“Chapter 11: Charity, the Pure Love of Christ,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Thomas S. Monson (2020)
“Chapter 11,” Teachings: Thomas S. Monson
Chapter 11
Charity, the Pure Love of Christ
“May we … express love to all of God’s children, whether they be our family members, our friends, mere acquaintances, or total strangers.”
From the Life of Thomas S. Monson
For President Thomas S. Monson, loving others was a way of life. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and others described some of the ways he expressed love and charity:
“Young Tom’s tender heart and compassionate nature soon made him aware of the many around him who were less fortunate than he. Unwilling to see the family of one of his childhood friends eat cereal (moistened with hot water rather than milk) for a Christmas dinner, he handed over his two prize rabbits, saying with a lump in his throat, ‘It isn’t turkey, but they will make you a good Christmas dinner.’
“Indeed, his childhood experiences seem to have been part of a divinely directed training process which would sensitize Thomas Monson to the plight of the poor for the rest of his life. When he later became bishop of [the] Sixth-Seventh Ward into which he had been born and raised, he had 1,060 members, including some 85 widows and the largest welfare load in the Church.
“Many may know that young Bishop Monson took a week of his personal vacation time every Christmas season to visit all of those eighty-five widows in his ward. Many may not know that for the first several years the gift he would take them was one of the … hens raised and dressed out by him in his own poultry coops. …
“‘[President Monson is] the champion of the underdog,’ [said] long-time friend Wendell J. Ashton. … ‘He is like a pine tree—the top is high and ascending to heaven but the branches are broad, low to the ground, and protective of all who need shelter there.’
“‘Few people know it, but Brother Monson is the self-appointed chaplain at a number of nursing homes around town,’ [said] Elder Boyd K. Packer, who sat next to Elder Monson in the Quorum of the Twelve for fifteen years. ‘He visits them anytime his busy schedule will permit, and sometimes even when it doesn’t permit.’
“A well-meaning person once told President Monson that it was useless for him to visit these elderly people, talking at length with them when they seldom answered a word. ‘You might as well save your time and breath, Elder Monson. They don’t know who you are.’
“‘Whether they know me or not is beside the point,’ the determined Thomas Monson replied. ‘I don’t talk to them because they know me; I talk to them because I know them.’”1
“Love is the very essence of the gospel, and Jesus Christ is our Exemplar. His life was a legacy of love.”
Teachings of Thomas S. Monson
1
We should express love in our words and actions.
We cannot truly love God if we do not love our fellow travelers on this mortal journey. Likewise, we cannot fully love our fellowmen if we do not love God, the Father of us all. The Apostle John tells us, “This commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” [1 John 4:21]. We are all spirit children of our Heavenly Father and, as such, are brothers and sisters. As we keep this truth in mind, loving all of God’s children will become easier.
Actually, love is the very essence of the gospel, and Jesus Christ is our Exemplar. His life was a legacy of love. The sick He healed; the downtrodden He lifted; the sinner He saved. At the end the angry mob took His life. And yet there rings from Golgotha’s hill the words: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”—a crowning expression in mortality of compassion and love [Luke 23:34].
There are many attributes which are manifestations of love, such as kindness, patience, selflessness, understanding, and forgiveness. In all our associations, these and other such attributes will help make evident the love in our hearts.
Usually our love will be shown in our day-to-day interactions one with another. All important will be our ability to recognize someone’s need and then to respond. I have always cherished the sentiment expressed in the short poem:
I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody’s need made me blind;
But I never have yet
Felt a tinge of regret
For being a little too kind.
[Author unknown, quoted in Richard L. Evans, “The Quality of Kindness,” Improvement Era, May 1960, 340] …
I would hope that we would strive always to be considerate and to be sensitive to the thoughts and feelings and circumstances of those around us. Let us not demean or belittle. Rather, let us be compassionate and encouraging. We must be careful that we do not destroy another person’s confidence through careless words or actions. …
Love is expressed in many recognizable ways: a smile, a wave, a kind comment, a compliment. Other expressions may be more subtle, such as showing interest in another’s activities, teaching a principle with kindness and patience, visiting one who is ill or homebound. These words and actions and many others can communicate love. …
May we begin now, this very day, to express love to all of God’s children, whether they be our family members, our friends, mere acquaintances, or total strangers. As we arise each morning, let us determine to respond with love and kindness to whatever might come our way.
Beyond comprehension, my brothers and sisters, is the love of God for us. Because of this love, He sent His Son, who loved us enough to give His life for us, that we might have eternal life. As we come to understand this incomparable gift, our hearts will be filled with love for our Eternal Father, for our Savior, and for all mankind.2
Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there.3
2
Jesus Christ showed charity to others and invites us to do likewise.
My thoughts have turned to a road made famous by the parable Jesus told. I speak of the road to Jericho. The Bible enables us to relive the memorable event that made the Jericho Road famous for all time. …
“And Jesus … 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.]
Each of us, in the journey through mortality, will travel his own Jericho Road. What will be your experience? What will be mine? Will I fail to notice him who has fallen among thieves and requires my help? Will you? Will I be one who sees the injured and hears his plea, yet crosses to the other side? Will you? Or will I be one who sees, who hears, who pauses, and who helps? Will you?
Jesus provided our watchword: “Go, and do thou likewise” [Luke 10:37]. When we obey that declaration, there opens to our view a vista of joy seldom equaled and never surpassed.
Now the Jericho Road may not be clearly marked. Neither may the injured cry out, that we may hear. But when we walk in the steps of that good Samaritan, we walk the pathway that leads to perfection.
“Will I be one who sees, who hears, who pauses, and who helps? Will you?”
Note the many examples provided by the Master: the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda; the woman taken in adultery; the woman at Jacob’s well; the daughter of Jairus; Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha—each represented a casualty on the Jericho Road. Each needed help.
To the cripple at Bethesda, Jesus said, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” (John 5:8.) To the sinful woman came the counsel, “Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11.) To her who came to draw water, He provided a “well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14.) To the dead daughter of Jairus came the command, “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” (Mark 5:41.) To the entombed Lazarus the memorable words, “Lazarus, come forth.” (John 11:43.)
One may well ask the penetrating question: These accounts pertained to the Redeemer of the world. Can there actually occur in my own life, on my Jericho Road, such a treasured experience?
My answer is a resounding yes. Let me share [an example].
Some years ago there went to his eternal reward one of the kindest and most loved men to grace the earth. I speak of Louis C. Jacobsen. He ministered to those in need, he assisted the immigrant to find employment, and he delivered more sermons at more funeral services than any other I have known.
One day while in a reflective mood, Louis Jacobsen told me of his boyhood. He was the son of a poor Danish widow. He was small in stature, not comely in appearance—easily the object of his classmates’ thoughtless jokes. In Sunday School one Sabbath morning, the children made light of his patched trousers and his worn shirt. Too proud to cry, tiny Louis fled from the chapel, stopping at last, out of breath, to sit and rest on the curb that ran along Third West Street in Salt Lake City. Clear water flowed along the gutter next to the curb where Louis sat. From his pocket he took a piece of paper that contained the outlined Sunday School lesson and skillfully shaped a paper boat, which he launched on the flowing water. From his hurt boyish heart came the determined words, “I’ll never go back.”
Suddenly, through his tears Louis saw reflected in the water the image of a large and well-dressed man. Louis turned his face upward and recognized George Burbidge, the Sunday School [leader]. “May I sit down with you?” asked the kind leader. Louis nodded affirmatively. There on the gutter’s curb sat a good Samaritan ministering to one who surely was in need. Several boats were formed and launched while the conversation continued. At last the leader stood and, with a boy’s hand tightly clutching his, they returned to Sunday School. Later Louis himself presided over that same Sunday School. Throughout his long life of service, he never failed to acknowledge the traveler who rescued him along a Jericho Road.4
3
Love is the catalyst that causes change, the balm that brings healing.
There echoes ever so gently to the honest mind that personal invitation of the Lord, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him” (Rev. 3:20). Does that doorway have a name? It surely does. I have chosen to call it “The Doorway of Love.”
Love is the catalyst that causes change. Love is the balm that brings healing to the soul. But love doesn’t grow like weeds or fall like rain. Love has its price. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). That Son, even the Lord Jesus Christ, gave His life that we might have eternal life, so great was His love for His Father and for us.
In that tender and touching farewell, as He counseled His beloved disciples, Jesus taught, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21). Particularly far-reaching was the instruction, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). …
I extol those who, with loving care and compassionate concern, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the homeless. He who notes the sparrow’s fall will not be unmindful of such service.5
Recently I thought back to an experience from my boyhood [when] I was just 11. Our Primary president, Melissa, was an older and loving gray-haired lady. One day at Primary, Melissa asked me to stay behind and visit with her. There the two of us sat in the otherwise empty chapel. She placed her arm about my shoulder and began to cry. Surprised, I asked her why she was crying.
She replied, “I can’t seem to get the … boys to be reverent during the opening exercises of Primary. Would you be willing to help me, Tommy?”
I promised Melissa that I would. Strangely to me, but not to Melissa, that ended any problem of reverence in Primary. She had gone to the source of the problem—me. The solution was love.
The years flew by. Marvelous Melissa, now in her 90s, lived in a nursing facility in the northwest part of Salt Lake City. Just before Christmas I determined to visit my beloved Primary president. Over the car radio I heard the song “Hark! The herald angels sing glory to the newborn King!” [see Hymns, no. 209]. I reflected on the visit made by wise men those long years ago. They brought gifts of gold, of frankincense, and of myrrh. I brought only the gift of love and a desire to say thank you.
I found Melissa in the lunchroom. She was staring at her plate of food, teasing it with the fork she held in her aged hand. Not a bite did she eat. As I spoke to her, my words were met by a benign but blank stare. I took the fork in hand and began to feed Melissa, talking all the time I did so about her service to boys and girls as a Primary worker. There wasn’t so much as a glimmer of recognition, far less a spoken word. Two other residents of the nursing home gazed at me with puzzled expressions. At last one of them spoke, saying, “Don’t talk to her. She doesn’t know anyone—even her own family. She hasn’t said a word in all the time she’s been here.”
Lunch ended. My one-sided conversation wound down. I stood to leave. I held her frail hand in mine, gazed into her wrinkled but beautiful countenance, and said, “God bless you, Melissa. Merry Christmas.” Without warning, she spoke the words, “I know you. You’re Tommy Monson, my Primary boy. How I love you.” She pressed my hand to her lips and bestowed on it a sweet kiss filled with love. Tears coursed down her cheeks and bathed our clasped hands. Those hands that day were hallowed by heaven and graced by God.6
4
We show charity when we refrain from judging and criticizing others.
A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash.
“That laundry’s not clean!” Lisa exclaimed. “Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!”
John looked on but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments.
A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, “Look, John—she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.”
John replied, “Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!”
… I’d like to share with you a few thoughts concerning how we view each other. Are we looking through a window which needs cleaning? Are we making judgments when we don’t have all the facts? What do we see when we look at others? What judgments do we make about them?
Said the Savior, “Judge not” [Matthew 7:1]. He continued, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” [Matthew 7:3]. Or, to paraphrase, why beholdest thou what you think is dirty laundry at your neighbor’s house but considerest not the soiled window in your own house?
“Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life.”
None of us is perfect. I know of no one who would profess to be so. And yet for some reason, despite our own imperfections, we have a tendency to point out those of others. We make judgments concerning their actions or inactions.
There is really no way we can know the heart, the intentions, or the circumstances of someone who might say or do something we find reason to criticize. Thus the commandment: “Judge not.” …
I consider charity—or “the pure love of Christ”—to be the opposite of criticism and judging. In speaking of charity, … I have in mind the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions, the kind of charity that forgives, the kind of charity that is patient.
I have in mind the charity that impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful, not only in times of sickness and affliction and distress but also in times of weakness or error on the part of others.
There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, aid to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere.
Needed is the charity which refuses to find satisfaction in hearing or in repeating the reports of misfortunes that come to others, unless by so doing, the unfortunate one may be benefited. …
Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others. … Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life. …
“Charity never faileth” [Moroni 7:46]. May this … timeless truth, guide you in everything you do. May it permeate your very souls and find expression in all your thoughts and actions.7
Suggestions for Study and Teaching
Questions
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Review the many ways President Monson teaches that we should express love (see section 1). What are some ways we can show greater love in our day-to-day interactions? How can we develop greater love for others? How does it help you to know that Heavenly Father’s love for you “is simply always there”?
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Ponder President Monson’s questions about our journey along the Jericho Road (see section 2). How have you been blessed by someone who was a “good Samaritan” to you? What can the story of Louis Jacobsen and George Burbidge teach us? Why is it important to “let concern for others [replace] concern for self”?
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President Monson taught that “love is the catalyst that causes change” (section 3). How did a teacher’s love help him change as an 11-year-old Primary boy? When has the love of another person made a difference in your life? Why does love have such power?
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What can we learn about love from President Monson’s story about the neighbor’s laundry? (See section 4.) Why are we sometimes judgmental or critical? How can we overcome these tendencies? Review President Monson’s teachings about charity in the next-to-last paragraph and ponder how you can become more charitable in these ways.
Related Scriptures
Matthew 5:44–46; John 15:9–13; 1 Corinthians 13:1–13; Colossians 3:12–14; 1 Nephi 11:8–23; Ether 12:33–34; Moroni 7:47–48; Doctrine and Covenants 121:45–46
Teaching Help
“Depending on your circumstances, expressing love to those you teach may mean giving them sincere compliments, taking an interest in their lives, listening carefully to them, involving them in the lesson, performing acts of service for them, or simply greeting them warmly when you see them” (Teaching in the Savior’s Way [2016], 6).