I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come, Follow Me Moroni 7-9 (If you missed last week’s insights for Come, Follow Me Moroni 1-6). Save this pin to read later.
Learning to love like God.
“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—” Moroni 7:46
When it comes to love there are many types of love, often I heard “I love you because” or “I will love IF” Whereas neither is wrong. Neither of these types of love is charity. Let me give an example of the three types of love.
“I love you if.”
I love you if is the most basic type of love, it is rather shallow and it is the principle of “I will love you IF you do something”. An example would be a child loving you IF you give me candy, and on the flip side saying I don’t love/hate you when you deny them that candy. Or for adults, I will love this person in need IF they are a legal immigrant or vetted refugee. This kind of love has a short shelf life and is extremely conditional upon the “IF” always happening.
“I love you because.”
This is a much deeper level of love, it includes “I love you BECAUSE you make me feel good” and it also includes loving people BECAUSE they are “attractive” this type of love last longer but it is always conditional on that person staying attractive or making you feel good. This love is as strong as your “Because” (Which can be very strong).
“I love you despite.”
I love you despite the disagreements, I love you despite the fact you’ve gained 80lbs since we married. I will love and follow Jesus Christ despite how hard it is to obey His commandments. Or in the case of Jesus Christ, He will love us despite our shortcomings, rebellion, and moments of weakness where we forsake him with our actions. I love you “despite” is the love Heavenly Father has, it is how He can love us “despite” our actions. This love endureth forever, this love is Charity.
For a deeper dive into the topic of love see this article on charity.
How The Kingdoms Of Glory Teach Us About Love.
Thomas S. Monson
Jesus Christ and His Prophets.
“For immediately after I had learned these things of you I inquired of the Lord concerning the matter. And the word of the Lord came to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, saying:”
Moroni 8:7
God is consistent. When Mormon was the Prophet, He showed His love for Mormon and the church the same he has since Adam, by speaking to them. He showed His love to the people in the days of Adam by speaking to Adam, in the days of Noah the words to Adam were NOT enough so he spoke to Noah, in the days of Moses, David, Jesus and down to the days of Peter, James and John every time God shows His consistency and LOVE through speaking to Prophets on the earth.
Instead of church councils where men decide the doctrine and write creeds, preaching the doctrines of men mingled with scripture, today we have Prophets and Apostles on earth once again, and like in the days of yesteryear they speak the words of the Lord! I add my testimony to that of Elder Theodore M. Burton: “True apostles and prophets now live who can and do say, ‘Thus saith the Lord!’”
How seeking revenge is denying the Atonement.
“And if they perish it will be like unto the Jaredites, because of the wilfulness of their hearts, seeking for blood and revenge.” Moroni 9:23
As I read Moroni 9 I felt like I was reading the news about the state of the world today. From verses 11-15 talking about how we have lost our civilization and seek after abominations to verse 5 where it says they have “lost their love” it is a sad state when I can recognize America in the decayed and immortal description of the Nephite nation.
But verse 23 stood out to me with power, it details the exact pride that destroyed the Nephites and Jaredites and that is destroying us, namely seeking revenge.
Why is revenge such a damning and destroying poison, I mean it destroyed both the Nephites and Jaredites…but it has destroyed far more than that…It poisoned a third of the host of heaven and their leader Satan.
“Satan has many reasons for doing what he does. Perhaps the most powerful is the motive of revenge, but he also wants to make men and women miserable like he is miserable. None of us should ever underestimate how driven Satan is to succeed.” (L. Tom Perry April 2013)
Satan is motivated by revenge, He is angry with God and with us. He seeks to poison our hearts with the same poison that he was able to poison a third of the host of heaven with, namely enmity towards our fellow men and God.
When it comes to revenge we feel as if someone else is to blame for our suffering, and they should suffer because of their actions. We become so infatuated with justice that we forgive the MERCIFUL plan of the Salvation. But Mercy can not rob justice right? Someone needs to suffer!
Well, Someone has suffered because of their actions, in matter of fact He suffered for your actions also, Jesus Christ paid the full price for your sins, every single one of them, as well as those who have hurt you, He has paid for the sins of Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, He has paid the price for actions and sins of the illegal immigrant and for the legal immigrant, He has paid the price for the actions of ALL MEN. And as such can rightfully say “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay” He can “repay” because He has “paid” the price.
When we seek vengeance we are denying that Jesus paid the price and that vengeance is His, we are denying the atonement of Jesus Christ. When we seek vengeance we are saying “IT WAS NOT ENOUGH” I want to extract further payment than what has been paid.
Let us awaken from this awful state of denying Christ, let us realize revenge is the motivation of Satan and can only lead us to Satan and his awful state. Let us choose love and mercy, as love and mercy are the motivations that come from God, and they are the attributes of true disciples of Jesus Christ.
Henry B. Eyring