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Highlights From Part
1
"Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:36-39).
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not;
charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth" (1
Corinthians 13:4-8).
"When
Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment to “love one another; as I have
loved you,” He gave to them the grand key to happiness in this life and glory
in the next. [Love] is the one trait that, if developed, will most improve our
lives" (Joseph B. Wirthlin, October 2007 General Conference).
The Good Samaritan
In
response to the commandment to love our neighbor, a man said to Jesus,
"And who is my neighbour?" (Luke 10:29). Jesus responded with the
following parable:
"And
Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and
fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and
departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest
that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a
Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the
other side.
"But
a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him,
he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in
oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took
care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and
gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou
spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
"Which
now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the
thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise"
(Luke 10:30-37).
Q What can we learn
about charity from this story?
Q How can we do
likewise?
Q Who can you be a
"good Samaritan" to?
Becoming More
Charitable
Humbly pray and seek to be a true disciple of Jesus
Christ
"But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. 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" (Moroni 7:47-48)
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27).
Q How have you found
these promises to be true?
Live
the Gospel
We
become true followers of Jesus Christ when we live His Gospel by growing our
faith, repenting, making and keeping covenants with God, and inviting the Holy
Ghost into our lives. Following these core principles makes us more charitable:
"And the first
fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the
fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth
remission of sins; And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness
of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation
of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which
love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the
saints shall dwell with God" (Moroni 8:25-26).
Q How has repenting
and receiving forgiveness for sins made you more charitable?
Q How has having the
Holy Ghost with you helped you be more Charitable?
Serve
others and take time for the one (Keep Covenants)
"You
will develop charity as you look for opportunities to serve others and give of
yourself" (Preach My Gospel).
Q How has serving
others helped grow your love for them?
Q Who is someone you
can lift and serve?
Seek
to better understand the atonement of Jesus Christ (Faith)
“Brothers
and sisters, I believe that if we could truly understand the Atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we would realize how precious is one son or daughter of God.
I believe our Heavenly Father’s everlasting purpose for His children is
generally achieved by the small and simple things we do for one another. At the
heart of the English word atonement is the word one. If all mankind understood
this, there would never be anyone with whom we would not be concerned,
regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or social or economic standing. We
would strive to emulate the Savior and would never be unkind, indifferent,
disrespectful, or insensitive to others.
If we truly understood the Atonement and the eternal value of each soul,
we would seek out the wayward boy and girl and every other wayward child of
God. We would help them to know of the love Christ has for them. We would do
all that we can to help prepare them to receive the saving ordinances of the
gospel” (M. Russell Ballard, April 2004
General Conference).
Q Why do we become
more charitable the better we understand the atonement of Jesus Christ?
Seek
to have an eternal perspective (Faith)
We
can try to see and love others the way God does:
"Oh,
it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our
flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never
will. We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father
sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father
won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming" (Joseph
B. Wirthlin, October 2007 General Conference).
Q When was a time you
applied this principle?
“I
often wonder why some feel they must be critical of others. It gets in their
blood, I suppose, and it becomes so natural they often don’t even think about
it. They seem to criticize everyone—the way Sister Jones leads the music, the
way Brother Smith teaches a lesson or plants his garden. Even when we think we are doing no harm by
our critical remarks, consequences often follow…. Each one of us will travel a
different road during this life. Each progresses at a different rate.
Temptations that trouble your brother may not challenge you at all. Strengths
that you possess may seem impossible to another. Never look down on those who are less perfect
than you…. We are all children of our
Heavenly Father. And we are here with the same purpose: to learn to love Him
with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as
ourselves. One way you can measure your
value in the kingdom of God is to ask, “How well am I doing in helping others
reach their potential? Do I support others in the Church, or do I criticize
them?” If you are criticizing others,
you are weakening the Church. If you are building others, you are building the
kingdom of God. As Heavenly Father is kind, we also should be kind to others”
(Joseph B. Wirthlin, April 2005 General Conference).
Learn
about and follow the example of Jesus Christ (Faith)
Q What stories from the
life of Jesus Christ inspire you to be more charitable?
"After
he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again,
he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord:
and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your
feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an
example, that ye should do as I have done to you. If ye know these things,
happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:12-15, 17).
"And,
behold, there came a man named Jairus... and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and
besought him that he would come into his house: For he had one only daughter,
about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying.
But as he went the people thronged him.
"And
a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living
upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him, and touched
the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And
Jesus said, Who touched me?.... And when the woman saw that she was not hid,
she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before
all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she was healed
immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath
made thee whole; go in peace" (Luke 8:41-48).
The
Savior was busy and was doing something very important when the woman touched Him. He could have given her a friendly wave and
moved on to His important task, but He went out of His way to take time for
this woman, and to help her to know the importance of her faith and in so
doing, that she was loved, that she was special. He helped her to know that she
was worth something, that she was more than just a woman on a crowded street.
The Savior was never too busy to take time to show people that He cared. I
think of my own life, and how busy I am.
The example of the Savior in this story makes me pause and ask myself,
“Do I take time to bless the one? Do I
take time to show others that they are special, that they are worth something?”
Questions to Ponder
"What
would our Savior do with the opportunities that we have to affect the one? As
we apply that principle If Christ had my
opportunities, what would He do? our decisions in life will be
Christ-centered.... Each one of us can make a difference in someone’s life,
even his or her eternal life, but we must act; we must do; we must labor
diligently" (Paul K. Sybrowsky, October 2005 General Conference).
Q Who is someone you
can reach out to and show love to?
Q If Christ was in your
shoes, what would he do to bless someone you know? Who would He take time for? Who would He
visit? Who would he thank, appreciate,
or compliment? Who would He forgive? Who would he befriend? Who would invite to
come to church?
Key talks about charity
Key talks about service
Key talks about becoming more Christlike
Key talks about strengthening families
Key talks about the atonement of Jesus Christ
Please share your testimony of the principles covered in this lesson or share a favorite scripture or quote that wasn't included.
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