Peaceable Followers of Christ

President Nelson taught this in the most recent general conference: “The Savior’s message is clear: His true disciples build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire—no matter how difficult the situation. True disciples of Jesus Christ are peacemakers.” Later in the same talk he also said this, “Contention drives away the Spirit—every time. Contention reinforces the false notion that confrontation is the way to resolve differences; but it never is. Contention is a choice. Peacemaking is a choice. You have your agency to choose contention or reconciliation. I urge you to choose to be a peacemaker, now and always.” Both of these paragraphs had a reference to Moroni 7:3-4 as the footnote, which reads this way: “Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven. And now my brethren, I judge these things of you because of your peaceable walk with the children of men.” These are words that Mormon spoke to the few believers in Christ in his day, and he commended the fact that they were “peaceable followers” and had a “peaceable walk” with those around them. This was at a time when most of the Nephites were extremely wicked and full of contention. So, in that sense the verses are particularly applicable to us who live in a day described by President Nelson as having “venomous contention that infects our civic dialogue and too many personal relationships today. Civility and decency seem to have disappeared during this era of polarization and passionate disagreements.” These few Saints who listened to Mormon in that day had been able to stay peaceful towards those around them, even in a society filled with contention, and so we can too. We can, as President Nelson urged, choose peacemaking and reject contention today when so many do the opposite.  

                Our youngest daughter is named Charity, and last night her older sister said to me that she wanted to change her name to Charity too so she could be loving. Well, it certainly isn’t our name that will grant us the gift of love—in fact, of all my children this older sister is probably the one who already most naturally loves and strives to be a peacemaker. For example, recently when I put her younger brother in a “timeout” because he had been mean and mistreated her, she was the one who begged me to let him out. No, it is not our name that will help us to become loving peacemakers—it is the sincere desires of our heart. President Nelson taught us what we must do as he continued to quote from Mormon’s message to the “peaceable followers of Christ.”  Speaking of his counselors, he said, “Because each is filled with charity, ‘the pure love of Christ,’ our deliberations can be guided by the Spirit of the Lord.” He continued, “Charity is the antidote to contention. Charity is the spiritual gift that helps us to cast off the natural man, who is selfish, defensive, prideful, and jealous. Charity is the principal characteristic of a true follower of Jesus Christ. Charity defines a peacemaker. When we humble ourselves before God and pray with all the energy of our hearts, God will grant us charity. Those blessed with this supernal gift are long-suffering and kind. They do not envy others and are not caught up in their own importance. They are not easily provoked and do not think evil of others.” Mormon described what it means in real terms to truly love those around us: “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.” That is a daunting quest to develop that kind of unselfish love in our hearts, but despite the difficulty we must “cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all” and which is “the pure love of Christ.” As President Nelson highlighted, we must “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart” to be “filled with this love” that defines a follower of the Savior (Moroni 7:45-48). That is how we can come to be the loving disciples that Savior expects of us, even as the world rejects peace and charity in favor of contention.