Mormon's Love

The Savior taught His apostles in some of His final teachings, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35).  The mark of a true disciple is love, and it seems to me that as we look at the three chapters at the end of the Book of Mormon that contain Mormon’s teaching to his son and the church (a sermon and two letters), we see his focus on love in both word and deed.  Despite being surrounded by wickedness and hate, Mormon was able to triumph over that and be filled with the love of Christ.  His ability to show and teach love in his final days gives us a glimpse into his incredible character.

                His teachings about love are powerful.  Mormon taught his people that we can recognize the good in the world by what motivates us to “love God, and to serve him.”  He told us that we can develop “the pure love of Christ” and that if we don’t we are “nothing”—love is our greatest possession.  Like Paul he named the attributes of charity to help us see if we really have it in our daily walk with men: “And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”  He taught us that we can develop this gift by praying to the Father “with all the energy of heart” and that our love can endure “by diligence unto prayer.”  Mormon wrote to Moroni telling him that “perfect love casteth out all fear” giving us a powerful antidote for the fears in our life.  He also told us that the “Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love,” showing that it is the Holy Ghost that can bring us this love.  He also told his son in his description of the degenerate Nephite society that anger caused them to “have lost their love” and surely this “anger” and “revenge” will do the same to our love.  To conquer these kinds of feelings, we must, as Mormon invited, "cleave unto charity” (Moroni 7:13, 45-48; 8:16, 26; 9:5).     

                But Mormon didn’t just speak about love and charity, though, for his words showed that he possessed it in abundance.  In his address in Moroni 7 his love towards the people was evident in the way he encouraged them, calling them “my beloved brethren” nine times and spoke with great affection towards them.  In Moroni 8 he declared his great love for children as he taught his son about their inherent worth and innocence before God, declaring, “I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love” (Moroni 8:17).  In Moroni 9 his letter showed the great concern he had for his people for whom he labored “continually.”  He was particularly concerned about the women who were suffering immensely in the war as he mourned the “many widows and their daughters” who were left “to wander withersoever they [could] for food” with many of them who did “faint by the way and die” (Moroni 9:4, 16).  Mormon couldn’t reach them because the Lamanite armies were between his army and the deserted women, and this caused him to mourn their suffering and his inability to help.  His soul was filled with love and charity for his people despite the terrible wickedness that surrounded him.

                I remember a Book of Mormon professor once stating in a class I attended: “I’m never ashamed to be called a Mormon because I know who Mormon was.”  Truly Mormon was a man filled with love despite living in a society filled with hate.  His example is a beacon to us as we try to live with love and charity for all who surround us.  To be a “Mormon” is to strive to be like that great prophet: a disciple of Christ filled with love for all men.