The Good News! of Jesus Christ teaches us that we should have charity. "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 7:47). The advice is very good but since we call groups that are organized to help others "charitable" organizations we sometimes confuse the meaning of the word. We think charity means giving to the poor. But charity is a way of living.
If we look at the history of the word we find that its root is the word dearness. If people are dear to us, we do for them what is best for them. And that brings us back to the pure love of Christ. He does for us what is best for us. Sometimes that means chastizing or reprimanding, but most of the time it means blessing and healing and helping.
Not being able to forgive is not charitable. That's what the spirit told me as I read this post. Ya, Guess what I have issues with!
ReplyDeleteBut also I wanted to share this: Anthony Sweat at TOFW in Boise this summer said that charity is a relationship. It's god's love for us and our love towards God. But he also shared the idea of placing the word atonement when it says charity in Moroni 7:44. Try it- it's awesome!