My message this month is based on a talk by Elder Wirthlin a couple years back on charity. In it he quotes the scriptures where the Pharisees ask Christ which is the great commandment. Of course Christ's answer was "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and all thy mind." This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." And from this I discovered what I think are three different types of true love:
First is the love that we have towards our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. As children looking for guidance from their earthly father, we must trust and come to know our Heavenly Father. Let me make a comparison with getting to know a friend. We can get to know a person in many different ways--talking face to face, being with them and doing things together, phone calls, or through emails or letter. While coming to know our Heavenly Father and Savior better, we are unfortunately unable to use most of these methods. If it's not too much of a stretch, imagine the scriptures as emails or letters we receive from Heavenly Father to guide us and to teach us about him and to help us to come closer to him. By reading the scriptures and coming unto him, we show our love for him and get to know him better.
The Savior set the perfect example of love for our Father by setting His own will aside and letting the Father's direct His actions. Mosiah chapter 15 verse 7 says that "even so shall he be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father." I've felt this love and am grateful for it, not only the love Christ showed by performing the Atonement for us, but also for being an example of true love and for teaching it to us. One place I really like in the scriptures where Christ teaches this love to us is in John chapter 21 verse 15. "So when they had dines, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs." The fish gave their lives under the Savior's command. Would I do the same?
This leads me to the second type of love. Second is the love that we are asked to give to our neighbor, or each other, as ourselves. Enos is a perfect example of this. After obtaining forgiveness of his sins he immediately desired that his brethren (the Lamanites) could be forgiven as well. The Savior also taught this principle to us in Matthew chapter 25 verse 37 through 40 by explaining that when we show love to others we show it to Christ as well. Understanding better what I call the first type of love, or love for our Heavenly Father, I think better helps us to understand love for our fellow man. As we look to President Monson as our new and dear prophet, it's very hard to overlook the great service for others he has done throughout his life. One of his many stories of service, to summarize, was when he was inspired to visit a sister in the ward on the way home from work. She was so glad to see him because no one else had remembered her birthday, but she was grateful that he was there. In order to achieve this kind of love for our fellow man, we must follow Mormon's invitation, quoted by Moroni, to pray for charity with all the energy of our hearts.
The last type of true love that we should strive to have is love for our spouse. Elder Holland has taught that "true love blooms when we care more about another person than we care about ourselves." Elizabeth has definitely demonstrated this to me by taking such good care of me when I've had bad migraines in the past. She is so gentle and unserstanding and often says that she wishes she could suffer the headache on my behalf. What a great example she is to me by showing more concern for me than for her own self.
Let me leave you with the following quote from President Joseph Fielding Smith: "If a man and his wife were earnestly and faithfully observing all the ordinances and principles of the gospel, there could not arise any cause for divorce. The joy and happiness pertaining to the marriage relationship would grow sweeter, and husband and wife would become more and more attached to each other as the days go by, not only would the husband love the wife and the wife the husband, but children born to them would live in an atmosphere of love and harmony. The love of each for the others would not be impaired, and moreover the love of all towards our Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ would be more firmly rooted in their souls."
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