Moroni 7:44–48

“The Pure Love of Christ”

the Savior hugging a young child

Think about times when you felt Christlike love. What difference has Christlike love made in your life? Moroni recorded the conclusion of the sermon that his father, Mormon, had delivered in a synagogue years earlier. Mormon taught how to “lay hold upon every good thing” (Moroni 7:20, 25), especially charity, “the pure love of Christ” (Moroni 7:47). This lesson is intended to help you understand and seek charity in your life.

Seek the gift of charity. Mormon taught that we can more fully invite the gift of charity by earnestly praying for it (see Moroni 7:48). Ask Heavenly Father to fill your heart with charity for your students. Your faithful efforts to extend compassion and understanding can help your students feel the Savior’s pure love.

Student preparation: Invite students to think of examples when the Savior showed love, as well as examples of Christlike love today.

Possible Learning Activities

Christlike love

If possible, consider beginning class by showing or reading at least one of the following stories of someone reaching out in love. Invite students to ponder what difference Christlike love can make.

• A young boy gives selflessly to another child in need. Watch “The Coat” (2:07), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, or read the story, which is a true account from President Heber J. Grant’s childhood (“The Coat,” Friend, Mar. 2012, 16–17).

• Instead of playing a joke on a stranger, two boys decide to help him. Watch “Gordon Hinckley: Lessons I Learned as a Boy” (4:04), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

• A group of young women reach out in kindness and charity to a student with a disability. Watch “Charity: An Example of the Believers” (4:50), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

• Why do you think Christlike love can be such a powerful influence in our lives?

• Who has been an example of Christlike love in your life?

Consider inviting students to self-evaluate how they are developing charity. The following is one way they could do this.

Both Mormon and the Apostle Paul taught that developing Christlike love is essential for our progression (see Moroni 7:44; 1 Corinthians 13:2). To help you evaluate how well you are developing Christlike love, ponder how true the following statements are for you on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = never true; 5 = always true):

• I try to help and serve others, especially when they are struggling or discouraged.

• I try to be kind, patient, and forgiving with others, even when they are hard to get along with.

• When appropriate, I tell others that I love them and care about them.

As you study Moroni 7, ask the Lord to help you understand and seek charity.

Mormon’s sermon on charity

Near the end of his record, Moroni included a sermon his father, Mormon, had given to the “peaceable followers of Christ” (Moroni 7:3). Mormon taught principles of love that, if heeded, could have prevented the Nephites’ destruction. These teachings would also be relevant to Moroni, who witnessed the Nephites’ brutal destruction by the Lamanites and wandered alone for years.

Read Moroni 7:47 and mark the phrase that describes the love Mormon taught about.

Consider writing this truth on the board: Charity is the pure love of Christ.

Jesus Christ set the perfect example for us of how to love others. Read Moroni 7:45–48, looking for phrases that (1) further describe charity, or how to love like the Savior, and (2) increase your desire to develop charity in your life.

Moroni 7:45–48 is a doctrinal mastery passage. Consider marking doctrinal mastery passages in a distinctive way so you can locate them easily. You will have an opportunity in the next lesson to practice applying the doctrine taught in this passage to a question or situation.

To add variety and meaning to this activity, you could place a picture of the Savior on the board. Around the picture, write the phrases students find. If useful, help students understand the following information.

The following definitions may be helpful:

• “suffereth long” = endures trials patiently

• “envieth not” = is not jealous of others

• “not puffed up” = humble

• “seeketh not her own” = puts God and the needs of others before self

• “not easily provoked” = not angered easily

• “believeth all things” = accepts all truth

Consider marking from the phrase “charity never faileth” in verse 46 through the phrase “it endureth forever” in verse 47. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Life has its share of fears and failures. Sometimes things fall short. Sometimes people fail us, or economies or businesses or governments fail us. But one thing in time or eternity does not fail us—the pure love of Christ. (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon [1997], 337)

• Why do you think the pure love of Christ will never fail us?

• How can the love of the Savior help us in ways nothing else can?

President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018) taught about charity in detail. If possible, watch “Charity Never Faileth,” available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, from time code 15:05 to 17:22. Or read the address, beginning with “I consider charity” and ending with “resisting the impulse to categorize others” (“Charity Never Faileth,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 124). Look for additional phrases President Monson used to describe the pure love of Christ.

Invite students to share what they heard or read and to write additional phrases or key words around the picture of the Savior.

Your questions about charity

What questions do you have about what charity is or how to be filled with this love?

Consider writing students’ questions on the board.

Seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost to know if students should do the following activity individually or in small groups.

To help answer your questions, do the following:

1. Study the following teachings of the Savior about love or charity: Matthew 5:43–44; Matthew 22:37–40; John 15:12.

2. Think of a scripture account when the Savior illustrated charity. Locate and read the example you thought of, or use one of the following:

   1. The Savior ate with publicans and sinners (see Matthew 9:10–13). (A publican was a tax collector for the Romans, who had conquered Israel at the time.)

   2. The Savior rescued and taught the woman caught in adultery (see John 8:1–11).

   3. The Savior suffered, atoned, and died for all mankind (see Luke 22:41–44; 23:33–34; 1 Nephi 19:9; Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19).

   4. The Savior healed and blessed the people of the Americas (see 3 Nephi 17:5–12, 21–24).

3. Think of experiences when you felt the pure love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for you or when you felt charity toward someone else.

Invite students to share what they learned or remembered and how it may help answer their questions.

How to gain and show charity

Consider marking Mormon’s exhortation to “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love” (Moroni 7:48).

• How do you think praying to Heavenly Father could help fill us with charity?

It may be helpful to point out to students that charity is a divine gift that comes from Heavenly Father to help us become more like Jesus Christ. We can do our best to follow the example of Jesus Christ, but ultimately, the gift of charity comes from Heavenly Father through the Atonement of His Son.

Help students create a realistic scenario in which a teenager’s response could demonstrate whether or not they are filled with charity. Then have students discuss the following questions.

• According to what you have learned from Moroni 7:45, 47–48 and the example of the Savior, how could you show Christlike love in this situation?

• How could heartfelt prayer help you respond with love in this situation?

• What challenges might you face as you try to apply what you have learned? How could you act in faith even with these challenges?

Take a moment to write down what you would like to do to better understand and develop the attribute of charity.

Commentary and Background Information

How can we know if we have charity?

Elder Marvin J. Ashton (1915–94) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Elder Marvin J. Ashton

Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other. (Marvin J. Ashton, “The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword,” Ensign, May 1992, 19)

What are other examples of how to show charity?

Elder Neil L. Andersen shared two examples of charity. Watch “Two Examples of Charity” (2:11).

Elder D. Todd Christofferson told of a man who served a refugee family. Read “Come to Zion,” beginning with “I remember the story” and ending with “true giving” (Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2008, 40). Or watch the video from time code 13:58 to 15:59.

President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) told of a young man who was not shown charity by members of the Church but who later made a true friend who exemplified Christlike love. Watch “The Need for Greater Kindness” from time code 6:32 to 11:34.

President Susan W. Tanner, former Young Women General President, told the story of Ray Hinton, a wrongly convicted man on death row who reached out to others in love. Watch “The Greatest of These Is Charity” (36:41) from time code 17:28 to 21:50.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles offered this profound insight:

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and purely in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. … It is as demonstrated in Christ that “charity never faileth.” It is that charity—his pure love for us—without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possessed of the blessings of his love at the last day—the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise—surely it shall be well with them. (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon [1997], 336.)

Supplemental Learning Activities

An alternate beginning

To prepare students to discuss charity, consider asking them to reply anonymously to the following question:

• What traits do you love, appreciate, and admire most about your classmates?

Read their responses aloud to the class. If the class is large, consider reading some of the responses in future classes. It may be wise to anonymously include some of your own responses about students who may be less acknowledged by their peers.

Then ask this:

• What traits do you love, appreciate, and admire most about Jesus Christ?

As they study the lesson, invite students to look for one of the Savior’s greatest attributes and how to develop it in ourselves.

Moroni 7:46. Without charity we are nothing

After reading Moroni 7:46, invite students to share why they think Mormon taught that we are nothing without charity. Consider inviting them to study the Apostle Paul’s teachings on charity in 1 Corinthians 13 for additional insight. Consider asking questions like the following:

• Why might other good attributes we gain be incomplete without charity?

• How might striving for charity help us “be like” the Savior? (Moroni 7:48).