“Living worthy to meet Christ is no easy task. Many current writers characterize the time in which we live as toxic, a time of contempt or hostility toward adversaries. This hostility affects many different relationships in society, involving many whose Christian beliefs should orient them otherwise.
Our Savior, Jesus Christ, taught us how to relate to one another. The great commandments in the law, He taught, were to love—God and neighbor (see Matthew 22:37–39).
Asked, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus answered with a parable that praised the merciful action of a Samaritan, who belonged to a group the Jews isolated and held in contempt (see Luke 10:29–37). But Jesus’s teachings about the circle of love went far beyond Samaritans. In the Sermon on the Mount, He declared:
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43–44).
What a revolutionary teaching for personal relationships! Love even your enemies! But who are our enemies? The full meaning of enemies in the sources from which King James’s translators chose the word enemies includes military foes but even extends to any who actively oppose one another. Today we might say that we are commanded to love our adversaries. All mortals are beloved children of God. As President David O. McKay taught, “There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for one’s fellowmen.”
I witnessed this uncommon loving of an adversary at a stake conference many years ago. As I looked over the audience before the meeting began, I had an unusual impression to call on a particular woman in a yellow dress. I asked the stake president if he believed this woman would give a suitable talk if called on. He said he thought so. At my request, he later called her out of the audience to give a short talk.
As she came forward, I was apprehensive about what she might say. She introduced herself as a nurse employed to watch over patients in a maximum care facility. Her patients included one she described as “the most repulsive man” she had ever met. (Where was this heading? I asked myself.) From his bedridden position, he did everything he could do to make life miserable for the nurses who were caring for him—including foul language, spitting on the floor, and constantly insulting them in other repulsive ways. She despised him.
One evening she heard a loud crash from this man’s room. Responding, she ran to his room and was shocked to find him fallen out of bed and thrashing about in a pool of broken glass, liquid, and blood. In that moment, a profound change came over her. She felt an almost electric current of love from our Heavenly Father to this man. She saw him as a child of God.
As she knelt and held him in her arms and tried to give him comfort, he said, “I want to go home. I just want to go home.” In a short time, he was dead. She testified that being brought to see a despised enemy like this as a child of God was one of the great spiritual experiences of her life. For me, this was a lesson I needed to learn about our Heavenly Father’s love for all His children. That lesson can transform all of us to see each other as children of God who belong to each other.
Years later, President Howard W. Hunter described this same love of God toward His children: “The world in which we live would benefit greatly if men and women everywhere would exercise the pure love of Christ, which is kind, meek, and lowly. … It has no place for bigotry, hatred, or violence. … It encourages diverse people to live together in Christian love regardless of religious belief, race, nationality, financial standing, education, or culture.
…When we show personal love and support loving causes, we are sometimes misunderstood as implying support for results that contradict our other religious duties. But as followers of Christ, we should seek to live peaceably and lovingly with other children of God who do not share our values and do not have the covenant obligations we have assumed. In a democratic government we should seek fairness for all. In countless circumstances, strangers’ suspicions or even hostility gradually gives way to friendship when personal contacts produce mutual respect.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that we should “pour forth love” to all people. Speaking of our Savior, the Apostle John wrote, “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We can follow the example of Jesus Christ, who is our role model, by choosing to love others—even if they show little or no love toward us. He declared, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9; see also 3 Nephi 12:9).
Peacemakers! How it would change the world if followers of Christ would forgo harsh and hurtful words in all their communications.
…Persons who seek to reduce human suffering and persons who work to promote understanding among different peoples are also important workers for peace.”