Note: Each week this column provides a short essay on one particular aspect or facet of the Lord’s personality and character.  It is intended that the reader focus on this facet while partaking of the sacrament this Sunday.  (Click here to read full introductory column.)

One of Richard’s most treasured possessions is a letter of love and counsel written to him by his father when he was on his deathbed.  A focal point of that letter reads:

"The greatest thought that Christ left on earth is love.  It surpasses everything else.  If a person practices love, then everything else takes care of itself.

We will never forget the snowy Christmas Eve when we asked our four-year-old daughter why Jesus came to earth.  She answered: “To show us how to love each other and to show us how it will work when we die.”

Beyond his atonement, what is “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13)?  Perhaps more than all else, as our four-year-old implied, it is Christ’s perfect love.

Not until Christ came (and since then, only because of him) could mankind know the full meaning of love. 

Before his life, in most societies, “love” meant friendship, loyalty, affection for one’s own.  The Savior gave depth to the surface, dimension to the flat.  He added charity, empathy, magnanimity.  He added the hard, self-sacrificing elements of love to the easy, self-serving aspects.

The coin of love, in many earlier philosophies, had revenge on its other side.  People expressed love for friends and colleagues, hatred and vengeance for enemies.  Cicero dated his letters from the “happy event” of his enemy’s (Claudius’s) death.  Xenophon, a favorite disciple of Socrates and Plato praised and eulogized his hero Cyrus the Younger by saying, “No man ever did more good to his friends and more to harm his enemies.”

Jesus Christ revolutionized the western world’s concept of love.  Since Christ, forgiveness has been acknowledged as one of the greatest virtues.  Tennyson represents King Arthur as near perfect because Arthur forgives Guinevere after she has deeply wronged him.  Christ’s instructions to “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemy” have counterparts in many behavioral codes.  Even governments and constitutions take the posture of “reform rather than revenge.”

The Lord taught the world about true, unconditional love.  He acted rather than reacted.  When he saw unkindness in other people, he took it as a sure sign that they needed love and help. 

As with all else (and somehow even more than with all else), he was all that he taught He is love.

Next week, we will try to better understand the purest kind of love,

the one that Christ continues to teach us — charity!

Linda and Richard Eyre, parents of nine children and authors (together and individually) of more than thirty books, are now focusing on reaching families and individuals online. Through their web sites valuesparenting.com, http://www.theeyres.com/, and http://www.familynightlessons.com/, their frequent media appearances on shows such as Oprah, The CBS Early Show, The Today Show, and BYU Television, and their world-wide lecture tours, they continue to work at their mission statement – "FORTIFY FAMILIES, popularize parenting, validate values, and bolster balance."

Linda is a teacher and musician and founder of "Joy Schools." She was named by the National Council of Women as one of America's six outstanding young women. Richard, a former mission president in London and candidate for Utah governor, was the director of the White House Conference on Parents and Children for President Reagan. Both of the Eyres have served on numerous civic, arts, university, and humanitarian boards and head a foundation that focuses on the needs of third world children.

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