Local firemen, businessmen, circus performers, a factory worker, a doctor, a neighbor, and newsmen all worked together in their desire to rescue her. When the child was finally reached, she was dead. One may ask if the rescue effort was worth it. There can be only one answer: For many hours the world had been united in saving the life of one little girl. No one asked what the race or creed of the rescue workers was. No one asked how much it was costing. Both the rich and the poor united to save a single life. Everyone felt a desperate need and came together to lend the necessary aid.
For those 53 hours that little girl brought people together in love. Why would so many people become involved in attempting to save one little girl? When were you involved in a cause that united you with others to help another person? Jesus showed by example how to love everyone. He then commanded that we love one another see John He taught us how to do so through parables. Ask the assigned class members to briefly tell the following stories from the Bible. Ask the questions listed after each parable. The good Samaritan Luke What lessons can we learn from this parable?
How did the Savior treat Zacchaeus? What can we learn from this story about what it means to love others? The woman taken in adultery John 8: How should we treat those who are troubled with sin? Why are compassion and understanding important aspects of loving others? Why did the Savior place such great worth on these individuals who were not accepted by their neighbors? Christ knows the worth of souls.
He preached to the poor and healed the lame and broken hearted. He restored sight to the blind. He ate with sinners and confronted the accusers of a woman taken in adultery. He taught us the worth of each person in the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son see Luke What is our responsibility to all, including those who are different from us? As we all know, none of us is perfect. If we fully realize the worth of others, we will look for their strong points.
We will treat others with love and kindness. She had let a Word of Wisdom problem keep her away all that time. She caught bits of conversations around her, silently longing to be part of them. Then suddenly a whispered voice behind her seemed to scream above all the others and pierce the very depths of her soul: I could barely keep my mind on the talk.
How would you feel if you were Margaret? What could we do for a neighbor such as Margaret? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is. Mama reminds Beneatha that all individuals are of worth, that there is always something to love, and that we must rethink how we measure each other.
The Worth of a Soul
Heavenly Father knew that we would have trouble with this. Indeed, the scriptures are full of commands to resist the human impulse to rank people and instead to see them as God does. For example, Leviticus contains several injunctions to the Israelites to accept and love all those among them. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
If God did and could show mercy to them—His children—then so should they to others. Nelson used in a general conference talk on tolerance, citing a recent statement by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that read: When I think of the Savior, I often picture Him with hands outstretched, reaching out to comfort, heal, bless, and love. He loved the humble and meek and walked among them, ministering to them and offering hope and salvation.
That is what He did during His mortal life; it is what He would be doing if He were living among us today; and it is what we should be doing as His disciples and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As He and our leaders have taught, compassion, respect, fairness, friendliness, and thoughtfulness mark how we should look upon difference of opinion, beliefs, and position in life, for, as Elder Oaks said, all are brothers and sisters in God. Christ Himself refused to recognize distinctions of class, nationality, race, gender, politics, or faith among people but instead saw each individual as a child of God worthy of His time, service, teachings, and love.
When a diseased woman who was shunned by all others approached Him for help and took hold of His garment, He neither condemned nor dismissed her but blessed her see Luke 8: When the Pharisees criticized Him for dining with a publican—a man who represented the wrong profession, the wrong politics, and an alien occupying nation—Christ rebuked them saying that His word and His love was for all see Mark 2: Finally, when Jesus saw the Samaritan woman at the well He did not shun her as taboo would demand for being a woman and a Samaritan but spoke to her, taught her, and loved her see John 4: The good Samaritan in Luke 10 is a perfect example of this.
We all know the story: Before the Samaritan came along, a priest and a Levite passed the injured man by. Along came a Samaritan. It was this man from the outside—this stranger—who had compassion on the robbed man, binding up his wounds and providing for his shelter and further care. Using this parable Christ taught that we need to love and care for all people—not just those like us—because all are of worth to Him. Furthermore, since He is sharing this lesson with His disciples, He is teaching that a measure of our discipleship to Him is how we treat all others.
The Origin of Man
Do we pass judgment on and pass over others? Or do we stop to aid and minister unto them? This reminds me of something the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir wrote: If we devalue, demean, denigrate, or dismiss others, we diminish our discipleship and destroy that which makes us human: But when we value others, we not only demonstrate the best that humanity is but we also magnify our discipleship.
Time and time again in the scriptures prophets, apostles, and the Lord Himself call us to love all people. Here are a few examples. As read earlier, Leviticus In the gospel of John we read the words that have become a beloved hymn in the Latter-day Saint community:. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. The direct occasion for this command is Christ counseling His disciples and preparing them for the proselytizing work they are to do.
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Yet this command also extends to us, His disciples in the latter days. If we believe in Him we must extend love one to another—and not just to those within the body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but to all of His children on this earth. If we believe in Him we will do as Nephi asked: The scriptures repeatedly tell us that discipleship means loving one another.
Again, there is no qualification here: Calvin took on various arguments propping up false systems of valuation, disarming them with the gospel of love. Say he is a stranger.
Individual Worth
The Lord has given him a mark which ought to be familiar to you: Say he is mean and of no consideration. The Lord points him out as one whom he has distinguished by the lustre of his own image Isaiah lviii. Say that you are bound to him by no ties of duty. The Lord has substituted him as it were into his own place, that in him you may recognise the many great obligations under which the Lord has laid you to himself. Say that he is unworthy of your least exertion on his account; but the image of God, by which he is recommended to you, is worthy of yourself and all your exertions.
But if he not only merits no good, but has provoked you by injury and mischief, still this is no good reason why you should not embrace him in love, and visit him with offices of love. What Calvin repeats over and over is that the image and grace of God are found in all those whom we would dismiss or denigrate. He also stresses that we are all connected and none is better than another. We read in Moroni 8: It sanctifies us, giving us even greater capacity to love. This is the message of my favorite book of scripture, 1 John. Beloved, let us love one another: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. God loves us because we are His children and we are of infinite worth.
Because He loves us and has blessed us with His grace, we are commanded to see all others as children of God and to love them—to love our brothers and sisters. This epistle calls us out for our potential hypocrisy: And in return He asks that we sacrifice our petty divisions, toxic sectarianism, and false hierarchies of value to recognize the worth of each human being and child of God. It means that we have to shift how we look at others so that we no longer see people as demographics but as children of God. This does not come easily or right away but requires persistence and hard work.
The Worth of the Human Soul
Sometimes we may fail, but if we do we must forgive ourselves and try again as we strive to become better disciples. So what are you worth?
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I hope you know that you are above and beyond those false measures of worth that we humans have created. You have an infinite value that has nothing to do with what your portfolio contains, what size you wear, what party you vote, what color your skin is, what your gender is, and so on. First, because you are a human being, and all human beings have value. Second, because you are a child of heavenly parents who love you and see you for the valuable person you are. It is my testimony that God is love, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of love, and that true discipleship requires sharing that love with all people.
It is my hope that we will be able to recognize and reject those false systems of value that demean and divide and instead embrace the love that is true discipleship. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Vintage Books, , —45; emphasis in original. Putnam, , Henry Beveridge Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, , 11— See the complete list of abbreviations HERE.
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