Filled With Love Towards God and All Men

The subtitle of the Come, Follow Me lesson this week for Mosiah 1-3 is “Filled with Love towards God and All Men”.  I was a bit surprised to see that and though I’ve read these chapters many times, I wasn’t sure where in these verses that phrase was found without searching for it.  It is found in Mosiah 2:4 in part of  Mormon’s explanation as to why they were there at the temple to hear the words of King Benjamin: “They also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses; And also that they might give thanks to the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Jerusalem, and who had delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, and had appointed just men to be their teachers, and also a just man to be their king, who had established peace in the land of Zarahemla, and who had taught them to keep the commandments of God, that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men.”  Here he connected being filled with love with making sacrifices, giving thanks to the Lord, having just men as their leaders, and keeping the commandments of God.  Certainly sacrifice, gratitude, and obedience all bring us closer to the Lord and help us be filled with His love.    

             Though love is not a major theme in the address of King Benjamin, I believe one of his main purposes was to help his people indeed be filled with the love of God and rejoice in that.  He taught them that to become a saint and put off the natural man they needed to be “full of love,” and then later he taught them how to be filled with that love (Mosiah 3:19).  He explained, “If ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily.”  If they would do these things—remembering the Lord, humbling themselves before Him, and calling on Him in prayer—then he promised, “I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins” (Mosiah 4:12).  This connects back to the phrase in Mosiah 2:4, explaining how they could rejoice and be filled with love.  The key for King Benjamin to receiving this love seems to be an abiding humility and recognition of the greatness of God; in other words, we have to understand that real love is a gift and that should take us to our knees to plead with God for that gift to be granted us, recognizing our own nothingness without Him.  He taught us to see our humble state before God in a proper perspective: “And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you” (Mosiah 2:25).  In the above-mentioned verse about putting off the natural man and being filled with love he also stressed humility, telling them to be “submissive, meek, humble” and to “submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”  To be filled with the love of God can only come as we are humble before the Lord.  Mormon confirmed this when he described how “because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love” (Moroni 8:26).  He taught as well that to be filled with the love of God is a gift we must seek from Him: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ” (Moroni 7:48).  King Benjamin’s words teach us that to truly “rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men” we must indeed come humbly before the Lord, showing forth our willingness to sacrifice and be obedient and to plead with Him in prayer for the great gift of His love.