The Love of God: A Post by Charles

I happened upon an email from Charles last night, and I found a copy of a talk he gave a few years ago. He gave it as the High Council companion speaker. It is a treasure. I love to read his words, especially his testimony of the gospel. I do not think it was by chance that I found it hidden amongst hundreds of emails. 

Charles taught me how to love. He taught me how to have charity. Loving others was natural and easy for him -- his heart was filled with the love of God. I am grateful he shared that love with me. And I am grateful he shared that love with so many while here on earth. I am certain he is powerful and influential now, as he continues to share that love with others. 

I love this picture, because I know Charles is happily hanging out now with my Grandma Lindquist. They have a special love for each other. He went right past her stubbornness, and straight into her heart -- because he simply loved her. And she knew it. Love is powerful. 

Feasting Upon the Love of God

By Charles van Ormer 

My assigned topic today is Divine Love, or the Love of God.

With a topic and introduction like that I suspect that some of you, even now, are beginning to relax, are leaning back in your seats, and are preparing yourself for me to shower down hearts and rainbows on you. I do hope there is no shortage of hearts and rainbows.

Before you relax too much, you should know that the specific focus of my talk is “Feasting upon the Love of God.” My goal today is to convey this simple idea: charity, or the love of God, is not just something that we feel; love is something you do. And beyond this, love is more than just something we do, love is what we should become.

In searching out and prayerfully studying this topic, I have concluded that feeling the love of God is much different from “feasting upon the love of God.” The word feasting suggests action on our part. And the word feasting also suggests more than a passive enjoyment; it suggests an internalizing or consuming of the Love of God. For example, when I think of feasting, I think of Thanksgiving dinner. I imagine loading up my plate and getting down to some serious traditional eating. I can’t remember the last time I “felt” Thanksgiving dinner, but I can recall a good feast every time.

Before we begin on our topic in earnest, I want you to consider briefly the story, made popular by the play and now the movie, Les Miserables. This story follows the intertwining lives of French citizens during a turbulent period of French history in the early 19^th century.  

One of the principle characters, and protagonist of the story, is Jean Valjean. We first meet Valjean when he is in prison. He served 19 years hard labor in a French prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s children. Upon his release from prison, Valjean is placed on parole and has been branded by society as a dangerous criminal.

Although he has served his time in prison, and has been released, he has become an outcast. Unable to work and provide for himself, Jean Valjean is reduced to a homeless beggar, and must make his way to a new city where he must report. If he does not make his destination his parole will be violated and he will be sent back to prison.

As you can imagine, Valjean is bitter, angry, hateful and hopeless. On his way to report for his parole, he meets an elderly Priest in a small mountain town. The priest gives him food, a place to stay for the night and rest in a bed. During the night, Valjean wakes, robs the Priest of his valuable silver and steals away into the night. Later that day, the authorities apprehend Valjean, and bring him back to the monastery to allow Priest to make an accusation against Valjean for theft.

What did the Priest do? Valjean had burglarized his home, and had robbed a man of God. To everyone’s surprise, the Priest tells the authorities he intended to give the stolen silver to Valjean, and to support the assertion, the Priest hands Valjean valuable silver candlesticks right before the authorities’ eyes. “My friend, said the Priest, before you go away, here are your candlesticks; take them.” Valjean was astonished! The Priests final words to the man, who he just saved from returning to prison: “Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.”

If you know the story, Jean Valjean is indeed transformed. He hides his identity, but uses his new found fortune to acquire a business, become a mayor of a town and is instrumental in blessing the lives of countless other characters in the story. Although a fictional character, reading about Valjean is no less inspiring. The effect of the love and forgiveness of the Priest leaves a mark on the life of Valjean, and he in Valjean in turn leaves a mark for good in the lives of those he meets.

We will return to our story, but let’s come back to our topic and again consider what it is to feast on the word of God. Lehi & Nephi, and the Fruit of Tree of Life – the goal is to eat the fruit of the tree of life. It makes sense that Jacob, Lehi’s son, having grown up hearing of this vision from his brother and father, would refer to “feasting upon the love of God”. 

Later, Moroni, a descendant of Nephi, challenges all who are true followers of Jesus Christ to be “filled with the love of God.” This notion of feasting upon the love of God is woven throughout the scriptures. So, the scriptures challenge us to eat, feast on and be filled with the love of God. But those verses do not make it entirely clear how exactly we are to feast upon the love of God.

I believe the answer comes when we take a step back and consider a larger view of the gospel plan and its purpose in our lives. We know that we are here on this earth to fulfill our opportunity to be tested and to prepare ourselves for a place with Heavenly Father in his kingdom.

We know that he sent his son to Earth to atone for our sins, and he was also sent here to teach us and to set a perfect example of the way we should love our lives so that we can qualify for a place in the Kingdom of God. Jesus taught us: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5: 48. Furthermore, the apostle John taught: “let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God; and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4: 7-8. This principle is taught beautifully by the Book of Mormon prophet, Moroni. He taught us that “except men shall have charity they cannot inherit the place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.” Ether 12: 34.

God is love. And we are challenged to become like him. And unless we are found filled with his love when we meet him at the gates of heaven, we will have no place and no part in the Kingdom of God. The lessons that Jesus taught us by his life are more than a checklist of rules for us to check off while we hang out here on Earth until we die. The teachings of Jesus were intended to help us become more than we are now. He was teaching us how to live as a celestial people, how to become charity. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. . . . And . . . Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22: 37-40. All of the Savior’s lessons center on our becoming charity, not just doing charity.

As an action, we know that charity is more than merely giving of our time or substance. True charity is to give of our substance, time, talents, thoughts and prayers for the benefit of others. True charity is accompanied by a real desire to bless the lives of all we come in contact with. Charity is to live as Jesus lived: to reach down and lift the hands that hang down, to succor the weak, to strengthen the feeble knees, to mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort. Charity requires us to love those that hate us and despitefully use us. Charity requires us to think differently about ourselves and the people in our lives. Charity is personal. Charity is felt by those that give it and by those that receive it, and all should be better for the experience.

So, back to Jean Valjean. What is so moving about that story? What is so powerful about the desire of that Priest to care for and help Valjean after he had stolen from and abused him? This fictional story reminds us of the true, real and lasting affect that the love of God can have in the life of an individual. Moreover, it reminds us that we, as regular people, are capable of being the instruments of that love in the lives of God’s children. One simple act, by a simple man, improved the lives and fortunes of many.

The old adage is true, you are what you eat. And we are called upon to feast upon the Love of God as a people who have tasted of his love. We feast by internalizing and become the lessons that the Savior taught about love. He taught those lessons with his words, but more importantly he taught us lessons of love with his life and by his death.

We live in a day and time when we anticipate the return of the Savior to the Earth in glory. Before his return we are forewarned that “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” JST Matthew 1:10. There are many voices in our world and nation that seek to divide people, pit nation against nation, and it would seem apparent that this prophecy is in some degree being fulfilled as I speak.

The Book of Mormon serves as a stark reminder of what can happen to a people who are void of love. In the end, the entire Nephite nation was completely exterminated because their wickedness, which was in part symptomatic of a people found without love. The Nephite leader, Mormon, recalls: “notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them  . . . to battle, and had loved them, according to the love of God which was in me, with all my heart; . . . nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts.” Mormon 3: 12.

Each of us who has felt the love of God in our lives knows the life changing power that is has on us. Each of us is now tasked with the responsibility to go out into the world to be a light to a people in darkness. The light is the love of God that is found in us. We can only bring that light into to the lives of those who need it by showing them the same love that God would show them if he were here, by doing the things that Jesus did when he was here. “Insomuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40. Just as the lonely priest in his monastery, when you bring the love of God into the lives of others you will leave a mark on that person, just like Jean Valjean. You may give that person their first taste of kindness and provide them hope of a better world. And you will be the means of changing their lives forever.