Acquiring the Spiritual Gift of Charity

Can you imagine a time where someone showed you sincere love? What did they do? How did they do it? How did you feel? 

Now think of that, multiplied by infinity. That is how much God loves you. That is charity. Charity is the pure love of Christ. 

It's  kind of hard, and somewhat impossible to comprehend the love God has, and yet aren't we commanded to have it as well? How then, can we obtain such a gift? 

The answer lies in the ultimate example of charity itself: Jesus Christ. Only through Him, and the use of the atonement can we have charity in our own hearts. 

Charity I think is more of a gift that can be bestowed rather than something we obtain alone. Through prayer and acting on our faith through obedience, God blesses us with some of His never ending way of love. When we use that gift, it expands through the grace of Christ and allows us to help change, mend, and lift the hearts of others. So I believe the use of charity in willing humble hands is the most powerful tool in building Gods kingdom. 

Is that not a mighty gift? How then, can we use it for and with the right purpose? 

I think an important key for the use of charity is to make sure we are seeing others as true children of God with divine potential. When we strive to see others as Heavenly Father does, we will then accumulate that pure love for them in our heart which will lead us to want to treat them accordingly. It all starts with perception, then goes to the heart, which leads to our actions. 

But there's a problem. We are human. We get mad sometimes. People treat us wrongly and unjustly. It's a fact of life. How then, can we see others as divine, good, and noble? How can we see them as God would? 

I believe it is only possible with His help. But it's up to us to seek that help. He can help us see the ones who've wronged us as His true divine children who have maybe just lost sight of the true path at the moment. But if you think about it, they have chosen the Lord's side already, or they wouldn't be on the earth.

I love this quote by Thomas S. Monson:

 “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.” 

Categorizing people is the opposite of Charity. When you put others in your own mental and judgmental boxes of weakness and flaws, you are not perceiving them as who they really are and who they can become- which in essence is who their true self is. When you are your true unselfish charitable  Christlike self, you are who you can become.

 I know God is ready. He is so ready and not only ready, but deeply hoping and wishing for you to seek his guidance if you only will be willing to act on it. 

Only then will we be able to see others as they really are; noble spirits of the most high. Service can help you shift your focus back into perspective, because when you serve, you are doing what God asks.

Once you have that perspective, God can then bless your heart to have charity and the desire to live up to it. Then, if you choose to live up to that desire, He can bless you again and give you more instruction to building His kingdom.

It's a progressing cycle of acting, blessing, and building.

 This progression might seem like a lot of hard work, and it does require a lot of diligence, but the way provided to accomplish is simple and clear. God's commandments and guidelines are really just rules to rule and become rulers! They are opportunities to excel and become our most noble selves. Kings and queens endowed with the priceless gift of charity.