Charity

I have always struggled to share my testimony or the gospel with friends and people I know.  I’ve never really stopped to think too much about why I struggle so much with it until this last week at the BYU-Idaho Pathway gathering I was at this last week.  Growing up my Grandfather was very pushy with his religious beliefs.  It honestly felt to me that he was pushing what he believed down my throat.  It didn’t ever feel like he really loved me and wanted me to believe what he did because he really cared, but rather that it was just what he felt was right and so I should believe it no questions asked.

So the assignment to read 2 Nephi 9-16 really meant a lot to me.  In class the group I was in was charged with discussing 2 Nephi 11; particularly reading 1 Corinthians 13:1 and looking at the principle taught and how Nephi supported the principle that was taught in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 13:1 says “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”

What does that mean?  I read it to mean that even if we have the true information, it’s just noise if we don’t have charity or the True Love of Christ for those we are sharing it with.  

When looking at 2 Nephi 11, how did Nephi support what was written in 1 Corinthians?  In verses 4-6 Nephi says:

“Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him.

 5 And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death.

 6 And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all men must perish.”

Why would Nephi write that he delighteth so much if he didn’t love the people he was teaching?  He wouldn’t.  He honestly loved those he was teaching and because he loved those he was teaching.  He really had the true love of Christ for his people.

Have you ever heard returned missionaries talk about how they grew to love the people who live in the area they served?  Stuart talks about how much he loved the Mexican people he served while on his mission.  I think one of the reasons we have missionaries is because they grow to love the people and once they have that love it honestly means something to them to teach the Gospel. 

I think had my Grandpa expressed his love for me, my opinion of how he taught me would have been different.  I didn’t know him very well and he didn’t know me well.  It may sound a little harsh, but love doesn’t just happen because we are related.  I have no doubt Grandpa believed that the things his religion taught were true.  I also have no doubt that he really thought I should believe the things he did.  However, without charity it didn’t mean a whole lot.