After the resurrected Jesus visited the Nephite nation, the Nephites began to banish all resentment from their midst. They did that by replacing adverse feelings with good feelings—the heavenly gifts—according to Acts of the Three Nephites, 8:1. The apostle Paul gave a very good example of how to replace adverse feelings with good feelings when he wrote an epistle to the Saints at Corinth. That letter focuses on Charity, and is now known as 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible. Character traits derived from Charity and characteristics that are in opposition to Charity are described by Paul in his letter. Replacing those uncharitable traits listed by Paul with the charitable traits listed in his epistle could have banished resentment and adverse feelings among the Corinthians. In The Book of Mormon, in chapter 7 of Moroni there is even more clarity regarding the utmost importance of Charity. However, this article focuses on something in scripture that is veiled: humility is necessary to reach the pinnacle of charity and banish all resentments from our midst. In other words, without unfeigned humility, authentic Charity is not possible.
We find the following words about Charity in The Sealed Book of Moses 3:62-64: “No, in no way can My people live the height of My priesthood in a united order, as it did in the days of Enoch, without the noblest and high feeling in their hearts, all derived from charity, which is the purest expression of the love of God among the children of men, much less you can effect any ministry, whether it be healing or powerful works without any of the feelings derived from this greater gift. This, therefore, is the procedure among the various ministries which are in the priestly order of the Only Begotten Son, for no authorized representative in the sacred order of My priesthood can perform any miracle, such as healing, unless there is the gift of compassion in your hearts when they pray with hands on top of the sick. Your action will be in vain if there is no corresponding feeling within you to do the work, whatever it may be.” This scripture from The Sealed Book helps us understand the urgency of developing Charity so that our actions will not be in vain.
The Apostle Paul tells us to abide in faith, hope and Charity with Charity being the greatest (1 Corinthians 13:13). However, Mormon tells us in Moroni chapter 7 (BoM), that a person “can not have faith and hope, save he shall be meek and lowly of heart; if so, his faith and hope are vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly of 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.”
The scriptures clearly indicate that faith and hope are a part of Charity, and in Moroni, chapter 7, it is clear that being meek and lowly in heart is also a part of Charity as well as faith and hope. We also learn in this lesson that to have the “corresponding feeling” necessary to do the Lord’s work with the power of the priesthood, humility is paramount. Hidden within the scriptures regarding charity, it is clear that we can not have charity without humility, and without humility, or being “meek and lowly in heart” even our faith and hope are vain. Yes, faith and hope can be vain so that even if we speak in tongues; even if we have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge; and even if we could remove mountains—these things would not add any profit to our progress. Miracles would be as empty as little children beating on toy cymbals giving them temporary delight, and giving them the craved attention from others, but with no redeeming qualities to help them grow and evolve.
“This project, coming from God, requires first that the people possess the citizenship of Zion in their hearts and this will be the means by which the people of God will show themselves apt and worthy to live in Zion, having a broken heart and a contrite spirit before the Lord” (Acts of the Three Nephites 7:6). The path could be so simple for us, if the path we choose is through humility and meekness, through a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Even if we give everything we possess to feed the poor, that act will not add any profit to the giver who does not have charity, according to the Apostle Paul. When we read between the lines of holy scriptures, we realize that charity, the greater gift, requires humility in order for us to be endowed with the fullness of God’s power. We should guard our hearts, minds and actions with the knowledge that our inner feelings of humility—and outer behavior, (authentic humble behavior is called meekness), are requirements to grow into Charity. It is important to note that a person can behave with meekness without having unfeigned humility within. Likewise, a person can have humility within without practicing meekness. The inner “feeling” of humility and outer “being” of meekness should be inseparably connected.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son Jesus Christ, that ye may become the sons of God, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is, that we may have this hope, that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen (Moroni 7:48 /7:52-53 RLDS).
In Matthew 11:30, Jesus spoke to His disciples regarding how to be like Him: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. The Sealed Book tells us that Charity is a gift (SB Moses 3:62). That ought to humble us, knowing that we are not equipped to be filled with Charity without the Great Jehovah and His Only Begotten Son, Jehovah.
A son who truly knows how to speak with the Father speaks to Him with feelings derived from a broken heart and a contrite feeling according to Jesus in chapter 13 of Acts of the Three Nephites, verses 14-15: this broken heart and contrite feeling is “the greatest power that is in the world”. It is no wonder that humility is a requirement for attaining Charity, the greatest gift from the Father’s attributes! It seems paradoxical that humility and meekness are needed to speak to the Father with a broken heart and a contrite feeling which is the “greatest power that is in the world”, and “able to move the hand of Him who rules the whole universe”. Could this requirement of a broken heart coupled with contriteness of spirit be a failsafe code the Father has placed upon the precious communication device called prayer, in order to be certain that the greatest power in the world is not attainable by those who crave power?
Returning to the advice of Moroni to pray for charity with all the energy of our hearts, and returning to the advice of Jonah in Acts of the Three Nephites 13:15, we now know that God will move heaven and earth to assist us in attaining Charity when we pray the right way, with great desire and sincerity and all the energy of our feelings, if we would simply be truly meek and humble, having a broken heart and contrite spirit in our prayer. Without this sincere humility and meekness, we remain without charity; and everything we do, everything we have knowledge about, every good deed such as feeding the poor, every miracle, every mystery of God—will not add any profit to us—not even sacrificing our bodies (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
This task of overcoming pride begins with us having to recognize the evil feelings impregnated within ourselves (see SB Moses 5:36), not focusing on the evil feelings of others. These divine traits of meekness and lowliness of heart can transmute the most irritating conditions into sublime human feelings. Developing humility will help us successfully replace our adverse feelings with good feelings so we can banish all resentment from our midst. These feelings will enable us to become like Christ Jesus—the personification of Charity.
