Loving as Christ Loves

I remember a time at the beginning of my mission when I was struggling with a few various things. This is somewhat normal when you are new to the mission field and really have no idea what you are doing.  Specifically I remember struggling to feel immediate love for those I interacted with. I thought about missionary stories I had previously heard where loving those they had just met seemed to come naturally, yet I didn't feel that way. How could I love someone I had just met? Was I a bad missionary because I didn't feel this way?

I wrote home to my mother expressing those concerns explaining that I was having a hard time finding love for those I interacted with. My mother simply responded, "pray that the Lord will lend you some of His love." Our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ love us deeply and perfectly. When you are finding it hard to love someone else, or feel love doesn't come naturally, lean on their love, after all isn't that how we are taught to love in the scriptures.

Christ taught in John that we are to love one another as He has loved us.

In Mormon, during a time of great wickedness and contention Mormon cries repentance to a group of people called the Nephites. I'm sure loving the Nephites at this time was difficult. In fact in verse twelve of chapter three he exclaims, "behold I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the love of God which was in me." It wasn't simply Mormon's love alone, it was the love of the Father and The Son that carried him. 

Lastly, Moroni the final prophet to write in the Book of Mormon teaches us more about this principle. He encourages us to, "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart that (we) may be filled with this love, which He has bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ."

" This love" Moroni is referring to is charity which is the pure love of Christ. When I earnestly prayed for this love my whole mission was changed. I feel I was privileged to see people through the eyes of Christ and love them with a deep love that was more powerful than a love I had ever experienced and a greater love than a love I could create on my own. I was able to feel charity told toward people I had just met because I was striving to love others as Christ loves them. 

I know that our Savior lives. I know His love is real. I feel it daily, whether it comes through other people, or through His own manifestations it is there. 

Paul in an epistle to the Romans said, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

 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."

You are always within reach of Him who loves you perfectly. I would encourage you this week to look for those daily witnesses of His love for you.  

God Is Oh So Good To Us

This week I have reflected often on how wonderful God is to us and how grateful I am for my life right now and the blessings Heavenly Father has "poured out" to me. In my prayers at night my heart is full as I humbly and prayerfully talk to the Father. He is oh so good to us, and often times I don't feel I deserve all He does for us. As I was doing my daily scripture study I was reading in 3 Nephi chapter 24, verse 10 about the principle of tithing.

This verse reads, "bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

I know in this context this verse is talking about tithing, but I know that when we sacrifice anything, when we do all we can to follow Christ, He will ultimately bless us far greater than what we had to give up. I feel in my life, Christ has always blessed me with more than I deserve. In reality the sacrifices we make are no sacrifice at all after all He gives back to us; the biggest blessing being the precious gift of His divine Son. I am grateful to experience little tender mercies daily that remind me of How mindful the Father and the Son are of us. I feel the open windows of Heaven and God reaching out to me through these daily tender mercies and for that I am most grateful.

As I Have Loved You

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner love is in the air. I’ve been thinking a lot about what this four letter word means and I’ve learned a lot about it especially this past week. If you think this is going to be a sappy post about my relationship, keep scrolling. This is going to be more focused on the Savior and His perfect love for us.

I listened to a talk this week be Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the members of the quorum of the twelve apostles.  Emotionally at the beginning of his talk he expressed, 

 “Brothers and sisters, do you have any idea—do you have any notion or inkling whatsoever—of how much we love you?...  Here you are, there you are, hour after hour, in your Sunday best, being your best. You sing and you pray. You listen and you believe. You are the miracle of this Church. And we love you.”

(Here’s the link to the talk)

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/tomorrow-the-lord-will-do-wonders-among-you?lang=eng

 

We as human’s sometimes just need to feel those feelings of love and comfort. I remember when Elder Holland started his talk this way tears came into my eyes. For some reason during that moment those were the exact words my soul needed to hear. I knew and felt the love the Prophet and His apostles have for us. There is a love that is constant, a love we never need to worry will disappear. It is the love of our Father in Heaven and His Only Begotten, Jesus Christ.

 As I studied the Atonement of Jesus Christ specifically this week I learned about the love the Father has for us.

 “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying; Eli Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say my God my God why hast thou forsaken me?”  

 Why did Christ endure, when all odds were against Him?

Why did He drink of the bitter cup and fight until the very end? Because of His undeniable love for us. For Christ so loved us.

This moment, as the Father watched His son suffer in great agony, had to be one of the hardest moments, if not the hardest moment of His life. To hear the Savior of the World call out "Abba"...daddy, as great drops of blood fell from every pore had to have pained the Father’s heart in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. Why did the Father leave the Son, alone, in the hardest moment? How could He watch this occur? Because of His undeniable love for us. Because He knew how vital this ultimate act of love would be to each of us. For God so loved us.

As I read in 3 Nephi and in Matthew, I learned about the love the Savior has for us.

As resurrected Lord He ministers among the people of the Americas. With wet eyes and humble hearts the people stand in the presence of the Savior. The Savior beckons them to come unto Him.

“Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.”

I look forward to the day when we will get to stand before the Savior’s face and feel the very scars in His hands that He has acquired for us.

I know that, “We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Our Savior’s love is real. It is tangible. Elder Hales asked the question “if we love the Savior will we hurt less?” I know that as we draw near unto Jesus Christ, the only Begotten of the Father, the Comforter and Redeemer of the World, we will find His hands were already wrapped so tightly around us. We will indefinitely hurt less when we rely on His love to carry us. I promise you that His love is unfailing. It will always be there. No matter how many steps we may feel we have taken away from Him, His hand is “outstretched still.”

 I testify that arguably in the hardest moment of the Savior’s life when He was left alone suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane the Father was probably closer than ever, but the Savior had to experience what it was like to be alone. Because He endured that, we will NEVER EVER have to.

 “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son.” For God so loved you…for God so loved me. How incredible, how beautiful, how powerful, and abiding the precious love of the Father and Son are to me. 

Upon the Rock of Our Redeemer

Helaman, a loving father in the book of Mormon in Helaman chapter 5 is giving advice to his sons.  In verse 12, one of the most quoted scriptures we read,

“And now, my sons, remember remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the rock upon which ye are built which is a sure foundation, a foundations whereon if men build they cannot fall. "

I remember as a missionary memorizing this scripture. Often I would call upon it in times of distress and hardship. The promise at the very end of this verse is one of eternal value. We are promised that if we build upon Christ, we will not fall. What a promise! Even if we feel at times we are sinking, that our faith is fading, if we trust on, hope on, and look to Christ we will not fall.  I know that to be true. At times where I have been weak, He has carried me.

When  building a house laying a foundation is not easy work, in fact it requires great effort yet it is detrimental to the house. Christ has already paid that price. He has laid down that perfect foundation for us to build upon. We, like a house must set our foundations on Christ so that when the storms comes, when the devil is working with all his might to bring us down, he will have no power over us and we will not fall.  Helaman begs us to remember the rock. I know that it is upon that rock, our rock, even Jesus Christ that we receive our immense strength and hope.