Over the years, I’ve seen little corrections given to us by our church leaders to help us understand doctrinal concepts better. The latest one is understanding the doctrine of ministering. While the world preaches “love,” the church preaches “Christ-like love.” Again, as the world demands love without judgment, the church encourages everyone to reach out by ministering, a Christ-like attribute. The correction here is that ministering is not love, it’s to be like Christ who is love.

Having faith is one of those corrections we’ve made. We can have faith in many things. I can have faith in winning the lottery or faith that my child will get better. But that isn’t good enough. It lacks that singular power.

Faith in Christ brings power to our faith because Christ is all-powerful. Having faith in Christ submits us to His greatness and ability to make all things right. Our faith in Him tells Him that we actually believe Him. Through His power our faith is complete.

Another example is free agency. Over the years, we’ve been corrected and reminded that agency isn’t free. Satan’s plan was to take away our agency. For those of us who use our agency to come to earth, we choose to follow Jesus Christ. On earth, we think we can use our agency to follow Satan every once in a while; after all, we have free agency. But now, we understand that Jesus Christ paid the price in order for us to have agency to choose Him. No, agency is not free.

So, why is understanding the doctrine of ministering so important? First of all, it is doctrine. This is how Christ shows His love for us. If we want to be like Him and bring others to Him, we must learn to show Christ-like love by ministering to others.

Ministering is not love. Ministering is more than love. It is becoming like Christ.

We hear from every social group on the planet that we need to love and accept one another. The world believes that love is not judging one another. Love is tolerance and acceptance. Love is condoning and has no consequence.

The entire church has just spent the first half of this year reading about how Jesus Christ ministered to those He came across. Granted, He’s perfect and already knows each one of us intimately. He always knows just the right thing to say in every situation.

“And I beheld that He went forth ministering unto the people, in power and great glory; and the multitudes were gathered together to hear Him” (1 Ne. 11:28).

We aren’t perfect and can’t perform ministering service as He did. But here’s what we need to understand. In order to be successful, ministering like Jesus Christ demands that we have a close relationship with the Spirit. This is how we rise above the world’s definition of love and see people as Christ sees them.

By ministering with Christ-like love, the Spirit will tell us the very best way to express that love. Receiving personal revelation is key to ministering. The Spirit will tell us the right questions to ask, the right answers to give, the power to lift others, and the faith to bring others to Christ. Having the Spirit will raise our love to a higher plane where it is more Christ-like.

“Therefore they did watch over their people, and did nourish them with things pertaining to righteousness” (Mosiah 23:18).

Did Jesus ever condone wickedness? No, yet He was full of love. We need to learn how to do the same. Love is not the answer and love does not make the world go ‘round. Ministering with the power of Christ will help us become like Christ and bring others to Christ.

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