For Love of God and All Mankind

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?  He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.  And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor.

And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?  And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." (Luke 10:25-37)

"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."  (Matt. 22:35-40)

"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.  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 7:47-48)

Love, true Love

You may remember one of my personal favorite movies, "The Princess Bride"?  I will be talking about three of the main characters, Prince Humperdinck, Princess Buttercup, and Westley.  First off lets think about a classic scene from the movie, the one where the clergyman can't pronounce his "R"s and thus talks really funny.  Remember that one?  Well if you don't, then that is OK.  All that really matters is that he talks about true love.  And in the movie Prince Humperdinck is not Princess Buttercup's true love.  Her true love is the farm boy Westley, who can hardly make a living for himself.  So why is he her true love?

In 1 Nephi 11:22 we are taught that the love of God "is the most desirable above all things."  Love is a very strong emotion.  What we truly love is what we will work for.  Think for a moment about last week.  What are the prominent memories that come to mind?  What were your desires for that week?  The things that we truly love are things that we will desire the most.  Christ has said that the greatest commandment is to "love the lord thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matt. 22:37)  And how do we show our God that we love him?  Again Christ said that "If ye love me, keep my commandments."  (John 14:15)

Alright, so back to the movie.  At the beginning of the movie we see Buttercup ordering Westley around, and all he would ever say is "As you wish."  Wow, that shows some love!  Are we always that submissive to the things that our Father in Heaven gives, or doesn't, give us?  Buttercup comes to realize exactly how much love Westley has for her, and she in turn falls in love with him.

So what is it that we truly love?  Are we showing our love to that person or that thing?  We all show our love in different ways, but Christ has said that "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love."  (John 15:10)  I would challenge each of us to abide in the love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ by obeying them.  Then once we have that relationship established, show our love to the important things.  I know that you will see an increase of peace and joy in all of your lives if you follow this council.

BTW, this is my family,  I love them all dearly.  Some of them are no longer with us and there are some additions to the group, but I love them and miss being with them.  I also love my Heavenly Father, that is why I am spending 2 years away from my family to be his full time servant because he asked me to!!