The Lord's Way of Helping

But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low. - D&C 104:16

As with all things, the best way of helping others is by emulating what God does with us. Since God is perfect, methods will be perfect inasmuch as they approach what God himself would do.

When it comes to consecrating our surplus resources, there are two basic fundamentals: what is a surplus, and how do we use it?

First, how do you determine what is surplus? In other words, how much of resources should use for your you righteously yourself and your family, and how much should you dedicate to building others?

Some constrain their kingdom building to specific assignments from priesthood leaders. Others build the kingdom as long as it is comfortable to do so. Neither boundary condition will entitle the builder to the blessings of living the fullness of the law of consecration.

The scripture reads, “Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength.”¹ Some wrest this scripture to excuse them from any good works which would be uncomfortable. Anything that would cause inconvenience is labeled as ex- any personal treme, thus excusing them from any perceived responsibility to participate upon the pretense that it would be unrighteous. Such was also the reasoning of evil-minded men in the days of the Savior, who were quick to claim their property as corban, or dedicated to the Lord, so that they could keep it for themselves instead of fulfilling the obligation to spend it on the care of those entitled to their support. The Savior said that their hearts were far from Him, and their worship was in vain.²

To place our comfort before our service is to wrest the scriptures to say “Do not run. Do not labor.” Such is clearly not the meaning intended.

Likewise, to limit yourself to those activities to which you are assigned by your leaders is not to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause...do[ing] many things of their [your] free will.”³

The strongest evidence against these common interpretations of the law of consecration is scriptural. If we are only to do things that benefit others when specifically prescribed to do so by Church assignment, then we must find another explanation for the actions of those in the scriptures. For example, what leader asked Moroni to starve and suver his entire life in the name of the freedom of his countrymen? Did his priesthood leaders ask him to hoist the standard of liberty? What about Nehemiah of the Old Testament? No one asked him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.⁴ No one commanded the sons of Mosiah to preach the gospel to the Lamanites. And the examples go on and on.

If anything, these individuals were implicitly discouraged by the status quo, and explicitly discouraged by peers. Nehemiah’s . peers threatened and mocked him⁵ There were people willing to die to prevent Moroni from accomplishing his goal. The sons . of Mosiah were laughed to scorn⁶ And the examples go on and on. They were not asked to do any of it. So why did they do it? What would cause these people to go far beyond the status quo and accomplish impactful, meaningful service at their own expense and significant evort?

They did it all because of a proactive desire to be of service to this earth. They understood that consecration is about what you are capable of doing, not what you are asked to do. They had a mind to work.⁷ They sought out opportunities to build the and those even in kingdom, they leveraged opportunities, the face of resistance from the status quo, and at personal peril. They followed the Lord’s admonition to “be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.”⁸ In each case, the results were strikingly significant.

So, if our hearts are full of desire to do the work, how do we define a righteous limit to what we do and give? On my first mission, I was zealous in preaching the gospel of the Lord. At times, I found myself so exhausted that I felt guilty that I could not do more. In an interview with my mission President, he related the mission to a marathon. He to clearly explained me that a marathon runner who runs as fast as he can from the mile will never the race. He said our must be first finish pace determined by our long-term goals. The marathon runner runs at the fastest pace that will still leave him enough energy to finish. In terms of the law of consecration, we have to give everything we can without sacrificing explicit exceptions from the Lord. For instance, it is good to dedicate money to worthy causes, but becomes sin when we fail to first pay our tithing. There is an explicit expectation of the Lord for almost all of our resources, not just money. For example, it is good to dedicate surplus time to a good cause, but if we fail to first give our families the time they need, “no other success can compensate for failure in the home.”⁹ It is good to read good books, but not at the expense of scripture study. A missionary is not to give away his food money to those in need, beyond what would be a generous fast overing. To do so would him of the nourishment he needs to deprive handle his assigned task: full-time proselyting. It is better that one man without bread than a whole area without the go without the bread of life. A father is expected to help those in need, but if he does so by taking the necessities of life from his wife and children, he has run faster than he is able. A student is expected to work with all his might to accomplish his education, but never at the expense of his keeping the Sabbath holy. This is a righteous principle which can be applied to almost every resource.

We can see the principle of righteous withholding in the life of the Savior. Though he gave his very life, he would not give that which he truly did not have to give. He wouldn’t give anything that would prevent Him from accomplishing his prescribed duties. He would not, for example, have given his life on the cross before performing the Atonement. This being said, it is also true that he would give anything that would not hinder his ability to do the greatest good. The Savior did not remain among the multitudes after becoming spiritually drained.¹⁰ They never ceased to throng Him, yet he left them from time to time. This was so that he could always give them the greatest service possible. Had he stayed among them, he could not have blessed and taught them to the degree that he did. Allowing yourself to serve sub-optimally, or, in other words, to give in ways that will hinder your ability to fulfill your explicit obligations to God and to others, is running faster than you have strength and must be avoided.

We follow the Savior by obeying this principle. Situations will arise in your life when your heart will be ripped from you as you watch those you love struggle. You will desire to give of your time, talents, and means to help them, even when you don’t have the time, talents, or means to do so. Do not fall into the temptation to give that which you do not have. Such behavior may help your loved one in the moment, but will almost certainly prevent you from attending to your explicit duty to God, to your own spiritual self-reliance, and to your responsibilities to others, and will likely cause others to have to support you once the urgency of the situation fades and the reality of the cost of your actions sets in. self-suH in order to Jeopardizing your ciency help another is running faster than you have strength. You must realize that you simply can’t avord to give what you can’t avord to give. You are to give everything you can and nothing that you can’t.

Second, how do you use your surplus? What is the best way to contribute your resources to lift others?

We read that there will be no poor in Zion.¹¹ Some mistakenly believe that this will be because the rich simply give away all their money. Though the rich will be free with their means, if such were to happen right now, the poor would still poor! The change would be that the rich would have no money. The other significant change that will occur in Zion is that the poor will learn the principles of self-restraint and investment.

The poor are poor, not because they do not earn enough but because do not as money, they leverage opportunity they ought, spending their time and money on all the wrong things. Isaiah, speaking poetically about feasting on the principles of the gospel, said, “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”¹² This scripture has temporal implications which are just as the spiritual implications: The culture of the poor is to purchase that which, in the words of Nephi, are “of no worth” and to “labor for that which cannot satisfy.”¹³ The poor are lacking some combination of self-restraint, priorities, time management, work ethic, and investment know-how. As long as the poor continue to buy consumer electronics, go out to eat, go on vacation, etc., instead of directing their resources to building income by increasing their training to earn more while increasing their thrift and spending less, the poor will continue to be poor.

How are we to help the poor? The Lord said, “ye must visit the poor and the needy and administer to their relief.”¹⁴ But does this mean that we are to give handouts to the poor? How will handouts change the culture of the needy? It will only cause them to rely on handouts to support their sub-optimal behaviors. But it also hurts them spiritually: “Whatever causes us to be dependent on someone else for decisions or resources we could provide for ourselves weakens us spiritually and retards our growth toward what the gospel plan intends us to be.”¹⁵

Free handouts do not help. They hurt. I once heard a story about a herd of deer whose population had exploded. There was not enough grass during the winter to feed the deer, and started of starvation. to feed they dying Sympathizers began the deer with straw. The deer gorged themselves, and then were found dead the next had eaten so much straw that day. They their stomachs burst.

When we give handouts to the poor, we may be feeding them, but the effect of the substance is poison. Their lot is worse when we leave them than when we met them. Instead of giving them a ladder with which to climb out of their situation, we have dug their hole deeper. Brigham Young said,

My experience has taught me, and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing, or anything else, if they are able-bodied, and can work and earn what they need, when there is anything on the earth, for them to do....To pursue a contrary course would ruin any community in the world and make them idlers....No, my plan and counsel would be, let every person, able to work, work and earn what he needs; and if the poor come around me—ablebodied men and women—take them and put them into the house. “Do you need them?” No; but I will teach this girl to do housework, and teach that woman to sew and do other kinds of work, that they may be profitable when they get married or go for themselves. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:297)

This lesson is echoed in a story told by a man seeking work from Joseph Smith.

I said, “Mr. Smith, if you please, have you any employment you could give us both, so we can get some provisions?” He viewed us with a cheerful countenance, and with such a feeling of kindness, said, “Well, boys, what can you do?” We told him what our employment was before we left our native land.

Said he, “Can you make a ditch?” I replied we would do the best we could at it. “That’s right, boys,” and picking up a tape line, he said, “Come along with me.”

He took us a few rods from the store, gave me the ring to hold, and stretched all the tape from the reel and marked a line for us to work by. “Now, boys,” said he, “can you make a ditch three feet wide and two and a half feet deep along this line?”

We said we would do our best, and he left us. We went to work, and when it was finished I went and told him it was done. He came and looked at it and said, “Boys, if I had done it myself it could not have been done better. Now come with me.” He led the way back to his store, and told us to pick the best ham or piece of pork for ourselves. Being rather bashful, I said we would rather he would give us some. So he picked two of the largest and best pieces of meat and a sack of flour for each of us, and asked us if that would do. We told him we would be willing to do more work for it, but he said, “If you are satisfied, boys, I am.” (Joseph Smith, quoted in “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith”[^65])

It would have been much easier for Joseph to simply give them the food. After all, clearly they were in need. But Joseph understood that the only true kind of assistance is the kind that not only meets the immediate need, but also improves the person. Carnegie said,

In bestowing charity, the main consideration should be to help those who will help themselves; to provide part of the means by which those who desire to improve may do so; to give those who desire to rise the aids by which they may rise; to assist, but rarely or never to do all. Neither the individual nor the race is improved by almsgiving. Those worthy of assistance, except in rare cases, seldom require assistance. The really valuable men of the race never do, except in case of accident or sudden change. Every one has, of course, cases of individuals brought to his own knowledge where temporary assistance can do genuine good, and these he will not overlook. But the amount which can be wisely given by the individual for individuals is necessarily limited by his lack of knowledge of the circumstances connected with each. He is the only true reformer who is as careful and as anxious not to aid the unworthy as he is to aid the worthy, and, perhaps, even more so, for in almsgiving more injury is probably done by rewarding vice than by rewarding virtue. (Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth”)

When Heavenly Father helps us, he does not send us a paycheck in the mail every two weeks. He gave us a brain to think, hands to work, and legs to move. Whenever he provides assistance to us, it is always couched in a multitude of learning experiences. You should give alms to others in the same way God gives alms to us. He gives us opportunity to work, to learn, to sacrifice, and to improve. To follow his example is to provide opportunities for advancement, not handouts.

While the reasons for not giving handouts are strong, this does not relinquish our responsibility to give to the poor. The Lord was clear when he gave us the following through King Benjamin:

And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suver that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish. (Mosiah 4:16)

The emphasis here is the structure of our assistance. As in the Joseph Smith story, we ought to require work for anything we and those in need learn more skills to extract them give, help from their situation. We must teach them something, or else our “help” really isn’t helping them at all, but extending their present state of need.

This principle is illustrated in the story of Joseph of Egypt. When Joseph is approached by his starving brothers who request food of him, he does not simply provide the food. Instead, he makes demands of them, helping them to correct faults in their behavior before and while he helps them.¹⁷ The Savior demonstrates this principle in his intercourse with a blind man seeking healing:

And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. (Luke 18:38-42)

The Savior did not go to the blind man, but commands the blind man to come to Him. If Joseph had fed his brethren and ignored their suboptimal behavior, he would have gone to them and healed them where they were. But the Savior shows us that we should help others by teaching them how to elevate themselves to our level so that they have what we have. On another occasion, the Savior addressed a group who began to follow him after he miraculously provided food to a multitude of people:

Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you. (John 6:26-27)

The Savior’s mission was not to dole out divine blessings, but to give us the teachings and opportunities to earn those blessings for ourselves. You should avoid doling out the fruits of the gospel which you have received without first helping those in need to live the principles which you have followed to receive those blessings in the first place. After all, we are not on this earth to avoid suvering, but that our suvering might impel us to be more like God. We hinder those we intend to help when we remove suv ering, which is often the impetus for improvement, without facilitating improvement.

The Lord always used alms in conjunction with teaching. He said, “And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken.”¹⁸ In the days of the United Order, the Church gave lands to the poor so that they could farm and support themselves. They were given a means to earn an income, not money itself. We don’t live in an agrarian economy today, so it isn’t as easy as giving someone a piece of land and some seeds, but the law of the harvest is still in effect. Are they without work? Provide them with counsel, encouragement, and opportunity. Help them learn the principle of work, and develop the self confidence that will assist them in becoming self-propelled toward success. Give them work to do in an environment where they can learn new skills. Build them up until they are at your stature, if they will have it. Let them be satisfied at the bottom rung of the ladder, but make sure they know that there is more to be had, and how it is to be had.

Those in business administration, whether they be employers or owners, have a special ability to help build the kingdom. Places of employment can be a haven for kingdom building. Brigham Young said,

You count me out fifty, a hundred, five hundred, or a thousand of the poorest men and women you can find in this community; with the means that I have in my possession, I will take these ten, fifty, hundred, five hundred, or a thousand people, and put them to labor; but only enough to benefit their health and to make their food and sleep sweet unto them, and in ten years I will make that community wealthy. In ten years I will put six, a hundred, or a thousand individuals, whom we have to support now by donations, in a position not only to support themselves, but they shall be wealthy, shall ride in their carriages, have fine houses to live in, orchards to go to, flocks and herds and everything to make them comfortable. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 14:88)

Brother Brigham understood that any people who are willing to work and of can be to have as much capable learning brought income producing potential as the next man. If you consider that when the poor become rich, they have more money to spend, you can quickly see how the righteous way to grow an economy is to enable the idle to create wealth, the workers to work more eHciently, the owners to practice principles of the gospel, and the wealthy to invest in expanding and starting businesses.

The Lord said that it is his desire to provide for the Saints, “But it must needs be done in mine own way.”¹⁹ Should not all things, including how we dispense charity through our business interests, be done in his own way, or according to the principles and patterns of the gospel? The Lord said, “Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom.”²⁰

We are not interested in equalizing in the traditional sense, by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. To do so would be against the system that God has established, and in line with Satan’s plan of compulsory obedience. Instead we are to teach the poor how to be rich. You see, under the plan of salvation, God Himself does not become less in order to make us more. The Savior condescended to come to live on this earth, but his loss was not given that all men would be instant heirs of the glory of the Father. Instead, his sacrifices were so that all would have the opportunity to work out their salvation, through obedience in the principles established for that purpose.²¹ In effect, he dropped a ladder into the pit without climbing it for us. For you to follow his example, you surely must dedicate your all to doing anything possible to improve your fellowman, but without handout when such can be avoided.

Not everyone will choose to accept your help, especially when there are improvement implications. The Lord’s way of helping is just one temporal application of the plan of salvation. As we know, there are those who reject the whole gospel. Why be surprised when some reject this one principle? There are rich who are unwilling to give their means to the poor, and there are poor who are unwilling to work and obtain and discipline themselves to become rich.

Consider a practical example of the Lord’s way of helping. Chile, a fertile country on the west coast of South America, is today a global exporter of produce. Decades ago, it was not. The situation was, and is, that in Chile, most of the land is owned by very few people. Most people do not own land; they live in squatter camps where they are given the land for free by the government after occupying it for several years. A man named Sam Daines went to Chile and tried to change that. He decided to purchase a large tract of land in Chile. he began to farm it. His plan was to empower the Chilean migrant workers to be landowners. He found workers, taught them how to farm the land and created a co-op for them. The workers who were responsible as laborers would be given the opportunity to be sharecroppers—in effect renting the land from Sam while reaping part of the profits from their work on it. Those who proved successful in sharecropping would be given the chance to purchase the land. Agency was respected, hard work was rewarded, skills were learned, and men were given a chance to become what they never could have without Sam Daines. This is a great example of true kingdom building.

To build the kingdom is to prepare this earth for the return and millennial reign of Jesus Christ. We are told that those in Zion will be equal in all things. The pattern here is not to take from those who have and haphazardly give to those who have not. The way to Zion is through the haves giving opportunity to the have-nots, that through their work and improvement they become the haves.