Faith, Hope and Charity... a closer look at Hope

I’m trying to understand the need for hope. In the Book of Mormon we read we can’t be saved without it. I remember reading in Survivors’ Club the rule of threes: You can live without food for three weeks. Water for three days. Air for three minutes. Hope for three seconds. It's essential to our existence and lives.

I’ve written in the past that faith is the great motivator and in one way it is. Our faith in an effect for something we do, the cause, which motivates our actions. A simple example: I have faith that by working and submitting my time sheets I’ll get paid. And I do. But getting paid isn’t why I work. I want the money because it supports a lifestyle I desire. The end is what I hope for. That’s really “why” I do what I do… there are things I hope for and my faith in a cause-effect relationship with others is how I go about attaining them.

Apart from that is charity. It is the great motivating force of Heaven: it’s why God does what He does. His love for us is why He set all this up, that we can become as Him, which is what He hopes for. It is an approach to things we desire from a position of strength and capacity. But it is focused on the needs of others. It is God-like because that’s how God is.

It’s a mini-chiasmus. One leg is faith, the apex is hope and the other leg is charity. We hope to become like God, to live with Him, to be saved. Where we are powerless to do for ourselves, we have faith in Christ that He will make up the difference in our behalf. But where we do have power to act, Charity governs our actions for that is how we best be like God.

This is why the scriptures say to be saved, to become like God, we need all three. Hope is our vision, it’s what we aspire to be. Faith is how we get there when the demands of the moment are beyond our abilities. And Charity is for those times when we have the power to act… it’s where we practice being like God.

Moroni 9 - The Window into Hell

Throughout his book, Mormon spoke of the wickedness of the Nephites. In Moroni 9, his letter to his son, Moroni, gives us a glimpse into the awful depravity of both them and the Lamanites. It truly is a glimpse into hell.

This is a short entry because of it. By the time Mormon wrote this letter, he'd witnessed or heard accounts of the Lamanites forcing cannibalism upon their captive Nephites. That's horrifying by itself, but he goes on to say the Nephites were worse. And they were... they chose to be cannibals. It's a window into the depths which Satan is willing to take those who give themselves over to him.

The Lord's encouragement to Moroni at the chapters' end is one which we all can use... be faithful to Christ. As we remember him, and focus on the great peace and joy which He offers us, that can give us hope to endure well, the wickedness of the world and the trials in which we live.

That is a lesson we can use. It's what carried Moroni through all those lonely years.

Moroni 7B - Faith, Hope and Charity

Understanding the principles defined by faith, hope and charity and then using them is the best way to happiness and true success in this life. They are principles by which even Heavenly Father lives by. Consequently, they are principles which we will benefit greatly by mastering in this life. They are simple to express, but they will take lifetimes of effort to learn.

In the simplest form, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ becomes the motivation for what we choose to do. It gives us confidence not in our abilities, but in God's grace to help us do whatever He asks of us... especially repenting and becoming like Him.

Hope is the vision we have of ourselves… what we can become.

Charity is THE motivating emotion of Heaven. It’s putting the needs of others before our own because their happiness means more to us than our own.

Moroni chapter seven is the summary chapter. Alma 32 is the great chapter on faith. 1 Nephi has powerful examples of hope, of vision of what we can become. The Saviors visit to the Nephites is all about charity. We see these lessons repeated throughout the Book of Mormon. They are in the temple endowment ceremony and ordinances. They define the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are why the Prophet Joseph Smith correctly said abiding by the teachings of this book will bring a man closer to God than any other.

Amen!