President Thomas S. Monson (Prophet and
president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) said “We
cannot truly love God if we do not love our fellow travelers on this
mortal journey. Likewise, we cannot fully love our fellowmen if we do
not love God, the Father of us all. The Apostle John tells us, 'This
commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother
also' (1 John 4:21). We are all spirit children of our Heavenly
Father and, as such, are brothers and sisters. As we keep this truth
in mind, loving all of God’s children will become easier.”
Many
people, especially now-a-days, like to claim that those who do not
profess a love of
God at all and claim he does not exist are more loving than those who
say they love God and want to follow Him. This
belief seems incorrect to me.
First, it is important to remember we are all on this earth to learn
and grow and none of us are perfect. Not one of us has quite
perfected loving
others or God
as Christ did. So will we always treat others with perfect kindness
and charity? The answer is no. But I believe those who love God with
everything in them will come closer than those who do not. Wait,
what,
why?
Because
those who love God with
everything in them,
want to serve Him and keep His commandments. They understand who
they are -children
of God. Therefore, they understand who their fellow travelers
are -children
of God, brothers and sisters. Without
this understanding, individuals cannot fully love their neighbors,
especially not as they love themselves. Because
they have not learned who they truly are yet, and
do not fully love themselves yet. It is all intertwined.
God's
love for all of His children is perfect, eternal, and unconditional.
He will love us no matter what we choose to do here on earth.
However, it is important to state that to love does not mean to
approve, condone, or permit. His love never goes away, but there are
consequences for our actions. If not so God would cease to be God.
He has said no unclean thing can enter His presence. Therefore, He
expects us to become clean. The way to cleanliness is through the
Atoning sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We are all
sinners and therefore unclean, but the way has been provided for us
to repent and forsake our sins that we
may
be made clean through the blood of the Savior of mankind.
A
common problem today is that we do not want to be told we are
sinners. We want to be patted on the head and told that we are just
fine the way we are, that we are already perfect. We want to believe
that if there is a god, he created us as good as we are going to get,
or as perfect as he wants us to be. This is the “love” we desire
from others. However, the purpose of this life is to improve and
learn to love and obey as the only perfect living soul on the earth
did, even Jesus Christ.
How
do we learn this love? First, perfection is not anything we can
achieve in the fallen world we live in, but we can become better and
better as we continue to try. Jesus has shown us so many examples of
how to love correctly, righteously. If we follow His example we will
be well on our way.
One
of my favorite stories of Jesus Christ showing His perfect love is
when he was just 12 years old. He, His family and extended family
had traveled to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. At the end of the
celebration all His family started the journey home, after a day of
traveling His parents realized that He
was not in the group. They traveled another day back to Jerusalem
and spent three days in search of Him. They eventually found Him in
the temple teaching those who would listen. When they found Him they
asked “Son,
why
hast thou thus
dealt
with
us, behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” Jesus
answered “How is it that ye sought me, wist ye (know ye) not that I
must be about my Father's (God's) business?” Then the scriptures
say that Joseph and Mary didn't understand the saying, and Jesus went
with them home and became subject unto them (under their control).
What
I love about this story is that according to Jewish tradition, He was
almost the age of a man and yet he acted in humility and out of love
for His parents. He knew they didn't understand quite yet all that
He was
called to
do. He understood the responsibility they
felt
toward
Him that weighed heavily on them, and instead of being a teenager and
arguing with them, He loved them as
much as He loved Himself. He
showed
that love by putting their need to take care of Him before any desire to argue His side.
For
Him, it
was not about making
sure everyone understood He was in the right,
it was about honoring His
parents, keeping the 5th commandment.
Another
great example from the life of Jesus Christ is the woman taken in
adultery. Here, a woman is brought before Him caught in the very act
of adultery, no other proof is needed to determine her sin. The law
at the time is death by stoning for those whose crimes are so
grievous. The Pharisees ask Jesus what will He do. Jesus does not
answer right away, but when He does, He asks them to consider their
own sins. He asks them to go
ahead and stone her if they are without
sin.
They answer by saving her life and slowly
walking away.
Jesus speaks to her with love and a commandment. He asks her “where
are those, thine accusers, hath no man condemned thee.” She
answered that
no
man had and he said “Neither do I condemn thee, go, and sin no
more.” The love He showed was saving her life and allowing her
time to repent. The condemnation He was speaking of was death. He
did not condemn her to death, and
neither
did her accusers when Christ pointed out that they were sinners as
well. However, He did not say “you are forgiven”, or “you're
fine, keep doing what you are doing.” He commanded her to repent
when He said “go, and sin no more.”
Love
is pointing others to the path of repentance. The path that leads to
eternal life, happiness, and peace. Many feel that Christians
teaching the Bible and
the truth they have found to others is not love, but
IT
IS.
It
is what Christ did and what He asked His followers to do. If
we teach with love and patience then we are following the example of
our Savior. If we yell, condemn others to hell, or Bible bash,
we have no love or charity. Love is founded upon righteousness,
compassion, kindness, and unselfishness. Is it about lifting and
helping others. It is not about who is right and who is wrong, it is
about helping others find their true
best
selves.
It
is also about not giving up when others think they already are their
best selves, but through kindness and compassion serving and loving
them until they can catch a vision of themselves as you see them and
as God sees them.
So
a tough question to ask when discussing love Is: “Is it love to
support traditional marriage?” or as the world sees it “Is it love not to support same-sex marriage?”
Yes!
It is love if we are doing it because we sincerely love God, His
ways, all of His children, who they are and who they are to become,
and who we are and who we are to become. It is love when we see the
big eternal picture and know that those choices cannot bring about
happiness, but that it will bring destruction and misery to all who
follow that path. It is love to support righteousness and to decry
evil. It is absolutely love to make sin undesirable and
righteousness desirable and easy to follow after.
Is
it inequality? Yes! Because sin and righteousness are not equal.
They do not bring about equal results nor do they support one
another. Where
one is rampant the other is restrained.
The
conflict between the two comes to a head when the numbers on each
side start to equal one another. Then people start to fight for
their side and try to sway others from their beliefs. When one side
wins and restrains the other the conflict subsides, until the
pendulum swings again.
Alma, a prophet in The Book of Mormon, teaches us “And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men” (Alma 28:13).
Alma, a prophet in The Book of Mormon, teaches us “And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men” (Alma 28:13).
What
we have to decide is which side is worth fighting for. For
those
who follow Jesus Christ and read and study the scriptures the
decision is relatively easy. The outcome is known. No
matter how much the side of sin and unrighteousness seems to be
winning, the conflict will
end
with Christ fighting for His people. Those who fight against Him and
His people are destroyed. “This is the inequality of man because
of sin.” Some will be raised to inherit eternal glory, some will
be raised to inherit some other glory, and a few will inherit no glory
at all.
The
justice of God is fair and right. Eventually, all will see and
proclaim that fact. It will be much better for us all if we can come
to this conclusion here on Earth and
repent so that mercy can have claim on us.
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