What is the most important gift of God to mankind mentioned in the Book of Mormon? The most important gift? What a value judgment. However, let us see if there are reasons it is so.
I believe the most important gift of God to man is mentioned in the Book of Mormon. It is the gift of charity. Another way to name that gift is to say it is the gift of a pure heart. Only a pure heart can love fully and purely. Charity is the pure love that Christ has for all others.
Moroni 7:43-48: “And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart. If so, his faith and hope are vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart. If a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity. And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail— But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, 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; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”
Why Charity?
There is an important reason why charity, pure love, is the greatest gift of God to man. Any human being can be saved from the penalty, due to his having sinned, only through his having faith in Jesus Christ.
The penalty due for sins includes suffering for those sins with the same amount of suffering the person caused in others through that person’s sinning. He must also make restitution for having wounded or deprived those whom he has sinned against.
The person cannot be forgiven of having sinned until the suffering caused by the sinning has been met by an equal amount of suffering and until the person(s) he has sinned against is fully recompensed for the damage done to them by those sins. He or she remains as if he or she had never been sinned against.
A person who has sinned must do all he or she can to repair the damage done to others through his or her sinning. However, no one except Christ can fully make those who sinned against the whole as if they had never been sinned against. They must suffer an equal amount to the suffering they have caused others through sinning unless they repent and come unto Christ and keep covenants with him. Then the suffering of the Savior in the Atonement answers the law of justice by his suffering, and the Savior forgives the one who has come unto him in covenant, keeping the faith.
The Pure Love of Christ
The great thing about the gift of charity, which is the pure love of Christ, is that the person who receives this gift no longer sins. This person who has charity has become like the Savior. The greatest thing we know about the Savior is that because he does his Father’s will in all things, he never sins. The work of Christ is to help us to become as he is and sin no longer. It also helps us make payment for sins we have committed. Only after those two things are accomplished can anyone be exalted.
For both, we must come unto Jesus Christ and become his little child, “submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” (Mosiah 3:19)
So, to gain this gift is to become everything. Not to attain it still to be nothing. Our Father and Savior do not want us to remain as nothing. They are trying to share with us the most important thing they have, charity, which is a pure heart.
And you may wonder why faith in Christ is not the greatest gift. Actually, faith is not a wrong answer. It is just that a little faith does not do the job. Charity is the fullness of faith. Only faith that serves God and neighbor with all one’s heart, might, mind and strength can be the greatest gift. The name for that fullness of faith in Christ is charity, the pure love of Christ from Christ.
Eternal Life
But what about D&C 14:7, which says: “And if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all of the gifts of God.” What is eternal life?
“God works to enable his children’s return to his presence so that they may both live with him and live as he does.” (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, article “Eternal Life.”) How does he live? He lives to bless, to minister to others. And how does he bless? He blesses with a pure love, divine charity, doing nothing but helping each person or thing he blesses to have as much joy as possible. So it turns out that “eternal life” is but another name for the fullness of love, which is charity, which is the fruit of a pure heart. So the greatest gift of God to man is eternal life, or charity, or a pure heart, or a fullness of faith in Jesus Christ, all four being different names for doing the same thing.
Chauncey C. Riddle – Guest Post
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Chauncey C. Riddle is an American author, professor, and religious leader. He has written many articles for the Ensign, Sunstone, BYU Studies, The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Deseret Language and Linguistics, and FARMS. He is also the author of the book: Book: Think Independently