April 2011
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Perfect Love
The Perfect Love of God
Years ago when I was serving as the Deacons Quorum Advisor in my ward I prepared a lesson on the Nature of God. The lesson focused on three attributes – OMNIPOTENCE, OMNICIENCE, and PERFECT LOVE.
As I worked on the preparations for the lesson I felt very keenly that I needed to get this right. It became a particularly solemn experience for me as I felt guided not only to prepare but to learn and understand more about the true nature of my Father in Heaven.
Understanding the Nature of God has become the foundation of my faith and the source of my hope.
I had always believed and understood God knew everything and had all power but I gave very little thought to His perfect Love.
What does it mean to love perfectly?
Because of our imperfection it is difficult for us to understand perfection. For some of us, because of our nature, we may even be apathetic about it. Because of our pride we are short sighted and disregard the power and influence of a perfect Creator. If that pride is fostered and allowed to infiltrate our souls, like a lawn full of dandelions, we will eventually lose hope and be swept off our foundation of sand.
This is particularly true when we consider Perfect Love. Where are our real time examples of perfect love in this world? They are nowhere to be found. We have nothing tangible from which to gain our perspective. So how can we believe in a Being who is perfect in His ability to love us? What does it mean to be loved by God? How does it feel? How do we reciprocate?
That lesson I prepared for the Deacons set me on a path that led to several years of searching and studying. I realized that I had, and still have, much to learn about love and its purpose in our lives.
Years ago while I was in a Fast and Testimony Meeting I heard a brother talk about a passage of scripture that he read over and over and over until he had gained deep insight, peace and understanding. That struck me. I moved to another ward and there I heard another brother explain in a Sunday School Class that he had studied a passage of scripture over and over during the sacrament until he had gained a deeper understanding of the atonement. Because of these two examples I decided to follow suit and I chose Moroni 7:33-48 to read and ponder until I gained some insight into faith, hope, and charity, their relationship, and their purpose.
Pres. Uchtdorf said “When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk as Disciples of Christ becomes more joyful. Our lives take on new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound. Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden.” (Gen. Conf. 10-2009)
As I read and pondered I realized that I had been missing the point of the gospel. It wasn’t enough to be obedient, to attend all your meetings, or to accept callings. Faith and hope that I would be saved were not even enough. The whole point of the gospel was become like Christ. To my unrefined understanding verse 48 of Moroni 7 said we needed to pray to the Father with all energy of heart for Charity. So I began to pray for charity. I needed to be more patient and long suffering and forgiving of my children and my wife & I knew it, so I began to earnestly pray for that. I’m not sure what I expected but I wasn’t transformed from an impatient father who tended to raise my voice, into a soft spoken, introspective, wise patriarch all of the sudden. I studied and pondered some more and as time passed and as I listened to prophets and apostles and read their teachings I began to understand that I was still missing something. The scripture doesn’t say “pray for charity”, it says to “pray unto the Father with all energy of heart that ye may be filled with this love . . .” -- “this love” refers to the definition of Charity given in the previous verse – “charity is the pure love of Christ.” I began to understand that before I could really change into a more charitable person I had to first experience and recognize that pure love as it flowed from the Savior into my life through his Atonement.
Now, that didn’t mean that I would have to be like Alma the younger and commit serious sins that would cause me to be racked with the pains of a damned soul before I could feel joy, and peace and love as exquisite as was my pain and guilt. NO, I just needed to repent daily with a sincere heart, trusting in the goodness and mercy of my Savior. Beyond that I had learned from Alma 7: 11-12 that when I was sad, or sick, oppressed, or over burdened I could rely on the power of the atonement as well, for Christ truly suffered all so that He would be able to succor us in all things. Tribulation and trial is universal. We all pass through it at some time in our lives and as we turn our burdens over to the Lord we inevitably taste and feel and experience His Pure Love in our hearts.
That process of His Pure Love “filling” us is what we are to pray for with all the energy of our souls. No matter if for sin or for sadness, malady or rebellion, as we rely on the atonement, his love flows into our hearts and souls. It sanctifies and purifies and enlarges our capacity to feel and finally to give love. And it’s not really that we are ever the source of that love, but that after we have been cleansed and made to be worthy vessels, His love can then flow through us to others. We gradually become born again. We receive His image in our countenance; with diligence and patience we can become a window through which His love is seen and felt. This spiritual growth and maturation is so vital for parent as they raise their children.
Sometimes faith and prayers seem to lead to speedy resolutions. But sometimes the Lord leaves the trial without leaving us alone. He will give us peace. He will give us strength to endure. He will bless us with temperance and tolerance in the midst of those trials through which we are refined, gain experience, and are prepared to receive “all that the Father hath”. Is this not a magnificent manifestation of His love? I testify, through personal experience, that it is.
It is through us that our children will form their first opinions and beliefs of God. If they feel shunned and unaccepted when they stray they miss a vital opportunity to experience the power of atoning grace. We miss an opportunity to be vessels of light and love and compassion. We cannot afford to miss these opportunities. We must learn to let love illuminate our disappointment, and compassion to cushion our discipline.
We all must understand how Love and Law are applied.
This is a real struggle for parents. As children grow and mature their nature (their “natural man”) is manifest. They see the world’s view of God through the clouded lens of hopelessness, selfishness, and pride. They learn to challenge the very existence of God based on unenlightened, faulty and week philosophies that point to the suffering of His children as evidence of His absence.
Some fall for the ruse or moral relativism preached so loud and long these days. Moral relativism uses the disguise of “individuality” to disregard any moral or spiritual law that is not convenient, or goes against ones “nature”, thereby offending the “natural man”. Those influenced by this myth tend to falsely profess that if God really does exist he would love us for who we are, without regard to who we can and must become to dwell in His presence again.
Elder Oaks taught, “If anyone thinks that godly or parental love for an individual grants the loved one license to disobey the law, he or she does not understand either love or law. The Lord declared: “That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still” (D&C 88:35). (Gen. Conf. 10-2009)
When our children choose not to believe in God’s law, or willfully break it, we find ourselves in a dilemma. When do we require obedience and when do we apply compassion and acceptance.
Elder Oaks gives us hope. “Where do parents draw the line? That is a matter for parental wisdom, guided by the inspiration of the Lord. There is no area of parental action that is more needful of heavenly guidance or more likely to receive it than the decisions of parents in raising their children and governing their families. This is the work of eternity.”
He further counseled, “As parents grapple with these problems, they should remember the Lord’s teaching that we leave the ninety and nine and go out into the wilderness to rescue the lost sheep. President Thomas S. Monson has called for a loving crusade to rescue our brothers and sisters who are wandering in the wilderness of apathy or ignorance. These teachings require continued loving concern, which surely requires continued loving associations.” (Gen. Conf. 10-2009)
We must all recognize and realize that God’s love is manifest powerfully in the Law of Free Agency.
God’s Love is Manifest Powerfully in the Atonement
Considering our own poor choices and sins, there is no purer evidence of the love of our Heavenly Father than in the laying down the life of His only begotten son in the flesh that the demands of justice might be met, and the law of mercy be applied. Since sin and repentance go hand in hand we often overlook the beauty of the one because of the ugliness of the other. Too often we disregard repentance because we disbelieve, or lack faith in, the perfect compassion and mercy of our Maker.
Consider the following statements by Elder Neil L. Andersen, “The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement but rather a loving appeal to turn around and to “re-turn” toward God. It is the beckoning of a loving Father and His Only Begotten Son to be more than we are, to reach up to a higher way of life, to change, and to feel the happiness of keeping the commandments.” (Gen. Conf. 10-2009)Though there may be significant consequences for serious sins we read in the scriptures over and over again that “His arms are stretched out still”. The symbolism of our loving Savior with out-stretched arms is an unrelenting beacon from a light house of hope. There seems to be no end to the love and hope offered by Jesus. This testament from a new Apostle, Elder Andersen, thrills me with its simplicity and its depth:
“I am amazed at the Savior’s encircling arms of mercy and love for the repentant, no matter how selfish the forsaken sin. I testify that the Savior is able and eager to forgive our sins.” (Gen. Conf. 10-2009)
When I have felt a void of God’s love in my life, when I have felt distant, and like there is no one on the other end of my prayers, I have found refuge in the ordinance of the sacrament. Some of the most sacred moments of my life have been during those few moments of sacred song and solemn covenant. Each time I have participated with a prepared heart and a contrite spirit I have felt an out pouring of love and peace.
Omniscience allows God to know all things including what choices will be made by any given individual. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows when our mortal probation is complete, and He knows when to allow circumstances and consequences, caused by our own or others choices, do their refining and tempering work. He knows when to guide and prompt us away from dangers that He knows may hinder our joy and progress on the earth. But we are free to listen or ignore. When we have chosen wrong, or when another’s wrong choices have affected us, He knows when and how to succor us, individually, so that our mortal experience can maximize our eternal rewards. But we must submit our wills to Him, turn to Him, and allow His love to heal us. Omnipotence means that no matter how we are personally affected by the poor, or unfair, or wicked choices of others, His power is sufficient to make it right. He can heal us; He can level the field and even the odds so that the demands of justice and mercy are served perfectly.
Because of our Father in Heaven’s perfect ability to Love we can have faith that, 100% of the time, He will use His perfect Knowledge and His perfect Power for our eternal welfare, so that we have the maximum opportunity to return to His presence, and to be found worthy to inherit all that He has if we believe and trust in Him.
It is true that bad things happen to good people, unjust and evil things affect the pure and innocent. But if we trust in the Pure Love of God and the Saving Grace of our Savior we will never lose hope. With our hope in tact our faith will grow and that Pure Love will flow to and through us – and we will experience the magnificent and miraculous symbiotic relationship between Faith, Hope, and Charity. Hope fostering Faith,- Faith nourishing Hope - Charity thriving on and feeding our faith and hope simultaneously.
Satan is vigilant in his attempt to block the flow of love and mercy and compassion from Deity. As we try and fail, and try and fail, we must be vigilant to avoid his invitation to despair. His stumbling blocks of discouragement and self doubt must constantly be negotiated and ignored. Keeping our eye singly upon the Glory of God will help us to feel God’s love, restore hope in God’s promise, therby extinguishing despair and discouragement.
President Uchtdorf offered these words of encouragement, “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. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets; choose to listen to the Father, and do the things He asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible—and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you.” (Gen. Conf. 10-2009)
I testify that our all knowing and all powerful Father in Heaven loves each of us perfectly. Because of that testimony my hope is firm and my faith is secure that, no matter my trial, tribulation, circumstance, or even my sins, as I turn to Him, He will turn me into one worthy of immortality and eternal life.
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