Daily Scripture

Ether 12:34, 36

34 And now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity; wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.

36 And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity.

I recently read a thought by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland about charity that has opened the eyes of my understanding a bit. 

He said that (rightly so) when we talk of faith, hope, and charity, we are saying that we need to believe in Christ, hope for the realization of our personal redemption and resurrection (a natural consequence of our faith), and then develop charity within ourselves (following the Master) as a result. 

But he suggests another way to read this. 

We know that charity is the pure love of Christ. And as much as we work to emulate the Savior and follow in His ways, we will never fully reach His capacity for charity. It is His love for us. Only He has accomplished that through the infinite gift of His Atonement. 

So perhaps in addition to our trying to emulate Him in our love for others (meager as it is at times), the real admonition in the command to have faith, hope, and charity is for us to accept His charity, His atoning sacrifice, and be saved. 

In these verses, we cannot inherit the place prepared for us without Christ’s charity. We have to fully submit to Him, accept His will and His teachings, repent always, and let His blood (His perfect charity) make us worthy. 

Further, Moroni prayed that the gentiles (others) would access His grace (power) so they could feel the cleansing of His charity for themselves. 

Of course our quest is to be like Jesus. That includes loving others. That’s a lifelong pursuit. 

But maybe in the trio of faith, hope, and charity, the faith (belief in Jesus) and hope (the understanding that as we believe in Him we can claim the blessings of the Redemption and Resurrection for ourselves) are our responsibilities so we can access His charity in order to be saved.

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