I had the opportunity to teach my Relief Society last Sunday and wanted to share my lesson. Every 3 months I get the chance to prepare a lesson on a Christlike Attribute given in Preach My Gospel (the Missionary Manual used in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). This month our attribute was charity and love. And it could not have come on a better week. Our whole household got sick, especially sweet Jane, I had a friend who wanted a surprise photo shoot, my cooking articles were due for my side job and it was just a wild busy week. It taught me a lot to show love and have extra boosts of charity when I am stressed. Care for those you love, even when it is not "convenient." There is a great strength and happiness that comes when we strive to become more like the Savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for His life and teachings! What a blessing it is to belong to His church.
So many of the wonderful women in our Relief Society made amazing comments and shared experiences of their lives with this topic. It was a beautiful meeting and I felt so grateful for the women I get to rub shoulders with and learn from. As a hand out I gave each woman a ruler that I had written on with a gold pen, "The Golden Rule" "Treat others as Jesus would" "Charity Never Faileth." I loved preparing this lesson and learned so much in doing so and then even more from the women I taught it to. Enjoy reading my lesson outline and thinking about Charity and Love in your life!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Charity
& Love
"The highest, noblest,
strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ."
Talk I reference: “Love of Christ”, C. Max
Caldwell, Conference October 1992
Let us consider what is meant by the phrase
“love of Christ.” That answer is critical because “the Lord God hath given a
commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love.” (2 Ne.
26:30.) If we must have charity, then we must know what it is. The phrase “love
of Christ” might have meaning in three dimensions:
1. Love for Christ:
live gratefully
2. Love from Christ:
the Atonement
3. Love like Christ:
service & love to others
First, love for Christ. This concept proclaims Jesus as the object of our love, and our lives should be an external expression of our gratitude for him. Sometimes that is difficult to do.
- Our beloved President Benson told some of his experiences with the Saints in war-torn countries and shared the following: “One sister walked over a thousand miles with four small children, leaving her home in Poland. She lost all four to starvation and the freezing conditions. Yet she stood before us in her emaciated condition, her clothing shredded, and her feet wrapped in burlap, and bore testimony of how blessed she was.” (Ensign, Nov. 1980, p. 33.) Things we don’t enjoy must not overshadow our reasons to maintain our love for the Savior. Otherwise we may lose our perspective or become bitter, and our love for Christ may be lost.
- Another story of a man who lived through the Holocaust expresses gratitude and charity in a time of great sorrow and turmoil. In the book, Man’s Search for Meaning” Victor Frankl shares an experience he had upon the rescue and release from the concentration camp he was in. “Upon liberation a friend and I were walking through fields near the camp when suddenly we came to a field of green crops. Automatically, I avoided it, but he drew his arm through mine and dragged me through it. I stammered something about not treading down the young crops. He became annoyed, gave me an angry look and shouted, “You don’t say! And hasn’t enough been taken from us? My wife and child have been gassed- not to mention everything else- and you would forbid me to tread on a few stalks of oats!” Only slowly could these men be guided back to the commonplace truth that no one has the right to do wrong, not even if wrong has been done to them.”
- He later quotes, “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how. It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future. And this is his salvation in the most difficult moments of his existence, although he sometimes has to force his mind to the task. To choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, is to choose one’s own way.”
- Have you experienced or watched someone else live through a challenge with Gratitude and love for the Lord?
- What helps you to have grateful charity and love in your life!?
- How deeply do we love him? Does our love depend on favorable environments? Is it diminished or strengthened by our experiences? Is our love for him evident by our behavior and our attitude? Charity, or love for Christ, sustains us in every need and influences us in every decision.
A second dimension of the meaning of charity is love from Christ.
- Through his compliance with the severe requirements of the Atonement, the Savior offered the ultimate expression of love. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13.) And by permitting his Son to make such a selfless and suffering sacrifice, the Father provided us with an ultimate expression of his love as his gift to the rest of his children.
- This gift of charity is to be received. The Savior’s act of redemption for our sins is of no effect without our willingness to comply with the conditions of his atonement.
- In Preach My Gospel, Christlike Attributes, Charity and Love:
I
think it is really neat that in this section it uses the words "You
WILL..." Not, you can, or you may...you WILL! When you have charity you
are actively doing, you are eager and willing and you don't have to be asked.
It's part of your being, it's who you are!! As we read this list, think of the
things you WILL become when you receive this gift of Charity and Love from your
Father:
- "You will come to feel a sincere concern for the eternal welfare and happiness of other people. You will avoid negative feelings such as anger, envy, lust, or covetousness. You will avoid judging others, criticizing them, or saying negative things about them. You will try to understand them and their points of view. You will be patient with them and try to help them when they are struggling or discouraged. Charity, like faith, leads to action. You will develop charity as you look for opportunities to serve others and give of yourself."
A third perception of charity is to possess a love that is like Christ. In other words, people are the object of Christlike love.
- Live in anticipation of the divine directive that is proclaimed by the Savior as the key to the development of love: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you.” (John 13:34) Jesus’ love was inseparably connected to and resulted from his life of serving, sacrificing, and giving in behalf of others. We cannot develop Christlike love except by practicing the process prescribed by the Master.
- Charity is not just a precept or a principle, nor is it just a word to describe actions or attitudes. Rather, it is an internal condition that must be developed and experienced in order to be understood. We are possessors of charity when it is a part of our nature. People who have charity have a love for the Savior, have received of his love, and love others as he does.
Individually and collectively, we can experience
the peace and happiness enjoyed for nearly two hundred years anciently when
“there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did
dwell in the hearts of the people.” (4 Ne. 1:15.)
- Daughters in My Kingdom: Charity Never Faileth "Sister Wells, 5th RS President, and her counselors established a motto that would become a constant reminder of the organization’s founding principles and inspired origins. They chose a scriptural declaration: “Charity never faileth.” These three words embraced the charge that the Prophet Joseph Smith had given the Relief Society sisters: to “relieve the poor” and to “save souls.”
Link to Elder Caldwell's Talk:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1992/10/love-of-christ?lang=eng
