Charity, Pure Love of Christ

Author: Ashley Day


Source: Talk


Date given: Feb 8th 2009


Location: BYU 117th ward?
\What is Charity? When I think of that question, I think of the scriptures, Moroni 7:47

“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.”

What is the purse love of Christ and how to we receive it? Max Caldwell said in a 1992 conference talk entitled Love of Christ:

People who have charity have a love for the Savior, have received of his love, and love others as he does.

So first we have to develop a love for the Savior. Bonnie D. Parkin said:

one thing is needful, to follow Him each day. Choose ye therefore Christ the Lord. Choose to feast upon His word. Choose to trust in Him above. Choose to wait upon His love. Choose to give Him all your heart. Choose ye therefore that good part.

We can make a conscious decision to follow Christ, and then carry out that decision. We need to study the scriptures, do our best to follow him, and cast our burdens on him. He loves us so much, and wants to help us with everything. If we rely on him and have faith in him, we can put all our troubles on his Yolk and carry it together. And then it will be made light.

To understand Charity, we must also have received of our Saviors love. Bonnie Perkin said in talk in 2003,

The one thing that is needful is to choose eternal life. We choose daily. As we seek, listen, and follow the Lord, we are encircled in the arms of His love—a love that is pure.

And in Elder Caldwell’s talk, he said:

Through his compliance with the severe requirements of the Atonement, the Savior offered the ultimate expression of love. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13.) And by permitting his Son to make such a selfless and suffering sacrifice, the Father provided us with an ultimate expression of his love as his gift to the rest of his children.

We have all experienced the Love of Christ through our daily lives and the atonement. I often fail to recognize all he has done for me. In fact, Our Heavenly Father has blessed us in so many ways daily, that I think it very well may be impossible to realize or understand every single way that we have been blessed. We are loved by the Savior and our Heavenly Father with a pure love.

To understand what Charity truly is, we must exercise Charity towards others. How did Christ develop this love? ________ Caldwell said,

Jesus’ love was inseparably connected to and resulted from his life of serving, sacrificing, and giving in behalf of others. We cannot develop Christ like love except by practicing the process prescribed by the Master.

Elder Marvin J. Ashton said, “Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.”

Sometimes, it is hard for us to feel this love towards everyone. Or, sometimes we feel the love but have a hard time serving the person. For example, I spent 2 years as an RA in the Helaman Halls dorms. One of the years, there was a girl who I will name Sasha. Sasha was one of those girls who drove me crazy. I normally don’t have a hard time getting to know people or getting along with them but I really struggled with this girl. Our personalities just didn’t get along well. It got to where I would see her in the hall, and hope she didn’t see me, or try to find an excuse not to talk to her. I was her RA! My job was to be her friend and how was I supposed to do that if I didn’t want to talk to her? (I was very careful so she wouldn’t know how much I was struggling with liking her, so she wasn’t aware of that struggle I was going through) Missionary week was coming up where we are divided into companionships for daily scripture study, a tracting activity, etc. You were suppose to spend as much of your day as possible with this person, trying to make is as similar to a mission as possible. I knew if I did my plan, I would end up her companion, but I did it anyway. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father for help learning to love this girl. In the missionary week meeting, everyone picked companions and the last one was Shasha. She looked at me with a big smile on her face and said, Ashley! Looks like we get to be companions! I smiled to her had said yeah! I was not looking forward to the hour scripture study we would have the next day. I knew that the personality quirks that bothered me so much would be there and I didn’t want to have to put up with them. But we had it, and by the end of the study, I remember thinking, that went pretty well. I even enjoyed it. By the end of the week, I looked forward to the times I would meet with this girl. I loved our time together, and I learned to love her. She became a good friend and those things that bothered me, disappeared. I didn’t mind them anymore. I realized that it wasn’t her personality that was wrong, it was me. I needed to learn to have Charity and love her. We are still good friends today and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father helped me get over my own flaws so that I could have her as a friend in my life.

When we serve others and get to know them, we can learn to love them as Christ loves them and serve them as Christ serves them. I have been blessed in my life by having a unique family. One thing I have learned from my family, is a deep love for those who have gone astray from the Gospel. I have 2 brothers who have left the church and I would do anything possible to help them get back. But it has taught me about loving those who do things against what the gospel teaches. As I have watched there lives choices lead to where they are today, I think of how blessed I am for the choices I have made. These aren’t in material things or money. But in the peaceful and happy life that I live. It’s not that I don’t have trials or struggles. I definitely do. It’s that I see how much my life has been blessed by turning to the Savior in times of need, instead of rejecting him. But when I think of that, I think of those like my brothers who I love and I want them to have that too. I want them to know that they can rely on their Savior. That they can turn to him and cast their burdens on him. He loves them and will always be there for them. I wish they knew and understood that. I rely on my Savior so much, I want them to too. I want to do everything possible for those who are outside of the gospel path to come back. I often think of Christ’s love for these who have gone astray and how much he loves them as he holds his hand to them inviting them to come to him. As we develop this love for our fellow brothers and sisters, we can be an instrument in the Lords hand to help them find the Savior weather again, or for the first time. Charity is love those of our brothers and sisters in need and doing what we can to help them.

Through Charity, we are often blessed in our own lives. Sister Elain Jack said

Both the giver and the receiver are blessed. For charity purifies and sanctifies all it touches, and “whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him”

I had an interesting experience in class a few days ago. I was in a group vocal lesson and we were performing songs we have been working on. We are divided into study groups and my group has a total of 3 people in it. One of the girls in my group had hit her head ice-skating and so she was in a lot of pain a lot of the time. She got up to sing, sang a few notes and started crying. The teacher told her she didn’t have to sing and she, still crying left the room. The next girl in my group got up and started to sing, because it was her turn. I remember thinking, I hope that girl is okay, and then turning and listening to the other girl in my group. In my New Testimate class we have gospel principles or ideas that we apply to our lives for a week and then write a paper on our experiences. For this particular week, I chose, Stand as a Witness. As I was listening ot my other partner sing, my thoughts kept going back to the girl in the hall. But I though, Ashley, it’s almost your turn to sing. You don’t want to get in trouble because you aren’t here and left class. Then I though, “Stand as a Witness, what would Christ do?” I immediately knew the answer, he would be out there comforting his sister and not sitting in class worried about his grade. As soon as my partner stopped singing, I grabbed my water bottle and headed into the hall. I found her sitting on a bench still crying. I gave her some water, a few hugs and just talked with her. By the end of class, (which was only about 10 minutes later) we were sitting out there and she was smiling and laughing again. I walked her to her next destination, dinner at the cannon center, and then walked home. I felt so uplifted, I had listened to a prompting, found a new friend, and learned more about Charity.

I would like to end with a quote from Sister Elain jack,


The greatest acts of charity come from giving of yourself and receiving expressions of charity with humility as well. President Spencer W. Kimball illustrated this truth in an inspiring example. He said: “[The Savior’s] gifts were rare ones: eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and legs to the lame; cleanliness to the unclean, wholeness to the infirm, and breath to the lifeless. His gifts were … forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing. His friends gave him shelter, food, and love. He gave them of himself, his love, his service, his life. … We should strive to give as he gave. To give of oneself is a holy gift” I’ve thought about this: “To give of oneself is a holy gift.” “We should strive to give as he gave.” What wise counsel! When we give our time, our energy, our commitment, our testimony to others, we are giving of ourselves. We are sharing intangibles, not easily left on the doorstep but easily deposited in the heart.


When we love Christ, feel his love, and give of ourselves to others, we can have a true love for others and really learn to feel for them and love them as Christ feels for them and loves them and us.

I know that this church is true and that we truly can rely on our Savior. I know that through his help, we can develop charity, a pure love of Christ for all those around us. I love my Savior and am so thankful for all the blessing I have. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.






Author's Comments: