Scriptural discussions of faith often include the topic of charity. For example:
27 And <u>if men come unto me</u> I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, <u>then will I make weak things become strong unto them.</u>
28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto <u>me—the fountain of all righteousness. (Ether 12)</u>
Charity means caring for others more than you care for yourself.
While the efficacy of your charity depends on the breadth and depth of your knowledge of reality, whether you are motivated or not by the welfare of others is a yes or no question. Charity is a quality that is binary: you either have it or you don’t. You either care about other people more than yourself, or you don’t. You can’t be partially interested in the benefit of others. If you only care about others when it is convenient for you to do so, you still care more about yourself than you do others.
God is charitable
God is charitable. He is solely motivated by the welfare of others:
He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life... (2 Nephi 26:24)
Charity is required both to become like the Lord and also to see him how he really is:
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
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. Amen. (Moroni 7:48)
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
If you are not charitable, you are not yet like him.
You can’t receive what he has without being like he is:
...except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father. (Ether 12:34)
Unless you, too, are solely motivated by the welfare of others, you will never experience and learn what you need to become like he is.
The greatest joy can be obtained only through charitable faith
While many outcomes are available through faith alone, the best are not reachable through self-centered motives:
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1 Corinthians 13)
Faith alone will take you to and through what, in light of God’s justice, you must endure for your own benefit. However, faith alone can’t motivate you to seek and endure the experiences and lessons that are for the benefit of others.
When the Lord was suffering the burden of the sins of the world in the garden of Gethsemane, he said:
...Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. (Mark 14:36)
He wanted his suffering to be taken away from him, but he knew that the only way he could redeem mankind was to embrace the fullness of his mission until it was complete. Charity enticed him to do what faith alone would not do. His concern for others was greater than his concern for himself.
You do not have to atone for the sins of mankind in order to find the limits of faith without charity. In things big and small, only charity will motivate you to act, think, and feel as God would in your place.
In the passage from 1 Corinthians 13 quoted above, Paul described the limits of faith without charity. If you pay attention, you will see situations each day where the lack of charity will keep you from doing the right thing. Your carnal appetites will present you with endless situations where the lack of charity will cause you to put your own welfare before that of others. These little things are in fact only the small end of much bigger things. One who can’t put others first in little things will not put others first in big things.
The big things seem less common, but their consequences are so immense that choosing improperly has eternal impact.
The sacrifice of Ammon and his brothers was motivated by charity. He said he desired “to dwell among [the Lamanites] for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.” (Alma 17:23) These were no idle words. Ammon and his brothers faced the mocking of their countrymen, the likelihood of suffering, and even death, at the hands of the iniquitous and dangerously violent tendencies of the Lamanites, as well as actual starvation, imprisonment, and beating at their hands:
23 Now do ye remember, my brethren, that we said unto our brethren in the land of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of Nephi, to preach unto our brethren, the Lamanites, and they laughed us <u>to scorn?</u>
24 For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers, as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the shedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning? Now my brethren, ye remember that this was their language.
25 And moreover they did say: Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us.
26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent <u>that perhaps we might save some few of their souls.</u>
27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and <u>bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.</u>
28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have <u>suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to</u> house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.
29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and <u>mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have</u> been delivered again.
30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, <u>that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we</u> supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.
31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.
32 For behold, they had rather sacrifice their lives than even to take the life of their enemy; and they have buried their weapons of war deep in the earth, because of their love towards their brethren.
33 And now behold I say unto you, has there been so great love in all the land? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, there has not, even among the Nephites. (Alma 26)
Ammon and his brothers would never have endeavored such a mission without caring more about the Lamanites than they cared for themselves. Their sacrifice was consummate, and nothing less would have worked. This assertion is not theoretical—others tried to minister to the Lamanites without charity and failed. These men—Jacob, his son, Enos, and many others—failed in their significant efforts to preach to the Lamanites, in spite of the fact that they had “unshaken” faith:
“...we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.” (Jacob 4:6)
Your faith without charity can do mighty miracles, but you will always eventually encounter situations where it is insufficient:
46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. (Moroni 7)
Charity is required to attain a fullness of faith because only charity can motivate the actions required to receive a fullness of joy. The most valuable outcomes can only be reached through charitable faith.
Charity isn’t optional. Charity is required to enter the kingdom of heaven, because without it, you will not be able to remain there, as you will encounter situations where your faith is insufficient to continue to be who you need to be to comfortably dwell in the presence of God: “And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God;” (Moroni 10:21)
Charity comes from better understanding God’s love for you
When the writers of the scriptures speak of gaining charity, they speak of praying for it:
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. Amen. (Moroni 7:48)
It is through gaining a greater understanding of Christ’s love for you that you will gain that same love for others. When you pray for charity, you are praying to better understand the love of Christ for you.
In order to understand God’s love for you, you must understand more than you presently do about God’s greatness, God’s suffering, and your contributions to God’s suffering. While learning these things causes great joy in God’s goodness, it causes immense pain to learn of your wickedness.
The experience of Alma provides a wonderful example of the pain that comes with the revelation of one’s wickedness, as well as the joy that comes with the revelation of more of God’s goodness, as well as the invariable desire for the welfare of others that comes with it:
11 And the angel spake more things unto me, which were heard by my brethren, but I did not hear them; for when I heard the words—If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God—I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I fell to the earth and I did hear no more.
12 But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.
13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
14 Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.
15 Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.
16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.
22 Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.
23 But behold, my limbs did receive their strength again, and I stood upon my feet, and did manifest unto the people that I had been born of God.
24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. (Alma 36)
This experience is not unique to Alma. All believers who have come to comprehend their past sins and God’s love for them come away with a love of all mankind. Consider Enos’ experience:
4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.
5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.
6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.
7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?
8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.
9 Now, it came to pass that when I had heard these words I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites; wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them.
10 And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind again, saying: I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments. I have given unto them this land, and it is a holy land; and I curse it not save it be for the cause of iniquity; wherefore, I will visit thy brethren according as I have said; and their transgressions will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads.
11 And after I, Enos, had heard these words, my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord; and I prayed unto him with many long strugglings for my brethren, the Lamanites. (Enos 1)
Enos prayed first for his own soul; second for his countrymen; third for his mortal enemies. He had developed a love for all mankind.
Ammon and his brothers learned of God’s love in the same way:
17 Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state?
18 Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to destroy his church.
19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?
20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.
21 And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things, save it be the penitent. (Alma 26)
Ammon realized that only those who had come to a knowledge of their sins could come to see the love of God the way a sinner does.
Charity is binary, but love varies
Previously, the example of Enos was given to illustrate how he gained charity through God forgiving him of his sins. While Enos loved the Lamanites, he did not love them more than he loved himself. Enos would have expressed greater love by giving up his normal life and risking everything to go among the Lamanites on the outside chance some of them might listen, as Ammon and his brethren did. Love only becomes charity when it is unconditional, meaning that there are no limits placed on the amount of suffering of the individual compared to the benefit it will render to others. Non-charitable love is willing to sacrifice something on the altar. Whether the sacrifice be a dove or a bull, little or great, it is still limited to the convenience of the giver. Unconditional love has no limits. Everything is in play. A charitable person will not only sacrifice everything they have. Having sacrificed everything they have, they will also climb onto the altar and give themselves if it will benefit someone else.
It was this type of love that Jesus said was the greatest:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
The Greek version of this verse conveys much more than the various English translations. It would be more correct to word this verse as:
The greatest love a man can render is to dedicate his life to the benefit of all mankind.
In order to pre-empt opposition to the use of “all mankind” in place of “his friends,” note that Jesus taught that a man’s neighbors included all people within a person’s potential influence (see Luke 10:25-42), and that you should love not just those that have the potential to benefit you, but more especially those who “hate” and “despitefully use you”—commonly known as “your enemies” (see Matthew 5:44).
Love is denominated in how much you are willing to suffer for the benefit of others. In this world, the greatest love you can show is to give everything that can be given in this life for the benefit of another. It is this sacrifice that Jesus made, not only terminating his life for our benefit, but living every day of his life previous to that event in perfect obedience to the Father.
It is this consummate love that Jesus commands us to have for others:
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. (John 15:12)
Jesus proved with his life that it is possible for a person to have this kind of love for all others, including their most bitter enemies:
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44)
His true servants have followed his example, and you can, too.
The entrance requirement to heaven is charity. To dwell in the fullness of God’s presence, one must also make their love unconditional, their sacrifice for others total and unrestrained.
Transmitting faith to others
When you come to perceive the love God has for you, it generates love in you for others. John wrote succinctly that our love of God comes because of our awareness of his love for us: “We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) It is this love that causes us to increase in our love for others:
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (1 John 4)
Like love, faith is contagious. The more faith you exercise, the easier you will make it for others to do the same.
You can help give other people desire by helping them imagine outcomes that never before would have crossed their minds.
You can help other people reason through situations beyond their possession of wisdom.
You can help other people act in ways they didn’t think possible.
You can help other people identify outcomes that they obtained through faith beyond what they would have otherwise recognized.
None of these things need take a lifetime of work to accomplish, though you would be hard-pressed to spend your life in a better way. It is amazing to see just how great of changes you can help bring to pass in the lives of others by taking advantage of passing opportunities for a kind word, a helpful suggestion, or sharing enabling resources.
People need your example in order to know what improvement is possible in life, and, through your example, to have a reason to believe it is possible. Through your faith, you can “lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.” (Hebrews 12:12)
The people within your reach need you to “teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart....” (Alma 37:34)
Help other people see things as they are really are, then help them see how they could be. This will not be pleasant to any but the meekest of individuals, but it will yield joy for all who listen:
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11)
For every person you encounter, ask yourself, “what is the best possible outcome for this person? If they were to build the most abundant life they could enjoy, what would it look like?” Then ask yourself, “given where they are now, what is the smallest possible step they could take towards that outcome?” Then ask yourself, “what can I do to make it easier for them to take that step?” If you incessantly repeat this process with everyone you meet, you will quickly affect a staggering difference in this world.
Teach other people to deserve your efforts. Teach them that they will reap what they sow, that your time is precious, and that your resources are limited. As you exercise more and more faith, you will possess greater shares of the love of God within you. You will happily give everything you are, have, could be, or could have for the benefit of any soul, but that doesn’t entitle anyone to what you have to share so long as there exist people who will make better use of it. You are obligated to do the best you can with what you have, and that requires you to prioritize those who will do the most with what you give them.
The greatest joy in life can be found in helping someone feel more of the love of God—which exceeds all other good things on earth. Once you taste this joy, nothing else on earth can compare. Alma described this as “exceedingly great joy”:
25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors;
26 For because of the word which he has imparted unto me, behold, many have been born of God, and have tasted as I have tasted, and have seen eye to eye as I have seen; therefore they do know of these things of which I have spoken, as I do know; and the knowledge which I have is of God. (Alma 36)
While some accounts illustrate the kind of sudden awareness God can give us of his love, his love is far greater than what can be revealed all at once. A one-time revelation of his love can be jarring enough to empower great sacrifice on our part for the welfare of others, but the faithful disciple will be showered with constant, progressing understanding of God’s love for us.
As we travel the path of faith, we will accrue additional evidence of God’s love for us that gives us the strength to push beyond previous limits, and to truly bear, believe, hope, and endure all things, particularly in our pursuit of helping others to feel the same.
The end of faith
The journey of faith begins when the individual is given an idea that some better outcome exists. It continues through the successive attainment of increasingly better outcomes.
No matter where one’s faith begins, all paths will converge on Jesus Christ. When correct ideas about the Lord are obtained and followed, they will lead the individual to learn and experience things they would otherwise not be willing to endure. The pinnacle lesson in this path is to acquire charity.
As the individual seeks God with all their might, mind, and strength, they will find themselves facing and overcoming monumental trials. As they do, they will see how nothing can stop God’s love for them, and this will give them the strength to show God’s love to others through all barriers:
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)
In this way, they will come to endure all things, and obtain all that God gives:
19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.
20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31)
All people who continue in the journey of faith will find it culminates in the singular experience of knowing Jesus Christ, becoming like him, and dwelling with him:
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. (Job 42:5)
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. Amen. (Moroni 7:48)
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
Seek God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. Continuously emulate what you learn about him in your life. Press forward, growing in your faith and in your love of God and your fellowmen, and you will find joy beyond all comparison.