Greater Love

I did a study abroad in Jerusalem during the summer of 2007. I remember that while I was there the last Harry Potter book came out, and several students in the program were avid fans and obtained a copy as soon as they could. It seems they spent nearly every spare minute on the bus reading it. There was one student who even cried near the end of the book, but I recall that there was something about Harry dying but then not really dying. I had read the first few books in the series but had stopped reading them by that point, but recently because of my daughter’s interest I picked them back up. I finally finished listening to the seventh one yesterday, and I think I now understand the sentiment expressed on the bus in Israel nearly 18 years ago. In the final captivating scenes Harry gave himself up to be killed by Voldemort with the understanding that this act would help cause the demise of Voldemort. Thus his act was one of complete sacrifice and love, but because of that he was not truly killed but came back to life. Voldemort could never understand that love had a greater power than mere control and skill, and ultimately that caused his downfall and Harry’s victory. The ending reminds me of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Aslan gave himself up to be killed by the witch. Though he was killed, he came back to life because the witch did not understand the “deeper magic” connected with the sacrifice of an innocent, willing victim. Both stories highlight that there is a profound power in the love that the Savior described in these words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Both Harry and Aslan did that in these fictional stories, and because they willingly laid down their lives for their friends, they rose again with greater power. Perhaps one of the lessons from these stories is that motivation is key—it is not just what we do but why we do things that matter. There was power in their sacrifice most importantly because they did it perfectly willingly.   

               In the most recent general conference Elder Ricardo P. Gimenez encouraged us to consider why we do what we do in the gospel. He said, “In our world, we usually focus on what we do and on consistently accomplishing tasks and goals. In a spiritual sphere, we have the opportunity to go beyond just doing things or achieving goals by understanding why we are doing them.” He suggested that the greatest reason for us to do what we do in the church is because of love—love for the Savior and our Father in Heaven. He continued, “If we can understand and connect that the reason behind our actions relates to our love for the Savior and our Heavenly Father, by taking advantage of these opportunities we will understand that even though doing righteous things like having Church activities or traditions and appropriately doing them is a good thing, when we connect them with the ‘why,’ we will be blessed to understand the reason. It won’t be just doing good things or doing them right; we will also get them right.” Mormon taught about the power of doing the right thing for the right reason when he said, “For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing. For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness. For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God” (Moroni 7:6-8). It is not enough to simply do what it is right; we must do it for the right reason and with our hearts right before God.  

               Elder Gimenez summarized, “The more we can connect the reason with our love for the Savior, the more we will be able to receive what we need or are seeking.” Surely we will have great spiritual power as we come to feel that our actions to keep the Lord’s commandments and be true to our covenants are motivated not by duty or restraint but by love. That’s how the Savior always wanted it: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). He wants have a transformational relationship, not a transactional relationship where everything is “this for that.” As a parent I think I understand this better. I have some children whose interactions with me are mostly like this: “Dad I did that, so you need to give me this,” or “Dad, I deserve this because I did that for you.” Their motivation, usually, for helping in the house or doing chores or fulfilling some duty is to get something they desire for themselves. I have other children who may be less consistent in doing their chores around the house but who run to the door when I walk in and give me a big hug, telling me they love me. While He always appreciates what we do, I’m confident it is that second kind of relationship that the Lord wants most for each of us.