Hank Smith: 00:02 Hello everyone. Welcome to another followHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m here with John Bytheway. Welcome John.

John Bytheway: 00:08 Hi Hank. Thank you.

Hank Smith: 00:09 John, let’s take on a single question from this week’s Come, Follow Me lesson. It comes from Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, which as you know is all about charity. So, John, how do I develop this gift? How do I get this gift from God? I want it, but how do I get it?

John Bytheway: 00:26 Well, such a good question. First, read the chapter and then you kind of get an idea of the sense of how Paul is saying there’s a lot of traits we can focus on, but without charity, they don’t mean much. So I think it’s something we ask for definitely. I think it’s something we study and ponder about, but I also think it’s something we can try to practice. And maybe at first we are not feeling charitable towards our little brother or sister or something. But sometimes an act of charity, even though we’re begrudging, we can start to feel the fruits of it and think, “I’m glad I did that.” Has that ever happened?

Hank Smith: 01:06 Yeah, I think so. You can practice charity, and maybe that’s a way of showing the Lord that you want to have the gift that only he can offer. President Monson said, “Charity is having patience with someone who’s let us down. Charity is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. Charity is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. Charity is accepting people as they are. Charity is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. Charity is resisting the impulse to categorize others.” So, I can practice those things, right John?

John Bytheway: 01:40 Mm-hmm.

Hank Smith: 01:40 And that can show the Lord I really want this gift of being charity.

John Bytheway: 01:45 Yeah. And when I think about how I want people to view me, I hope they view me through the lens of charity, and that helps me to have it for others. It’s kind of that idea of if I judge harshly, I may be judged harshly in return, but if I can extend charity and figure folks are doing the best they can, maybe they’ll look at me and say, “Well, I guess he’s doing the best he can.”

Hank Smith: 02:05 Yeah. I like that, John. I like the idea that when you’re full of the Spirit, you start to see people the way the Lord does. You become less judgmental, you become less harsh in your criticisms. You become just more kind, and you realize that other people have difficulties and problems that they face that you probably know nothing about.

John Bytheway: 02:25 Yeah. I think it was President Gordon B. Hinckley’s, wonderful wife, Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley that said, “Be kind. Everyone is fighting a battle.” We just realize that, and, yeah, we all are. So, we can look through the lens of charity. It’s a better way to see the world, a better way to live.

Hank Smith: 02:42 Beautiful. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. This week we’re joined by Dr. Mary Jane Woodger. We think you’re going to love how she goes through these chapters in 1 Corinthians, and then come back here next week, and we’ll do another Follow Him Favorites.