Today I read 1 Corinthians 13, which most people know because it is the commonly quoted verse of scripture in the Bible at weddings. This chapter has to do with charity. What Paul says about charity is very similar to what Moroni had to say about Charity a few hundred years later in the Book of Mormon. Charity is the pure love of Christ, the ultimate form of love for those around us. Charity is unconditional love, the kind of love a parent has for their child. The kind of love a baby has for their parents. The kind of love we strive to have for our spouse in this life but few manage to achieve.
Paul teaches that charity is kind. Charity is the love that we have for our fellow man that causes our hearts to go out to our fellow man when we see them suffering. Charity is the love that we have for those around us when we are in the "giving" spirit around Christmas time. Charity is kind because when we are filled with the Spirit of Christ, we will want to give service to one another. It is a natural part of the feeling, as natural as falling into water makes you wet! You cannot help but want to help those around you, even if you don't know them, if you are filled with charity.
Charity envieth not. I remember when my wife and I first got married, she was very competitive. Well, she's still very competitive but not towards me anymore. When we would play a game together I would root for her to win because it was more important to her than it was to me. At first, I think she found it a little annoying. But over time, she has become much less competitive with me which is wonderful. Now, most people will probably think this story has more to do with pride and humility, but I think it fits here too. Envy is the feeling of wanting what others have. In the world of competition, we call this being a sore loser. The sore loser is very upset that they lost and all they want in the world is to have the victory the winner has. To me that is envy. But the opposite of that, when you are genuinely happy that your friend, family member or competitor has gained a great victory, then you are a better person for it. You are filled with charity. Charity is humble and desires to lift up those around them. It does not desire what it does not have, but is content with its lot in life.
Now, that is not to say that the desire to succeed is bad. I think that envy is more characterized by the desire taking over you so that it consumes you and it is all you think about and desire to have. You would even take it from someone else if that is the only way you could get it. King David had envy when he saw Bathsheba bathing. The Gadianton Robbers from the Book of Mormon during the days before the Savior visited them had envy of the government seat. Envy is bad because if it gets out of hand, it can limit our agency, just like an addiction. And this is not conducive to the Spirit and so cannot be part of Charity.
Charity is not easily provoked. This is because charity is humble. Pride is the reason that when someone insults us our blood boils and our adrenaline rises and we feel the urge to strike something. Pride it the reason we cannot let harsh words go unanswered. Pride is the reason that we think that we need to express our displeasure when someone cuts us off while driving. If we have charity, then we are humble and don't desire to put ourselves upon a pedestal above others and so there is no place to fall if someone tries to insult us or provoke us. If we have charity we will be more saddened by someone who does this to us than upset by it. We will desire to help that person overcome these feelings and emotions that are causing them to react this way.
Charity does not behave itself unseemly. This is because, again, charity is the pure love of Christ and we will only have it if we are behaving in such a way that the Spirit can be our constant companion. While this attribute on the surface may seem a little odd, to me it is actually one of the most straightforward ones of all. Going hand in hand with this one, for the same reason, is that charity rejoiceth not in iniquity. For the same reason, we cannot have the Spirit of the Lord if we do not do what is right. We have to make sure we are obeying the will of God to ensure that we have His Spirit with us always.
Each one of us should strive to have charity. If we successfully achieve this goal, then we will be well on our path to exaltation and becoming more like God is. I can only imagine what a world where everyone had charity would be like. What a wonderful place that would be! Until tomorrow.
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