Visiting Teaching October: Filled With Charity and Love

Is charity something you do, have or are?

Charity  is defined as the pure love of Christ.

The pure love of Christ; the love that Christ has for the children of men and that the children of men should have for one another; the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection.

I was reading in Moroni chapter 7...

42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

Faith, hope, meekness all are for naught if we don't have charity. 

Faith in Christ is of little to no value if it does not change who we are and what we are becoming.  If our faith does not result in charity... 'he is nothing'.

Back to my question... is charity something you do or give?

Yes, it is.  But that is not all that it is...  It is a change in us, a virtue that we can develop, that eventually becomes who we are.  

Look at this scripture below all of the things that charity is.  Few of them come naturally to any of us!  They are things we have to change and work on, and none of them talk about charity as a service word!

45 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, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

It is a change in us, something we can become. 

Charity is the pure love Christ,felt by us as we continually seek forgiveness, through His atonement, for thinking evil, or losing our temper, or feeling jealous, or being selfish... all of the opposites of charity! :)

Charity is what softens our hearts, deepens our gratitude and fills us with love, God's love.

Feeling God's love can change us, it should change us!  That change in us, that love, is then what exudes from us, this is the change that is charity, and it should touch all facets of our lives!

Joseph Smith said:  Love is one of the leading characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons (and daughters) of God.  A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone but ranges through the world, anxious to bless the whole of the human family.

The scriptures say that in the last days men's hearts shall fail them.

Charity is the direct opposite of pride, selfishness, anger, lies, impatience, jealousy.  Charity is the lifeblood that will keep hearts alive and well, faithful.

For the handout I created a bag topper.  I put clay in the baggies, to represent us being able to change, to be molded.  You could also use play dough.

Here is the bag topper...

This is a quote I liked from Daughters In My Kingdom.  You can print this off and give it to your sisters as well.

Just copy and paste them, then print them out!