Friday, November 21, 2008

Love One Another by Daphna Zohar


Love One Another by Daphna Zohar

Love one another is a commandment that was given to the Saints by God. It is also in a very popular children’s hymn, titled, “Love One Another.” The hymn is a beautiful extension of the admonishment for us to love each other. I really enjoy singing the lyrics: “As I have loved you, love one another. This new commandment, love one another. By this shall men know, ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Whenever I feel angry or hateful, I like to sing the song to myself and it really is a good reminder to have love instead of spite in my heart. There is a scripture in the Book of Jacob, Chapter 3 verse 2 which I like. It goes, ” O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.” I think this scripture means that we should take the love that God has for us. In addition, this scripture means that “receiving the pleasing word of God”, or reading the scriptures, is one way of “feasting” on his love.

Love is a way that people can be saved. But some may ask what is the definition of love in terms of a method to being saved? Two scriptures can answer that puzzling question: Alma 5:9 and Mosiah 13:14. Alma 5:9, which reads, “their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved” refers to the fact that in order to be saved, we should “sing redeeming love”. I think that is referring to the actual singing, like how Saints sing hymns whenever we gather. The second scripture, which is in Mosiah 13:14, states, “showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.” Here the Lord directly mentions that if we love Heavenly Father but also keep his commandments, we will be showed mercy by the Lord. It is important to remember that not only do we keep his commandments, but we have to learn to love the Lord. Loving the Lord is not difficult because as we read the scriptures and study the gospel, we realize more and more how much we owe to the Lord and how much sacrifice Christ endured for everyone. When we understand that Christ did indeed bleed from every pore(which is quite significant because according to wiki.answers.com, the human body has approximately four million pores), then we will easily have love for Heavenly Father.

Others may agree that pondering on the actions of Christ allows us to have love, but they may also need additional direction in having love in our spirits. The scripture Mosiah 2:4 provides readers with an answer: “keep the commandments of God, that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men.” According to this scripture, all it takes is keeping the commandments of God to have love. It also means that the commandments give more love into our life. A lot of people think that the commandments only restrict us from indulging our carnal pleasures and living life to the fullest. However, according to Mosiah 2:4, we know that keeping the commandments does not bar us from partaking in certain activities but invites the Spirit and the feeling of love into our lives. Having the Spirit and love in our existence is more important than a fleeting moment of excitement that may follow from committing adultery or murdering someone you really do not like. Not only can you go to jail, but you do not feel the love. If you do not have love, then you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. One personal story that I feel ties into this principle is when I eat more than I should; I garner some pleasure from the gluttony of it all. Now that Thanksgiving is around the corner, this is especially relevant. But I know that eating too much is against the Word of Wisdom and moderation is the key to a healthier body. Furthermore, following the principle of moderation as dictated by the Word of Wisdom is a wise choice to have more love, because following the Word of Wisdom is following the commandments of God.

For those who have doubts that love is not a commandment, Mosiah 18:21 erases those doubts. Mosiah 18:21 says, “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” So we see that love is a commandment. Love is also the way to unity. In this past General Conference, a common theme that kept coming up among the different addresses was the call for unity among the members of the church. Love will help us follow the words of the leaders of our church. After all, the prophets are the mouthpieces of God. Unity is important now because the world is going through some difficult times. Unity and love will make the road smoother. It will not make all of our problems disappear because we will always have trials to test us. But love will help us all be saved in the end.

My testimony is that having love in our hearts, minds and actions will draw us closer to the Spirit and to Christ. I believe that Heavenly Father wants us to love one another unconditionally and to forgive each other. I believe in the gospel and I believe in the atonement made by Jesus Christ. I believe that everyone who inhabits this earth will one day reunite with Christ. I know that God wants us to be happy and I know that being happy comes from loving one another. I write this in the name of thy son, Jesus Christ, amen.

Works Cited
Jacob 3:2
Alma 5:9
Mosiah 13:14
Mosiah 2:4
Mosiah 18:21
Hymn: Love One Another
Wiki.answers.com

9 comments:

Amanda S. said...

The way that you talk about love feels fresh and new. Thanks for your discussion. Could you use a more specific personal experience to add to it?

Marci Robison said...

I liked how you defined love and how you used an example of eating too much (like for thanksgiving), but I tend to feel more inspired when there is a personal experience from the person's life to not only help me picture what they are saying, but also to help me empathize and understand, because odds are, I have gone through something similar. Thank you for your testimony, though. :)

Jenni Perkins said...

i love your picture and your second to last paragraph. it was really touching. Like they said before, maybe add a personal experience

Joe Olson said...

Great connection between the hymn and scripture in the first paragraph. Love your insight and the picture.

jessie kay said...

Awww.. I love the picture you used. =] Thanks for sharing your testimony of love with me. =]

jackie said...

Daphna, I love the picture! :) Your blog was really well supported by hymns and scriptures, I really liked that about it. Your testimony at the end was great, straightforward and honest. Great job!

Alexa said...

I loved the way you used eating too much as an example! You put your personality into the blog and it makes it fun to read. Great insight and scripture choice.

Valerie said...

I really liked the way you supported and spoke of love. It truly is so central to being happy and coming to the Savior. Thank you for your lovely blog!

Chelsey Porter said...

I LOVED your blog ha ha! It was really good I like how you talked about all the different ways we can express our Love for our Heavenly Father. I also liked how you talked about unity and the leaders of the church have stressed it and by loving one another we can become more united and follow the counsel given to us.