The Spirit of Love

Today I read Alma 35. This chapter is where the Zoramites kick out all those that believed in the words of Alma and his brethren. This is a theme in the Book of Mormon and sadly it still continues to this day. There are far, far too many instances in this day and age where someone joins the church and their family disowns them.

As the people of the Zoramites who believed left their homes and lives behind, they traveled over to the land where the people of Ammon, the former Lamanites lived. The people of Ammon took in the Zoramites and fed them, clothed them and even gave them land to live on. The most heart warming part of this story is that the people of Ammon asked for nothing in return. They were even threatened by the ruler of the Zoramites and did not care, they still took in the poor of the Zoramites.

This is the true Spirit of love, or the Spirit of Christ. This is exactly what King Benjamin was talking about in his famous speech, particularly in chapter 4. The true Spirit of Christ is to love thy neighbor as thyself. We have already talked about this concept and what it really means to love thy neighbor as thyself. As I read chapters like this I can't help but wonder what the world would be like if everyone in the world was filled with this Spirit of love.

I thik the answer is obvious. There would be no more war, no more hate, no more adultery, no more theft, etc. The world would truly be a paradise. We actually have a record of such a people in the first part of 4 Nephi. It says that there never were a happier people and I believe it.

When I was a teenager I used to get so frustrated with my parents because they would always drag me off to service project after service project. It wasn't until I was an older teenager, around 18-19 that I realized that I was never happier than when I was serving others. I realized that when I was serving people that the Spirit of Christ would fill me and I would be so happy that I couldn't help but smile all the time and let it shine forth. When you do what the Savior actually said, to lose your life, you truly do find it. And if everyone were filled with this Spirit, it would truly destroy priestcraft as it did with the Zoramites. Sadly, prophecy tells us that such a thing will not happen until the Savior comes again. We can dream though. :) Until tomorrow.