Two Keys to Ministering

President Eyring suggested that there are two requirements for being successful in ministering to others in the Lord’s way.  He said, “Municipal wards, companies, and strengthened quorums have all required at least two things to be successful in the Lord’s intent to have His Saints care for each other in the way He cares for them. They succeed when the Saints feel the love of Christ for each other above their self-interest. The scriptures call it ‘charity … the pure love of Christ’ (Moroni 7:47). And they succeed when the Holy Ghost guides the caregiver to know what the Lord knows is best for the person whom He is trying to help.”  After this President Eyring told a story about a faithful home teacher who reached out in every way possible to an inactive sister he was assigned but who was not at all responsive.  The story highlights that the man was indeed led by the Spirit and filled with charity, and eventually the sister reached out to him in an urgent text for help.  This member and the ward were able to arrange for the care of the sister’s 12-year-old son for 30 days while she was out of the country, and this changed the life of that young man who became active in the Church.  President Eyring summarized that they were successful in this “because of Saints who worked together in unity, under the direction of a bishop, to serve out of charity in their hearts and with the power of the Holy Ghost.” 

               In Doctrine and Covenants 121 we see these two important elements of ministering—being led by charity and the Holy Ghost—linked together.  In one verse the Lord taught that one might, in service to another, “reprove betimes with sharpness,” but this is only if “moved upon by the Holy Ghost” and then “showing forth afterwards an increase in love toward him” (v43).  Both the Holy Ghost and love are essential to help someone else change.  The Lord then repeated the need for both of these essential spiritual attributes: “Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith….  The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion.”  With these, one can then serve others with “an everlasting dominion” but “without compulsory means” (v45-46).  To have true power to minister to others and help them change, we need to be led by the Spirit and filled with love.  Our natural man instincts are to try to compel others to follow us, but that rarely works in helping people change.  It certainly wasn’t compulsion that allowed this man to make a change in the family of the woman he was serving; it was the love he showed and the way he followed the Spirit that helped lead her to seek his help.  It is love, combined with guidance of the Holy Ghost, that allows us to effect change in others without any compulsory means.         

            Paul also taught that there is a link between charity and the Holy Ghost.  He wrote to the Romans, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5).  The Holy Ghost is a gift given us from God, and charity is a gift we can then develop through the Holy Ghost.  Paul told the Galatians that one of the fruits of the Spirit (the first one he mentioned) is love (Galatians 5:22).  To the Ephesians he wrote that they could be “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” so that they might be “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:16-17).  And to Timothy he said that God has “given us the spirit” not of fear but “of love” (2 Timothy 1:7).  Since, as John put it, “God is love,” receiving His Spirit will naturally help us develop His love (1 John 4:8). 
Indeed, as we seek to become better ministering brothers and sisters in the gospel, I don’t believe we can truly strive for one of these two without the other: developing charity will naturally bring the Holy Ghost into our lives, and cultivating the gift of the Holy Ghost will inevitably fill us with more charity for those we serve.