The Pure Love of Christ #11

What is the pure love of Christ?

According to Moroni 7:47, it’s charity.
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.

The Bible dictionary says under “The Pure love of Christ” is also charity.
Charity: The highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ. It is never used to denote alms or deeds of benevolence, although it may be a prompting motive

The “Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Howard W. Hunter,
Chapter 20, Walking the Savior’s Path of Charity” also says it’s charity.
In short, we need to love one another with the pure love of Christ, with genuine charity and compassion and, if necessary, shared suffering, for that is the way God loves us.

And the list goes on, but I pulled out just a few to give us an idea of where this is going.

As we can plainly see the answer to the question is CHARITY.
Hum, ok, we now know that the Pure Love of Christ is charity. So what is charity and how does it play a part in our lives?

I think the first step in understanding charity is to recognize that charity is more than just giving assistance to the poor or needy, whether it be through physically helping someone or by giving monetary assistance. That would be too easy, but it is one part of the process of being charitable.

 The second part of charity is LOVE. It’s easy to give money to the panhandler on the corner, or work in a soup kitchen for the poor on Christmas day. But we are to love our brothers and sisters in the same way we love ourselves or our family. If you had a brother, sister, mother, father or child that was less fortunate then we are, wouldn’t our love for them make us want to care for them the best that we could?

Something I started to realize when I began reading the scriptures and pondering the concept of charity is what my own thought process was when confronted by a panhandler or someone in need that was less fortunate than myself. I looked at that person and started to question, why! The panhandler, does he want money for drugs or food? If for food, I will most definitely give it to him. But if they looked like they would use the money for drugs I would just pass by them.

People that physically needed help I would question, what brought them to this point? Most of the time I would still help because in my mind I thought it was the “Christ-like thing to do”. But then it hit me, would I feel the same or ask the same questions if it was one of my family members? Would the reason matter? I love them and want to do what ever I can to help them.

That was a light bulb moment for me. Everyone is a brother or sister to me. The fact was, I was judging them. I felt about as low as you could when I realized what I was doing.

Nephi tells us in 2nd Nephi 31:20
20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

And there’s no questioning the council from the Savior himself in Matthew 22:36-40.
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 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 neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

We need to learn how to be more like the Savior and gain The Pure Love of Christ. Don’t ask why they need help, ask how can I help, for their our brothers and sisters and we love them.