Christlike Love

I’ve been asked to speak on the topic of Christlike love.  As I contemplated this subject, my first inclination was to write a cheesy talk about how becoming a mother has helped me to understand Christ’s love for me, more fully.  However, as I started to apply Christlike love to how I feel about my children I began to recognize where I fall short of loving as He did.  I thought of all the examples of Christlike love that we find in the scriptures; the adulteress to be stoned, the love that Christ showed Judas knowing that Judas was to betray him, and one of my favorite references to Christlike love is found in Matthew 5:44; in this verse Christ states, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”  In these examples we see people who may not have deserved the mercy that was shown to them, but Christ showed them mercy nonetheless.  And this is where I fall short in my endeavor to love as my Savior does.

When I became a mother I learned to love in a way that I had never experienced before.  I learned that someone else’s needs were more important than my own.  I learned that I could rejoice in someone else’s accomplishments.  I learned a joy that I could never have known without the blessing of motherhood.  With all that sappy love stuff out of the way, let me also tell you that a Mother’s love falls short of Christlike love.  When my kids misbehave and do things like lick their Sunday school teacher’s face (yes, this has happened, sorry Brother Chase) often times I react in anger, frustration and disbelief.  Yes, I still love my children very deeply but I find myself struggling to understand why in the heck they would lick their teacher’s face (or any number of things that you could insert here to make it into your own story). 

But, in the examples of Christlike love that we see in the scriptures, Christ’s reaction to shortcomings is not like my own.  When the adulteress was to be stoned.  She was alone.  She was singled out and alone.  A mob surrounded her and demanded that she be stoned to death for her sins.  She did not have a friend in sight.  As you can imagine, this woman had made bad decisions in order to get to this place.  How often do we look upon those around us and think, well they made bad choices so they deserved what they got?  I know for certain that I have thought this very thing.

However, instead of looking down at her in contempt as the mob demanded, Christ quietly stooped down to her level and said nothing. When he was asked again to condemn the woman to death, he arose and responded, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” He then stooped down again as to show humility and grace for this woman.  Instead of being full of pride in his own perfection, he chose to have compassion.  Each member of the mob being aware of their own sin began to leave.  As each member of the mob left, Christ stayed stooped down and quiet.  After the last Pharisee had left, Christ stood alone with the woman.  He tenderly asked, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?”  She replied, “No man, Lord”.  Jesus then responds, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

            Through this interaction we see that Christ does not simply ignore our sins.  He did not excuse the woman in her sins.  He did not tell her that what she was doing was okay.  He did not agree with what she had done.  However, he did show her grace, mercy and unconditional love.  He approached her and kindly assured her.  When he says, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?” He is not simply asking her where all the people went.  He is asking her to contemplate and understand.  He is teaching her that no one is better than she.  They were ALL sinners.  Sure, each person sins differently, but they all had sinned.  There were no men left to stone her because they were all guilty of sin, and they knew it.  Instead of pouring his vast knowledge out on her; instead of teaching her by just talking at her.  Christ allowed this woman to grasp, in her own mind, that she was precious and important and that she was no more guilty than anyone else who was there to condemn her.  Not only did he allow her to come to this understanding through her own realization but He then assures her that He, in his sinless perfection, did not condemn her either; that she could and should go and sin no more.  Did Christ mean that from thence forth she should live a perfect life?  No.  He was offering her encouragement.  In such a simple way, he was telling her that she was not defined by her failures.  Instead, she could arise and go on her way; she could start again and do better, and be better, and fail again, and STILL keep trying.

            This story encompasses what it means to me to have Christlike love.  A lot of times I find myself “teaching” my kids how to act.  When really all I’m doing is pridefully telling them the way that they should act because I believe that my way is better.  And this behavior has propagated in our society.  As a society we have become obsessed with making people agree with our own opinions.  And through this quest to make others comply with our will, we have created a great division.  Left-wing and Right-wing.  Stay-at-home moms and working moms. Members of the LDS church and “non-members”.  Nursing Moms and Formula Moms.  Each group is sure that they are right in their beliefs.  And often times this division stirs hateful thoughts and feelings towards others.  Our judgements of other’s beliefs or actions can lead to damaging effects on our lives.  We hold on to contempt and anger and drive others away in our own pride.  Please understand that this behavior begins with the adversary.  He’s always sitting on our shoulder looking for an opportunity to plant something in our hearts and then let it grow.  He may put an idea into your head that your non-member neighbor is not good enough to be invited to social activities.  This may seem like an innocent thought.  But maybe next time your non-member neighbor uses foul language and the adversary digs deeper.  Well now, you’re better than your neighbor because you’re LDS AND they use foul language so you were right in your assumption that you were better than they are.  And on and on it goes.  The adversary plants a pretty small thought and then pushes it to grow and grow until you’ve lost opportunities to fellowship your neighbor.  You’ve lost opportunities to serve your neighbor and to show them that they are loved. 

Do you know how Christ shows Christlike love to your neighbor?  Through you.  Christ is no longer here to gently lead us to the realization that there is hope and peace through Him.  He has entrusted this incredible duty to you and to me.

During the last supper, right before His crucifixion, knowing that he would shortly die, Christ taught His disciples how to lead His church in preparation for His absence.  In John 13:34-35 Christ states, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Christ knew that this would be the last opportunity for Him to teach His disciples and instead of going into obscure doctrine and making sure that they were going to do everything exactly the way He would, He simply taught that they would be recognized as His followers if they would but love their fellow men as He had.  This concept was so important that the Savior repeated it two more times.  Throughout this gospel, we see over and over that when the Savior wants to get across a teaching and make sure that it’s good and cemented in there, He repeats the same teaching again and again.  Often, this repetition comes three times, in similitude of the God Head.  We see this pattern all over; The Old Testament, the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.  All Ancient writings that bear witness of each other’s truth.  Each office in the church is led by three, the President (or Bishop), first counselor, and second counselor.  The Book of Mormon was transcribed from Brass Plates and these Brass Plates were shown to three witnesses who then bore record of what they had seen.  Jesus was resurrected on the third day.  You see where I’m going.  Important stuff is done in threes.  So it is with the commandment to love one another.  Again, in John 15 shortly after the first declaration of His new commandment Christ repeats to his apostles in verse 12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” And yet again just a few verses later in 17, “These things I command you, that ye love one another.”  Not only did Christ feel that it was important enough to discuss this on the eve of His crucifixion, but he took what precious short time He had left to say it THREE times.

Brothers and sisters, you have a great duty to show Christlike love to ALL those around you.  Whether they deserve it, or not.  You will be counted and recognized as a follower of Christ if you simply love one another.  Through this love you can begin to recognize the goodness in all those around you.  I’ve seen it take hold in my own life.  And trust me, I fail tremendously often in my endeavor to show Christlike love.  But as I’ve stopped to give water to someone on the streets, or said a kind word to a stranger and seen their countenance change I’ve become so aware of the fact that Christ touches people’s lives through you and through me.  His great work is done by sinners.  We’re all sinners, congratulations, you’ve just learned that you have something in common with every single person on the planet!  So when you have the opportunity to look down on someone else or react to someone in a divisive way, please remember that you have a commonality with every single person on the planet.  Imagine a world where we all choose to love each other.  A world where we choose kindness over pride;  compassion over insult.  Imagine a world where the lonely, angry and depressed are reached by the love and compassion of those they meet on the streets.  A smile, a hello, a compliment, an act of service or even just simply an act of restraint when you’re feeling frustrated.  The world becomes a better place as we choose to love our fellow men.  I bear you my testimony that I know that Christ can be felt in this often lonely world, through the choices of His people to love those who stand in need of His love.  And I assure you, everyone needs love.  As you go about your lives please be mindful of the fact that Christ loves all His people through you.

I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.