Epistles of John: "God is Love"

1, 2, and 3 John

JOHN'S TESTIMONY

John begins his first epistle with his powerful testimony.

"Brethren, this is the testimony which we give that that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

"(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

"And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full" (1:1-4). 

This is the purpose of testifying: to bring joy to others--not just a bit of joy, but complete joy.

POETRY AND IMAGERY

John is good at imagery and poetry.  After all, he's the same guy who wrote Revelation.  "An important characteristic of poetry is compression, or concentrated language"  (Creative Writing Now).  John is not verbose (his two epistles are among the smallest in the New Testament), but as a poet, he uses words with concentrated meaning and imagery to instill in us more deeply the truths he wants to teach.  "Often what causes the strongest emotions is not what the poem describes, but what it makes the reader imagine." With well-written poetry, it is not the literal meaning of the words that matters, but what kinds of intangible feelings those words provoke.

"'Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar' (Percy Bysshe Shelley).  Here Shelley points out an important aspect of poetry, which is to find fresh ways of looking at things we think we know well" (ibid.). 

"Sir Philip Sidney [said], 'Poetry is a speaking picture' (ibid.).

Ask the class members to take 1 minute to come up with a one-word, all-inclusive description of their mothers.

It is difficult to describe a person with only one word, and cover all the various aspects of their complex personalities.  But John is a poetic genius and his subject (God) is simpler than most people realize, so twice in the first epistle John is able to describe God completely with only one word.  What are these two one-word descriptions he gives of God? 

God is Light (1:5).
God is Love (4:8).

With these words, John links us with images and feelings that help us understand God in a fresh way. What images and feelings do you get when you think of light?  And what about love?  How is it that each of these words can completely describe such a powerful being as God?  I'd like to say that we'll figure that out in the next few paragraphs, but actually the depth and meaning of those words and their relation to God could be studied productively for many years.

But we'll give it a start...

GOD IS LIGHT

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1:5).

To make this metaphor clear to us, John elaborates with alternating verses about what it means for us to be in darkness and then how God can be as a Light that dispels that darkness.

Darkness: "If we say that we have fellowship with [God], and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (1:6)

Light: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1:7)

Darkness: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1:8)

Light:  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1:9)

Darkness: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1:10)

Light: "If any man sin and repent, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the world.  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." (2:1-3 JST)

Darkness: "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (2:4)

Light: "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.  Brethren, I write a new commandment unto you, but it is the same commandment which ye had from the beginning.  The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.  Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing was of old ordained of God; and is true in him, and in you: because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth." (2:5-8)

Darkness: "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even unto now." (2:9)

Light: "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him." (2:10)

Darkness: "But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."  (2:11)

(See also D&C 88:6-13.)

So, to summarize, if we follow the new commandment (which is really just the old commandment) to love, we will no longer be in darkness but will be walking in the Light--Light with a capital L.  Which leads us to John's second one-word description of God.

GOD IS LOVE

John uses the word "love" and its variations 46 times in the first epistle.  Although by the time of Christ the Law of Moses had morphed into a huge conglomoration of rules and regulations, many of which had completely lost their original meaning, the Law of Moses was originally based on love.  The phylacteries which the Hebrew bound upon their foreheads as they prayed contained the words of the Shema, the central prayer of the Jew and often the first scripture that a Hebrew child learned.  They were the first words uttered in the morning and the last at night.  Shema means "hear."  (Blair G. Van Dyke, "Profiles of a Covenant People," Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament: The 30th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, p. 37)

Click on this link to hear the Shema sung in Hebrew, and to learn more about its meaning to the Jews.

The first part of the Shema is Deuteronomy 6:4-9.  "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart." (Deut. 6:4-5).

"In Hebrew thought, the heart (not the mind) was the source of thinking, willing, and deciding.  Therefore, to love God with all one's heart was to make a deliberate commitment to steadfast loyalty and unwavering obedience.  To love 'with all thy soul' was the demand for the [servant] to be prepared to die for the [master].  It denoted full devotion.  To love 'with all thy might' meant that a [servant] would come to the aid of the [master] with all his force, with his army and chariots." (ibid.)

John reminded his readers of this new commandment, which was just a restatement of the old commandment that had been obscured by rabbinic law.

"And this is his commandment, that we should 1) believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ [faith in Christ is of course based on a love for Him] and 2) love one another, as he gave us commandment." (1 John 3:23).  "If we could not love on command, the Lord would not have commanded us to love" (Ester Rasband, Confronting the Myth of Self-Esteem, p. 54). 

"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."  (4:8).

(Please note the great information on love in the first reader's comment at the bottom on this entry.)

KEEPING COMMANDMENTS ALLOWS US TO FEEL LOVED

In John's gospel, he wrote the words of the Savior:  "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." (John 15:10).

Wait--what? 

Isn't the love of the Savior unconditional?  Does this scripture say that the Lord will only love those who keep his commandments?

No.  It says only those who keep his commandments will abide in his love.  If you have ever been able to feel the love of God, you know that it is the most wonderful feeling in the world.  If we could abide in that love always, it would be amazing.

But what if you haven't felt the love of God, or if it has been a long time since you have? 

First, you must check your obedience to his commandments, which can all be summarized into two:  loving God and loving others.  "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in [God] and [God dwelleth] in him.  And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us' (1 John 3:24).

Second, you must check your willingness to receive God's love. 

"I attended a seminar a few years ago where a questionnaire led us to a conclusion about the expressions of love that we accept.  Some of us accept and recognize love when it is expressed verbally, some when another labors in our behalf, some when a loved one offers demonstrative affection, and some when material gifts are given to us.  There were still other ways.  The series of questions helped us to examine our behavior to see how we are willing to receive love.  The director of the seminar suggested that each of us has the right to receive love in the way that we recognize it and accept it.  His goal, he said, was that we would use this self-revelation to tell our partners how they should give love to us.

"At the end of the quiz I'm sure that I was not alone in feeling more self pity than self-discovery.  No one ever gets all they want from others...

"How valuable it would be to our mental health to examine the ways that others give love to us instead of the ways we are willing to accept it.  Inasmuch as we have a great need to be loved--indeed, a survival need--it seems to me that the great benefit would be in recognizing love that comes to us in ways that are perhaps not our way at all.

"God's love is perfect, but we are not.  Things of the world which we ignorantly would prefer as an expression of love may not be for our best good.  They may even be destructive and therefore would not be an expression of love at all.  We must be so humble that we trust the way our perfect Father in Heaven expresses his love for us and be grateful for it without condition.  If we don't do that, if we are unwilling to receive it, we fail to collect it.  Unrecognized and therefore uncollected, the love does not strengthen us, does not energize us, does not bless us...

"I have heard the same formula repeated many times: 'A loving God would surely see that all of his children were equal in comfort.' 'A loving God would see that all his children were treated fairly.'  However the complaint ends, it is the same: man telling God how to love him instead of seeing God's love in God's omniscient expression of it and being grateful.

"Gratitude is the key to collecting God's love." (Rasband, p. 60-62)

By keeping the covenant to love, and by gratefully recognizing God's hand in our lives, we then are blessed to dwell in His love.  In Hebrew this love of God's is called hesed, a word which, unfortunately, has no English equivalent.  It has to do with love that never fails, with compassion, with mercy and grace.  It is a love that translates into action, a rescuing kindness (Van Dyke).

"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.  God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him." (4:15-16)

The benefit to us personally of dwelling in this love is the removal of possibly the most debilitating condition of our latter-day existence:  fear.

FEAR

As Paul stated in one of his epistles, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7).

At the very low point of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President of the United States.  In addition to being elected president of a country in crisis, FDR had faced serious challenges himself, being a paraplegic, and having narrowly escaped an assassination attempt three weeks before his inauguration.  (Five shots were fired, four people were wounded and the Chicago mayor was killed.) 

"In his first address as president, Roosevelt spoke directly to the mood of the day...'First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.'

"Of course Roosevelt knew there were plenty of things to fear aside from fear itself.  But he also knew that as serious as the nation's problems were, 'unreasoning fear' would make things far worse by eroding faith in liberal democracy and convincing people to embrace the mad dreams of communism and fascism.  The Great Depression could hurt the United States.  But fear could destroy it.

"It's an insight older than the United States itself.  Roosevelt's line was lifted from Henry David Thoreau, and Thoreau in turn got it from Michel de Montaigne, who wrote, 'the thing I fear most is fear' more than three and a half centuries ago."  (Daniel Gardner, The Science of Fear, Kindle Edition, chapter 1, paragraphs 3-5.)

FDR knew that fear was a grave danger, and so does the Lord.  He knows that fear will incapacitate us and leave us open to the influence of the devil.  It will cause us to retreat rather than to advance.  That is why he has commanded us repeatedly in the scriptures to "fear not."  "For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not; I will help thee." (Isa. 41:13)

But we live in the latter-days, the "perilous times" when "men's hearts shall fail them!" (See 2 Tim. 3:1; D&C 45:26.)  How are we supposed to avoid being afraid?  Perhaps, more than anything, it is the peril of fear itself that causes men's hearts to fail.  Because of our worldwide media, we are subject to an endless parade of fearful images right in front of our eyes.  Why?  Because fear sells. Newscasters focus on scary stories, and ask "could this happen to you?"  Most advertising is based on fear that our lives will not be safe or good or we will not be happy without the product in the ad.  Politicians prey upon our fears, offering to resolve the frightening problems they present.  Thanks to these "merchandisers of fear," despite the fact that we have more democratic societies than ever in the history of the world, more babies survive to adulthood even in underdeveloped countries, civil war and war between countries are both at a low point, and a longer and healthier life can be expected on every continent, we have become a "culture of fear."  (Gardner)

How do we overcome the fear that is being force-fed to us? By simply and specifically keeping the great commandment to love.  We can love our God and trust in him, we can love the people we fear, we can love the circumstances we are in, we can infuse love into our environment, our reactions to others, and our basic approach to life.  John taught that when we are filled with the pure love of Christ, it is not possible to be afraid.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.  He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (4:18)

Mormon lived in a more evil and frightening day than did we, as he witnessed the depraved condition of his people and the destruction of an entire civilization.  And yet he wrote in a letter to his son Moroni, "I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear" (Moro. 8:16).

We may not be facing the total annihilation of our civilization (even though the "fear merchants" may like us to think so), but this principle also has a a very real and very useful daily practical application that can literally change our lives.  If we are feeling "stressed" (stress is just fear by another name), we can ask ourselves what we are afraid of, and then we can see how to overcome that fear with love.  The result is that our stress can turn to joy.  Love is the greatest energizer, and the greatest bringer of peace.  Those very situations that bring us stress can be sources of happy excitement or joyful peace if we can train ourselves to face them with love instead of fear.

Ask class members to share something that stresses them--minor or catastrophic--and see if the class can brainstorm a way that love could overcome the fear.  Example: I am afraid of walking down the halls in the high school because I think everyone is judging my appearance.  Possible antidote:  Focus on others, smiling and saying hi to people who seem to need it.  Example:  I am so stressed out trying to keep my house clean.  Possible antidote:  Express gratitude for each aspect of your home as you work, for the mere fact that you have shelter, for all the items you are putting away.  Example: Fears produced by catastrophic life events can also be overcome by trust in the Lord (another aspect of love for the Lord), a hope to learn valuable lessons from the experience, and a desire to love and serve others also affected.

"Anciently, the Lord spoke to Isaac, saying: 'Fear not, for I am with thee' (Gen. 26:24). The admonition to 'fear not' was clear and direct and meaningful. The promise that 'I am with thee' was equally plain and direct and powerful.

"Down through the ages the same admonition, the same assurance, has been extended to every living soul who is willing to qualify. And yet, fear is prevalent throughout the earth. It stifles initiative, saps strength, and reduces efficiency. It weakens faith, brings doubts, and begets mistrust. Indeed, it tends to impede the very business of being. How negative, frustrating, and futile is fear...

"One lesson we have to learn is that fear is the beginning of defeat."  (Derek A. Cuthbert, "The Futility of Fear," New Era, Nov. 1985).  (See also, H. Ross Workman, Ensign, Dec. 2003.)

"God has given us the power of the gospel to lift us above our fears.

"God has given us the power of truth...

"We have nothing to fear when we walk by the light of eternal truth...

"We need not fear as long as we have in our lives the power that comes from righteously living by the truth which is from God our Eternal Father.  Nor need we fear as long as we have the power of faith...

"I have seen time and again that love of God can bridge the chasm of fear...

"How great and magnificent is the power of love to overcome fear and doubt, worry and discouragement."  (President Gordon B. Hinckley, "God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear," First Presidency Message, October 1984.)

JOHN'S TESTIMONY AND ADMONITION

At the end of the first epistle, John again shares his testimony:

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God, and eternal life" (5:20).

After bearing this testimony of the Savior, he adds this curious little sentence:

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols.  Amen." (5:21).

It seems disjointed or tacked on but actually it relates directly to, and even summarizes, the entire point of his epistle.  To know God and to be one with him is Eternal Life.  But to achieve this state, we must keep ourselves from idols, or from anything that may compromise our loyalty to the Lord.  The key is to closely control our love.  As he advised earlier:

"Love not the world, neither the things that are of the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (2:15 JST).

We must examine our pastimes, our passions, our use of resources, our goals, our desires, and make sure they all come up based on getting to know and be one with the Lord.  If they point in any other direction, our hope for Eternal Life as well as daily peace and joy is being frustrated.  We will fail daily, weekly, and eternally if we allow ourselves to be limited by fear, or if we love anything more than the Lord.

Please see the next blog entry for a little idea you may want to tag onto the end of this lesson to prepare your class for studying the Book of Revelation.

The Measure of Our Faith

WANTING TO BELIEVE

Just a couple of days before Christmas, as I was driving my two 9-year-olds to Grandma’s, Marisha said, “I’m going to stay up all night Christmas Eve and find out if Santa is really real.” But Ammon said, “Not me. I don’t want to know. I want to believe.”

Elder Michael T. Ringwood, in this past General Conference, said he had been drawn repeatedly over the past several months to a statement in the scriptures, Helaman 6:36: “And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words.” This is an amazing scripture. These were the Lamanites, who had been led in the opposite direction for centuries by their fathers.

Elder Ringwood puzzled over the question, “What happened to cause a people full of hatred and disbelief to have an easiness and willingness to believe in the word of God?” 8,000 of them had listened to the voices of Nephi and Lehi as they taught by the Spirit, and had been converted. 300 more were converted through the miracle of hearing a voice as they went forth to harm Nephi and Lehi. And many more were converted through the testimony of those 300. As they were converted, they immediately began living the gospel. They cast down their weapons and habits of war, they studied the word of God, and they obeyed the commandments. They had great faith which enabled them to endure to the end at the peril of their lives (Helaman 15:5-9).

Samuel the Lamanite explained that “because of their steadfastness when they do believe in that thing which they do believe…because of their firmness when they are once enlightened, behold the Lord shall bless them and prolong their days, notwithstanding their iniquity,” speaking not just of this individual group, but also of the entire Lamanite nation (Helaman 15:10).

At the same period of time, the Nephites, who had a heritage of belief and obedience, became “hardened, impenitent, and grossly wicked” (Helaman 6:2) and their civilization was eventually cut off from the face of the earth.

Our lives sometimes go through stages of an easiness to believe, and sometimes a hardness of heart. Elder Ringwood suggests that times of significant change, times of intense service, times of trial, times of learning new principles, and times in our youth and childhood are often times when it is easier to believe. We are commanded to create more of these times in our lives, by becoming as little children, that we may inherit eternal life (3 Nephi 11:38). He says that as we reflect upon these times, we “will find what really brought an easiness and willingness to believe were not the circumstances but the commitment to live the gospel during these periods of life.” He says, “Daily living of the gospel brings a softness of heart needed to have an easiness and willingness to believe the word of God.”

A BELIEVER FROM THE DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS

We are all very familiar with Martin Harris, the third witness of and financier of the Book of Mormon, who at many times of his life had a difficult time believing. This disbelief led to the loss of the Book of Lehi, and it led to many years of estrangement from the Church. Very few of us are familiar with his older brother, Emer. But we should be!

Because Emer had an easiness and willingness to believe. Hearing of the golden Bible, Emer had walked 25 miles to learn more about it from his brother, Martin. When the book was published, Martin picked up the first bound copy off the press and handed it to Emer.

Emer joined the church early in 1831. He was a scribe for Joseph for a short time. He was called to serve a mission with Simeon Carter (D&C 75:30), but switched companions and served with his brother Martin. They baptized 82 people in one place, 100 at another, and organized a branch of 70 in Pennsylvania.

Emer was a skilled carpenter who built the window sash in the Kirtland Temple. Later, he used the same tools to build the winding stairway in the Nauvoo Temple.

He and his family arrived in Missouri just in time to be thrown out by the extermination order. Among the meager possessions he carried with him at the exodus was a chest in which he had fitted a false bottom for the safe transport of copies of the Book of Mormon. The mob did search his belongings, including the chest, but his preparation saved the books.

Emer was 69 when the Saints moved west, and he moved with them. His patriarchal blessing stated, “Thou has[t] not fainted in times of disease and persecution when every evil thing has [been] spoken against the church of the Living God. Thou hast endured in faith. The Lord is well pleased with thee because of the integrity of thy heart.” After he arrived in Utah, he also became a patriarch and was known as a great healer. He died at the age of 88 and is buried in the Logan Cemetery. (You can see a photo of his headstone here.)

JOHN THE BELOVED

And now, let’s examine a great believer from the Bible, John the Beloved. Have you ever wondered where the name “John the Beloved,” came from? Was he loved more than the other disciples? Did Jesus name him that? No. Jesus gave him the title “Son of Thunder.” In the heading of the Book of Revelation, he is referred to as “St. John the Divine,” meaning one who sees the future. He is often called “John the Revelator” because of his visions.

So who came up with “John the Beloved?” Well, you don’t find that particular title in the Bible, but you find the origin of it: Five times in his gospel, John referred to himself as “that disciple whom Jesus loved.” It was not that Jesus loved him more than others; it was John’s own acceptance, appreciation, and emulation of that love that made him into “John the Beloved.”

His perception of this great love led him to desire to labor in the Lord’s kingdom for the salvation of His children until Christ should come again. He’s already been doing that for 2,000 years.

If we were to follow the example of John, we would be looking for evidences of the Lord’s love in our lives every day, and we would be thinking of ourselves in terms of God’s love for us. If we were to do this, we would lose all need for self-confidence or that elusive mirage, self-esteem. Both would be replaced by faith in God. We would also let go of our need to compare, our need to compete, and our compulsion to view our inadequacies in a depressing light that shuts out the Spirit and prevents us from loving others. Imagine thinking of yourself as “[insert your name here] the Beloved.” It would change your life. As John himself wrote, “We love him, because he first loved us.” If we comprehended how much God loved us, we would then want to love Him, and that would make all the difference in our lives, as it did in John’s.

LOVE IS THE MEASURE OF OUR FAITH

President Uchtdorf recently told us, “God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God! For what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become.” He is echoing the words of Elder Maxwell 13 years before: “What we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity.”

Ultimately, for the Lamanite converts, for Emer Harris, and for John the Beloved, it was the love of God and the love FOR God that created the condition of a softened heart which allowed them to believe and to endure to the point of martyrdom in the case of the Lamanites; to the age of 88 in the case of Emer; and indefinitely in the case of John the Beloved.

President Utchdorf said, “Since ‘God is love,’ the closer we approach Him, the more profoundly we experience love.” He said, “God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked.” Can we do that?

I love this quote from Sue Monk Kidd: “That’s the only purpose grand enough for a human life—not just to love, but to persist in love.”

President Uchtdorf stated, “The divine love of God turns ordinary acts into extraordinary service…Love is the guiding light that illuminates the disciple’s path and fills our daily walk with life, meaning, and wonder. Love is the measure of our faith, the inspiration for our obedience, and the true altitude of our discipleship.” That’s why we must “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart [to] be filled with this love” (Moroni 7:48).

We need to become like John the Beloved and see the love of God in our everyday lives, that we may also live the love of God. Let’s follow the counsel of President Utchdorf: “In your daily interactions with others, in the words of a hymn, in the laughter of a child, listen for His voice. If you listen for the voice of the Father, He will lead you on a course that will allow you to experience the pure love of Christ.” And this promise brings our lesson full circle: “As we draw near to Heavenly Father, we become more holy. And as we become more holy, we will overcome disbelief and our souls will be filled with His blessed light.”

LIVE IN THE CHILD’S NATIVITY

(You may want to bring a nativity set and ask a young child to arrange it for you before class as an illustration of the paragraph below.)

As children will always arrange a nativity set with Jesus in the middle and everyone else facing him in a tight circle, we must so live our lives. “Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings, and in our livelihood” (Elder Uchtdorf). We must put Christ at the center of our circle. (See previous post.)

“My dear brothers and sisters, don’t get discouraged if you stumble at times. Don’t feel downcast or despair if you don’t feel worthy to be a disciple of Christ at all times. The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to try. We must try to believe.” We must “choose to listen.” We must “try and keep on trying” (Elder Uchtdorf).  We must "educate our desires" (Elder Maxwell).  Ammon said he didn’t want to know about Santa, because he wanted to believe in him. With a testimony of Christ, it is the opposite: We first believe so that we may later know.

“An easiness to believe will come when the word of God is etched into our hearts” (Elder Ringwood). In our homes and families, we need to create an environment and live traditions that "educate our desires," and make it easy for us and our children to believe.


(Sources: Michael T. Ringwood, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, November 2009; Susan Easton Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants; Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees; Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, November 1996)

Doctrine and Covenants Lesson #46 Zion: The Pure in Heart

(D&C 57:1-3; 64:33-43; 97:8-28; 105:1-12; Moses 7:12-19,61-63,68-69; Article of Faith 10; OH p. 37-38,145-146)

"If ye are not one, ye are not mine" (D&C 38:27).

One thing I have struggled with over my life, as you probably have as well, is being one with others.  It's a common, almost universal, problem among anyone over the age of six.  The natural man wants to be an enemy, to compare himself to others, to criticize others if they are different, to be intimidated by others if they seem better than him, to be annoyed by others if they don't meet his specifications, to put others down in an effort to build himself up.  We all do this.  But it doesn't solve any problems or make any situation better.  It creates feelings of enmity, however small the act or thought.  It turns us away from Zion.

As I have battled this tendency of the natural man, and tried to be one with others, I have noticed a wonderful side effect:  Life is a lot more fun when you genuinely like other people! 

Imagine going to a party where all the guests are your best friends.  You know it's going to be a fun time, you are going to feel relaxed and happy, and the time is going to fly.  Now imagine going to a party where all the guests are people you can't stand.  It's miserable and you can't wait to get out of there.  But the irony is that we choose what kind of party our life is.  We choose whether we consider people friends or foes by our reactions to them.  It's entirely up to us.

Most of us reserve some particular neighbors, relatives, ward members, or a whole category of people as our irritants.  Criticizing others feels satisfying; it can even become a hobby.  It's hard to give it up.  Comparing ourselves to others feels gratifyiing if we put them down to build ourselves up.  Noticing a fault in someone that they seem clueless about makes us feel smarter than them.  Sometimes it seems like it would be completely impossible to not be annoyed by some other person--we rationalize that anyone would be annoyed by such behavior. These various attitudes of enmity create a feeling of superiority and it kind of feels good.  But it is a lie, because we are not superior.

Comparing ourselves to others feels noble, if it results in our putting ourselves down.  But this is not humility.  It's just enmity again, with ourselves as the focus this time.  Comparison usually leads to depression, to despair.  And "despair cometh because of iniquity" (Moroni 10:22).  It is another lie, because we are not inferior.

Despite the immediately gratifying feelings enmity brings, it never feels as good as genuinely liking others, despite their faults, their virtues, or their personal quirks.  "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:43), and neither should we be.  Every single person ever born on this earth is a child of God, equal to you and me, even our relatives and coworkers.  There is no way we can ever understand what made each person the way he is, so there is no possibility of fair judgment on our part.  But giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they have a good reason for how they are, being confident that they are doing the best with what they have, and celebrating their uniqueness can bring us great joy in our unlimited friendships.  We can be confident in any social situation if we bring love to the table.  Every encounter is more enjoyable when love is the dominant factor in our attitude, even if the other person has a different attitude.  Considering ourselves on the same team with every other child of God, partly responsible for their salvation and their earthly welfare, doubles our joys and divides our sorrows.  And besides that, it's the truth.

We need to pay close attention to our reactions to others; they will guide us as to how we can achieve more unity.  We can tell if we feel a "wall" go up between ourselves and another person.  We feel an instant hardness inside.  It's a physical sensation.  That's a warning that our attitude is one of enmity.  We need to let love soften and dissolve that wall so that we can be kinsmen, countrymen and "fellowcitizens with the saints."  That is the way to find enjoyment in every relationship.  That is the way to find peace in life.  That is the way to find Zion.