It is easy to read the description of how charity behaves, and assume that it is a list of commandments for us to "work on" or practice until we get it right. But a closer examination of the last verses in Moroni chapter 7 indicates otherwise to me.
"...charity is the pure love of Christ...whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." "Wherefore...pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ..." (Moroni 7:47-48, emphasis mine). These phrases give the sense that charity is instilled in us. Rather than acquiring the attributes listed in verse 45 (suffer long, kind, envy not, not puffed up, etc.) one at a time through practice, Mormon is telling his audience to pray for charity to be given to them as a unified whole, like installing a program on a computer. Faith, hope, meekness and lowliness of heart are all listed as precursors to this installation. In verse 48, he continues: "...that ye may become the sons of God..." Rebirth is the subject here, not our piano-practicing paradigm of self-improvement.
According to Mormon, faith, hope, meekness, and being a true follower of Jesus Christ are necessary to receiving charity, but it is still a gift, "bestowed upon" us. "...that when he shall appear, we shall be like him...that we may be purified even as he is pure" (Moroni 7:48). It is the difference between doing the right thing because you have to, and doing it because you want to (because the Lord changed your desires).
A Strange Explanation
In 1Ne. 11:8-23, Nephi is having an interview with an angel, who comes to fulfill Nephi's request to know the meaning or interpretation of the tree his father saw. He comes to understand the meaning of the tree, but I have been baffled for several years now about exactly how this was accomplished. Nephi tells the Spirit of the Lord he wants to know the interpretation of the tree, the Spirit disappears, another heavenly messenger arrives, and shows Nephi a series of images in vision, familiar to us from the New Testament. "...in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair..." He sees Mary. Then the angel says, "Knowest thou the condescension of God?" "I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." "...the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh." (Nephi sees "the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.") The angel continues, "Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?" (Now comes the part that confused me:) "Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things." (I love the angel's response here:) "Yea, and the most joyous to the soul."
There it is. Nephi sees what we call "the Nativity Scene," and suddenly he knows that the tree of life in his father's dream represents charity, the love of God. Nephi records how charity tastes or feels; Mormon explains how charity looks in action (Moro. 7:45 is as much a list of actions as it is a list of attributes).
In verse 25 he says, "I beheld that the rod of iron...was the word of God...which led to the fountain of living waters...which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God." It sounds as though he suddenly understands through revelation, rather than hearing a verbal explanation. Nephi witnesses the baptism, ministry, miracles, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the next few verses, condensing the four Gospels into two pages. Nephi spends a few chapters recording the entire vision, which includes the fate of his descendants and the arrival of the gentiles in the Americas. But before this lengthy vision even begins, the event singled out by the Spirit, which he commands Nephi to bear record of, is the arrival of the Son of God (1Ne. 11:7).
A Precious Gift
The love of God "sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men," a free gift from God. Those in Lehi's dream who hold fast to the iron rod, which Nephi tells us represents the word of God, come to the tree of life and partake of the fruit, "...most desirable above all things," and "the most joyous to the soul." Alma elaborates: "And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst." (Alma 32:34).
So many gifts, toys and possessions, given at Christmas or any other time, become dilapidated, wear out, or simply become boring. It is so easy to become disenchanted with the things of this world. Any promise of genuine satisfaction and happiness in the scriptures begins to jump off the pages as I get older, because I have basically seen what the world has to offer, and had the faculties of my brain and body stimulated in most of the ways the world can do so. And it has left me hungry and thirsty. The effects of the Atonement as delivered to my heart by the Holy Spirit do not suffer from that quality that characterizes the world's offerings, namely boredom. As depicted in Lehi's dream, these things are decoys and detours from the path leading to the genuine happiness we all hunger for. The fruit of that tree is one gift that actually meets the promise made to the buyer, while the games and toys of mortality all fall short of the touted joy they are meant to procure. Charity needs no warranty or expiration date, because "charity never faileth...it endureth forever..."
It is not surprising angels were singing at Jesus' birth. "...how great the importance to make these things known to the inhabitants of the earth..." (2Ne. 2:8).
