One Thing That Has Power Completely

I read again yesterday these words of Msimangu, a black priest, from Alan Paton’s South African novel Cry, the Beloved Country: “Some of us think when we have power, we shall revenge ourselves on the white man who has had power, and because our desire is corrupt, we are corrupted, and the power has no heart in it…. But there is only one thing that has power completely, and that is love. Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power. I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men, desiring neither power nor money, but desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it…. I have only one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find that we are turned to hating (pg. 70-71)”. The greatest power comes from love just as the Savior showed us. Moroni described how the most powerful act in the world—the Savior’s atonement—was wrought because of love: “And again, I remember that thou hast said that thou hast loved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world, that thou mightest take it again to prepare a place for the children of men. And now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity” (Ether 12:33-34). The Savior laid down His life out of love for us, seeking no power for Himself, and that’s what made it so powerful. This act showed not only the love of the Savior but also that of the Father: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Both of these passages highlight that salvation is made possible for us through love.

                The story in the Book of Mormon that to me highlights best the power of pure love is that of the mission of the sons of Mosiah and the conversion of so many Lamanites. It was out of selfless love that these men chose to go into the lands of their enemies, seeking no power for themselves just as Msimangu said. Mormon described their motives this way: “Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble” (Mosiah 28:3). Ammon immediately showed his love to Lamani and his people, and when they met up with Lamani’s father it was love that ultimately moved him: “And when he saw that Ammon had no desire to destroy him, and when he also saw the great love he had for his son Lamoni, he was astonished exceedingly” (Alma 20:26). Ammon later described his feelings towards these Lamanites, “For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved us, would still have been racked with hatred against us, yea, and they would also have been strangers to God.” The love of these missionaries led these unwavering converts to love even their own enemies: “We can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us. For behold, they had rather sacrifice their lives than even to take the life of their enemy; and they have buried their weapons of war deep in the earth, because of their love towards their brethren. And now behold I say unto you, has there been so great love in all the land? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, there has not, even among the Nephites” (Alma 26:9, 31-33). When these Anti-Nephi-Lehies were being massacred by their own brethren, it was the love of the sons of Mosiah that saved them: “They would have suffered themselves to have fallen into the hands of their brethren, had it not been for the pity and the exceeding love which Ammon and his brethren had had for them” (Alma 53:11). Love brought the missionaries, love converted the Lamanites, love inspired them to give up their own lives to live their new faith, and love led the Nephites to protect these former enemies.

The king of these Lamanites expressed his feelings this way: “And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations” (Alma 24:14). To him the sons of Mosiah and their brethren were angels, and ultimately they were led by mortal love to find divine love from the Lord. That made all the difference, and where sword had failed to change the relationship between the Nephites and Lamanites, love had had real power. So, as we seek the ability  to overcome the challenges in relationships that we have, we should seek after the one thing that has power completely: love.