When the sons of Mosiah had completed their travels throughout the land of Zarahemla, making restitution for their wicked days with Alma the younger, they returned to their father and asked him to allow them to preach to their brethren, the Lamanites. They hoped to share with them the knowledge of their Heavenly Father, perhaps even curing the Lamanites’ hatred of their brethren, and bringing them to rejoice in their God. Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni were “desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.” (Mosiah 28:3)
Do we feel this same love for our brothers and sisters? Do we quake and tremble that our neighbors may not know of God’s love for them and suffer because of it?
Do we understand that the same God loves us this way? He anguishes over the possibility of us not making choices to be able to return to live with Him. We are loved with more than we can comprehend, and we have been taught by latter day prophets that because we are children of God, we have the capacity to love as He does. If we seek our Heavenly Father, we will find Him, and as we build our relationship with Him and learn to love Him, we will be able to grasp the love He has for us. With this grasp, we will be able to increase our capacity to have the same love for our fellow man, just as the sons of Mosiah did.
President Uchtdorf offered insight on increasing our capacity to love and building our relationship with our Heavenly Father. He taught, “Since ‘God is love,’ the closer we approach Him, the more profoundly we experience love. But because a veil separates this mortality from our heavenly home, we must seek in the Spirit that which is imperceptible to mortal eyes… seeking God with all our hearts implies much more than simply offering a prayer or pronouncing a few words inviting God into our lives. ‘For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.’ We can make a great production of saying that we know God. We can proclaim publicly that we love Him. Nevertheless, if we don’t obey Him, all is in vain, for ‘he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.’” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Love of God,” Ensign, Nov 2009)
To seek God with all our hearts, we need to obey His commandments. We learn from the Savior’s teachings the greatest commandment: Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, 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 neighbor as thyself (Matthew 22:36-39) The sons of Mosiah understood these commandments. They loved God, and they had the strong desire to impart of the word of God to their brethren, showing their love for their neighbor. President Uchtdorf continues, “Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings, and in our livelihood… When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk as disciples of Christ becomes more joyful. Our lives take on new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound. Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden.” President Uchtdorf makes obvious that the love of Jesus Christ should be at the center of our lives. Mormon teaches us the name of this love, “charity is the pure love of Christ,” and he adds ancient testimony to President Uchtdorf’s words, “wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all…” Charity, the characteristic we need to obey the two greatest commandments, should not just be at the center of our lives but should be the core of our lives, and as we learn from the apostle Paul, having this core gives meaning and depth to our obedience (See 1 Corinthians 13).
The sons of Mosiah understood charity, and their actions exemplified this Christlike attribute.
And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (Moroni 7:45)
This verse describes our Savior, whom we the sons of Mosiah were striving to emulate and we are also trying to emulate. These men sought not their own but instead to share the love of God with their brethren. They didn’t think the same evil of the Lamanites that the Lamanites thought of them, but they rejoiced in the truth that the Lamanites were also children of God, and with that knowledge, they knew how much love they should also have for the Lamanites. How can we become like the Savior? How can we learn to endure all things, think no evil, rejoice in truth, and love especially the Lamanites in our life? We can learn more about Him. We can follow His teachings. We can feel of His love in partaking of His infinite sacrifice as we change and heal through the Atonement. And by this, we will continue to deepen our love for Him and our Heavenly Father.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified, even as he is pure. (Moroni 7:48)
I add my testimony to Mormon’s; as we seek to follow the Savior’s example, we will be blessed with His pure love and have charity, and through the Savior’s Atonement, our strivings will lead us to once again enjoy the presence of our loving Heavenly Father.
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