Faith, Hope, and Charity

Moroni, a Book of Mormon prophet, taught the following truth:

Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity. And except ye have charity ye can nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have not hope (Moroni 10:20-21).

Those three things are necessary: faith, hope, and charity. They work together. To me, they are like the three sides of a triangle that together make up a testimony, but I made this connection only recently.

As President Hinckley has said, "Faith represents sacrifice, gladly given in moving forward the work of the Lord" (The Miracle of Faith). As Elder Holland has said, "Faith is always pointed toward the future" (The Best is Yet to Be). Faith is an action word, and it is possessed by those people who act on their hope. Hope is a "confident expectation of and longing for the promised blessings of righteousness" (Hope). People have faith when they act on their hope. In a lot of ways, I don't know the gospel is true, but I want it to be, and I am confident when I act on it. 

However, I strongly believe that the reception of those blessings rests on charity. Charity is the pure love of Christ, and we must have it. I think pure charity is when I count others' blessings as my own, when I rejoice in others' happiness, and when I genuinely seek the welfare of others. God continually blesses us when we are obedient, but I think those blessings aren't always the ones we sought.

In Alma 26, Ammon glories in the Lord and gives thanks that he has been blessed to bring so many souls to repentance. In all reality, Ammon himself wasn't blessed, but he was because he had charity for those souls he taught. I am not sure if I will teach that many people on my mission, but I hope that I can develop the charity for those I work with so that their blessings become mine. Maybe the Lord won't grant me the same level of success, but I want to sing His praises like Ammon does. I want to possess faith, hope, and charity.