fear and tells them to hide from the Lord.  The Lord then matter of factually outlines the consequences (or curses) that have come upon them because of partaking of the forbidden fruit and then begins the covenant process of redeeming them.  If Adam and Eve had not been able to stand before God and say “Yes, I did it!” they would have not been in position to start on the path of redemption.

May we all be willing to follow the example laid before us by our first parents and stand up and confess our sins and ask him how we might be redeemed.  May we do that over and over.  May we do so daily in our prayers.  May we ask “Lord is it I?” and “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?”

Satan - The Great Separator.....

A number of months ago I watched a documentary on the annual migration of antelope, elephants, wildebeests and other African animal species across miles of African terrain in search of food and water.  Each year millions of animals along with their young begin their long trek from Tanzania's Serengeti Plains to Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve.

The animals travel a distance of approximately 1800 miles.  Every year an estimated 250,000 travelers do not survive this rigorous journey.  They are followed relentlessly by predators: Crocodiles lie in wait at the first river crossing to devour the weak and the young. Lions, hyenas, leopards and wild dogs constantly pursue the herds looking for opportunities to separate out an unsuspecting wanderer from the main herd.  As hungry predators begin their chase, their goal is to separate animals on the fringes and drive them further away from the safety of the group.  They pursuit relentlessly until targeted animals become too weak to outrun their pursuers and are taken down and devoured. Though this process may be heart wrenching to observe, life upon this earth in its telestial sphere is set up to operate in this manner.

There are many lessons to learn about spiritual realities from the structure of this earth.  Such comparisons can be made from the drama of the chase and hunt that plays out relentlessly on the plains of the Africa.  Satan is a predator in hot pursuit of our souls. He is the ravenous wolf who desires to enter in and devour the flock. His first efforts are bent towards separating us from the good shepherd and all he represents. His techniques are very similar to the hyenas seeking their prey.  He first pursues at a distance watching and waiting for the right moment to move. Then he seeks to separate his intended victim from the safety of fellow traveling companions who provide shelter and protection.  From then on it is a battle of endurance; Satan and his followers against the son or daughter of God he is intending to defeat.

The Adversary attempts to separate us from our scripture reading and from our prayers.  He desires to separate us from weekly attendance at church. He separates us from the temple under the guise that we are too busy to go, or blinds us to the blessings that attend temple worship for both ourselves and our children.  He separates us from strong relationships with our families.   He separates us from our leaders by offense or judgment of those who have been called and given the charge to watch over the flock.  He separates us from the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost through many distractions, temptations and diverse ways that keep us from hearing. He uses discouragement and depression and a myriad other difficulties in this life to divide us out from God or from the gatherings of God's people.

There is a reason the Savior organized a church when he was here on the earth and gave Peter the charge to feed his sheep.  Not only do the sheep need to be fed but they need to be protected.  They need the safety of the fold.  The most dangerous of wolves are those who are allowed to enter in to the fold in the disguise of sheeps' clothing and begin picking off the members of the flock  unsuspectingly from within. In 3rd Nephi the Savior gives a repeated warning that we must watch and pray always that we might not be led away captive by the enemy of our souls.  May we not allow Satan to separate us out from that which connects us to the Good Shepherd and his flock.

59 For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock?  And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out?  Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy him.
60 And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.

(Book of Mormon | Alma 5:59 - 60)

"... and why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven?"

The Prophet Enoch - the City of Zion is taken up

This is a curse of our time.  We lean upon the arm of flesh, we counsel each other, we counsel ourselves, we study it out in our own mind and then make our own "best" decision and and forget or are unwilling to truly counsel with God.  The prophet Enoch spoke these words millennia ago but they are still "current " observation.

43 And Enoch continued his speech, saying: The Lord which spake with me, the same is the God of heaven, and he is my God, and your God, and ye are my brethren, and why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven?

(Pearl of Great Price | Moses 6:43)