"For behold, they had rather sacrifice their lives than even to take the life of their enemy; and they have buried their weapons of war deep in the earth, because of their love towards their brethren."
Alma 26:32
This is about a group of people who had been in the habit of taking human life casually... if your servant failed at a task, execute him... that sort of thing. And when they were converted to the Lord, their perspective on the value of life changed completely, and they were willing to let their enemies kill them rather than fighting back and risking killing anyone else.
I'm not necessarily saying that everyone should be exactly like that, because there are also righteous people who defend their homes and countries in the scriptures... but I am impressed by the idea here of loving other people so much that you refuse to harm them. When God asks us to love our enemies, this seems to be a shining example.
Today, let's pray and ask God to teach us how to apply this lesson to the modern world, to learn to love the people that we feel at odds with, and find in our hearts what these people had... an abundance of love so strong that they refused to cause harm. Our world could probably use some of that. Maybe instead of sacrificing our lives we will need to sacrifice something else... perhaps time, or pride, or we'll need to change our perspective. Any sacrifice is going to be difficult, by definition... but learning that kind of love is well worth it.
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