The Pure Love of Christ

Recently my youngest two children were drawing pictures, and my son suggested to his sister that he had the better drawing than her. She immediately responded that her name was Charity which is the pure love of Christ and so her drawing was good too. That gave my wife a good laugh and highlighted the understanding my daughter has of the importance of her name and what it means. And if understanding the pure love of Christ helps her draw good pictures, all the better! Both Mormon and Paul gave us a list of attributes of charity, highlighting what it is and what it isn’t, what it does and what it doesn’t do. Mormon also added this well-known summary statement defining charity at its core: “But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.” So, what does it mean for love to be pure? This seems to connect with Mormon and Paul’s lists describing charity, for they highlight many things which would make love impure: “[Charity] envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity” (Moroni 7:45, 47). In other words, envy, pride, selfishness, contention, evil, and iniquity are all things that would make love contaminated. If we seek to love while being selfish or prideful or envious or contentious, that love will be tainted and not as powerful as it could be. To be pure, love must be stripped of all these vices and come with no strings attached. James described how “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27). Perhaps one of the reasons he highlighted the fatherless and widows is because those groups are unlikely to be able to pay back any offering of help or assistance. Pure love is to give without expectation of anything in return or any thought for remuneration. True charity gives without seeking her own, just as the Savior gave all, including His life, knowing we could never repay Him for it.   

               It is common knowledge that honey, when it remains pure, can last literally forever. It has apparently even been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, thousands of years old, still preserved and edible. It is one of the few foods for which this is true. But if it is contaminated then it will potentially go bad. Simply exposing it to water can do that, as one expert described: “As long as the lid stays on it and no water is added to it, honey will not go bad. As soon as you add water to it, it may go bad. Or if you open the lid, it may get more water in it and it may go bad.” Mormon suggested that charity is one of the few things that can last forever: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever” (Moroni 7:46-47). Most things in this life will not last forever: all our possessions will disappear, all experiences will end, and death will eventually come to all. But if we can learn to love with the purity of Christ, that love can somehow last forever, beyond death and mortality. Perhaps that refers to the kind of life we will have in eternity, suggesting that if we have come to develop charity it will stay with us forever. But if our self-centeredness and pride have, like water to honey, contaminated the love we try to offer, it too will fade away. And so one of our greatest desires in this life should be to do as He did, striving to follow this most important commandment the Savior gave: “That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34).