Teach With Love

_{This is a write up I made for a religion class.}

Out of the five talks Elder Gilbert gave, I chose the “Teach with Love” to write about in this week’s blog. I think that love should be the main aspect of imparting truths to our loved ones, brethren or just about anybody. I’m not saying that I teach with contempt, but it is a common knowledge that each of us have different points of view. The truths that we hold are varying and sometimes one person’s truth may be unacceptable to others. This is where the teaching of Elder Gilbert becomes conducive on how we can conduct ourselves with love in the face of opposition when sharing our beliefs.

The first point I want to digest is do not invite, insinuate or entertain negativities. In a roomful of diverse adults, contention can come easy; especially when one says something that one doesn’t agree on or that is offensive to another. Simply giving in and responding with insults show lack of self-discipline. We are counseled to put off our natural man and become Christ-like. If someone says something offensive, do not feel the need to be defensive. Jesus Christ didn’t defend himself when he’s taken for questioning. What we need to do is what President Oaks said, “…find the common ground, even if we disagree”. Even though our beliefs contradict, there is still something common between us. We are all humans with feelings. Our feelings can get hurt. Sometimes these hurtful feelings can knock us out of balance that it takes a while to heal. It only takes one brash remark to send someone crawling down their shells. Do you really want to cause this pain to your fellow humans? How would you feel if you’re on the receiving end? Think about this next time you feel like cutting someone open with your words. You’ll know it won’t make things better.

Teaching with love doesn’t mean downplaying the truth. Elder Holland stated that “…love and empathy is not condoning an advocacy or orthodoxy and loyalty to principle isn’t unkindness to people”. This means it is possible to lovingly teach without compromise. In our efforts to be a loving person, we may feel the need to just agree on others’ belief in order to avoid contention. This is ignoring the truth and does not reflect love. We cannot ignore God given truth, doing so “limits our ability to show the greatest love”. When Jesus was asked to admit that he was the King of the Jews, he didn’t just give them what they want to hear. He remained steadfast, stated his truth all while being loving and respectful of their authority. We all know what happened to Jesus next. It wouldn’t have ended better any other way. It’s the same situation as trying to teach with love. Just remember, the aim is not to please the listener but to be the light of the world.

Lastly, when teaching or sharing in whatever settings, always think that the message is not coming from you or me but from Christ. We cannot let our human frailties to get in the way of the gospel for it has to be delivered perfectly. Therefore, we should let the Holy Ghost speak the message through us. In order to achieve this, our characters should be refined. And having refined characters mean we are in control of ourselves. Self-control and self-discipline are the only way for us to still be loving even when everyone around is working against us.

A Prophet in the Land: Current Prophetic Emphases to Young Adults by Elder Clark Gilbert