Charity and Love

     The next Attribute is Charity and Love. With the passing of Valentines day I only see it fitting. Charity is the pure love of Christ. I look at that two different ways. First, that we should love Christ as much as ourselves. Second, that we should love others as much as Christ loves them. It is the love that Christ has for the children of men and that the children of men should have for one another. It is the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love and the most joyous to the soul. We are to seek to develop that kind of love. When you are filled with charity, you obey God’s commandments and do all you can to serve others and help them receive the restored gospel. As it says in the scriptures, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17.) If we could just lose ourselves in the service of others we would find it a lot easier to show love towards one another.
     A man once asked Jesus, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus replied: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matthew 22:36–39.) I find it interesting that the second greatest commandment is to love others when you see very little of that in the world today. It seems as though with all these "Christians" in the world there should be very little hate towards one another and a lot more peace and kindness. However, that is not the case so something must be askew.
     In the Book of Mormon it tells us that Charity is a gift from God and that we must ask for it. If we will just humble ourselves to come to God and have him help us we will all be able to feel a special love for each individual on the earth. You will come to feel a sincere concern for the eternal welfare and happiness of other people. You will see them as children of God with the potential of becoming like our Heavenly Father. I challenge all to seek the help from God in having charity in our hearts and loving all of those around us.