From the Church

October 2015 Visiting Teaching Message: "Charity and Love"

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Divine Attributes of Jesus Christ: Filled with Charity and Love

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the divine attributes of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring divine attributes of the Savior.

The Guide to the Scriptures defines charity as “the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love” (“Charity”). It is the pure love of Jesus Christ. As we learn of Jesus Christ and strive to become like Him, we will begin to feel His pure love in our lives and be prompted to love and serve others as He would. “Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down,” said President Thomas S. Monson. “It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.”1

In the Book of Mormon, we learn the great truth that we “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that [we] may become the sons [and daughters] 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” (Moroni 7:48).

For more on the Visiting Teaching message, click here.

Elder Gene R. Cook of the First Quorum of the Seventy gave a talk in 2002 titled "Charity: Perfect and Everlasting Love," which would be a great resource for you as you prepare to teach.

The Lord said that charity is “the pure love of Christ,” 1that which is “most joyous to the soul,” 2 “the greatest of all the gifts of God,” 3 “perfect” and “everlasting.” 4
As difficult as charity is to describe, it is rather easily recognized in the lives of those who possess it.

For more of his talk, click here.


Lead image via iStock.

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