Since I learned about charity a while ago I've always had the question, how do I gain charity. I understand the scripture, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love" {the love being charity), but what urges one to pray and what should they pray for exactly as?
As I pondered these questions I began to study Moroni 7 and 8 a little bit more. Moroni 7 teaches us that faith is the first steps we need to take to develop charity. As we exercise true faith, meaning the only true person we can exercise faith in, because He is perfect--Jesus Christ--, we can begin to develop hope. Our hope grows as we adhere to gospel principles and commandments--thus exercising faith, and as we do so we begin to see the fruits of the spirit and other blessings in our lives. As we witness those blessings our hope will naturally grow, mainly our hope pertaining to the atonement, whether we realize it or not. As our faith and hope grows in the atonement we become cleansed and more perfect because of the Savior, this cleansing and perfecting helps us to be more like the Savior, as we become more like the Savior we begin to inherit some of His characteristics, such as love--or better said charity.
As I learned these truths, I began thinking about what moves us to exercise faith, there must be something more. I began to look for a key, a catalyst that can help us to exercise faith. Moroni 7:46 and Moroni 8:26 teaches that meekness is one of the keys that can open the door to faith-->hope--> and charity.
Moroni 7:44:
None is acceptable before God, save the meek and lownly in heart; and if a man be meek and lownly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity
Moroni 8:26:
And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lownliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God
I don't have the time right now to complete reference my thoughts, but I will later. I'm interested in anybody's thoughts in regards to this, I hope to hear from a few of you.
3 comments:
You are so good at "pondering" upon topics such as these. I know I am not always in the mood to be charitable, but I strive to be like Jesus and hope that as I put things into action my attitude will change. I keep telling myself I am a work in progress. I still have a lot to learn, but I am trying.
Caleb,
That is very interesting what you have found. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ponderings. I listen to talks in the car and one I listened to recently was a fireside by Neal A. Maxwell entitled 'Meekly Drenched in Destiny'. It is interesting that the same conclusion you came to he stated in his talk. His talk has caused me to ponder more about meekness as well. I think that is great you came to the realization of meekness being the catalyst yourself. (Having original thought is something I need to do more in my study, I am prone to just read the words without thinking for myself first. I am even more motivated to do it after reading in Teach Ye Diligently about writing our own thoughts.) Meekness, too, is one of the attributes of Deity. Instructively, Jesus, our Lord and Exemplar, called attention to Himself as being "meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). Paul extolled the "meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:1). The Greek rendition of the word meek in the New Testament, by the way, is gentle and humble. Here is the excerpt from his talk.
"Actually, meekness is not only an attribute essential for itself; Moroni declared that it is also vital because one simply cannot develop those other crucial virtues--faith, hope, and charity--without meekness. In the ecology of the eternal attributes these cardinal characteristics are inextricably bound up together. Among them, meekness is often the initiator, the facilitator, and the consolidator."
I am attaching the link here too, http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6882
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, it is good to hear from you.
Link
The quote got a little jumbled with my words in that last post. Here is the quote.
"Meekness, too, is one of the attributes of Deity. Instructively, Jesus, our Lord and Exemplar, called attention to Himself as being "meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). Paul extolled the "meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:1). The Greek rendition of the word meek in the New Testament, by the way, is gentle and humble.
Actually, meekness is not only an attribute essential for itself; Moroni declared that it is also vital because one simply cannot develop those other crucial virtues--faith, hope, and charity--without meekness. In the ecology of the eternal attributes these cardinal characteristics are inextricably bound up together. Among them, meekness is often the initiator, the facilitator, and the consolidator."
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