I want to start by reading a part of a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:
You will recall that when Andrew and another disciple, probably John, first heard Christ speak, they were so moved and attracted to Jesus that they followed Him as He left the crowd. Sensing that He was being pursued, Christ turned and asked the two men, “What seek ye?” [John 1:38.] … They answered, “Where dwellest thou?” or “Where do you live?” Christ said simply, “Come and see.” [John 1:39.] Just a short time later He formally called Peter and other new Apostles with the same spirit of invitation. To them He said, Come, “follow me.” [Matt. 4:19.]
It seems that the essence of our mortal journey and the answers to the most significant questions in life are distilled down to these two very brief elements in the opening scenes of the Savior’s earthly ministry. One element is the question put to every one of us on this earth: “What seek ye? What do you want?” The second is His response to our answer, whatever that answer is. Whoever we are and whatever we reply, His response is always the same: “Come,” He says lovingly. “Come, follow me.” Wherever you are going, first come and see what I do, see where and how I spend my time. Learn of me, walk with me, talk with me, believe. Listen to me pray. In turn you will find answers to your own prayers. God will bring rest to your souls. Come, follow me.
Today, I want to focus on some ways we can come unto Christ. But, first I want to answer the question of why we should come unto Christ?
The answer starts with our own testimony of His divine calling as Savior of the world. Ezra Taft Benson said: “Once one is convinced ... that Jesus is the Christ, then he must take the next step; he must come unto Christ.” Many of us have that testimony that He is our Savior and that He lives and loves us and watches over us. For those who don’t, I urge you to gain that testimony. Pray, and God will give the only answer there is for that question. He tell you by His Spirit that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. Once converted, our duty is to align our lives with the teachings of Christ. In so doing, we turn over our lives to the one who gave His life for us. Said Elder Lowell D. Wood:
"To yield to Christ means to put him and his teachings first. The total submission of our will to his is one of the most difficult obstacles we face on our journey toward eternal life. The rewards of this submission are beautifully described by President Ezra Taft Benson: 'Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace.'"
President Benson tells us that we need to know that Christ has invited us all to come unto Him. Elder Wood said of the call to come unto Christ: “It should be understood this invitation is not a request to participate in a single event, but to participate in a process. This process leads individuals to eternal life, which “is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.” (D&C 6:13). As we come unto Christ, He leads us to our Ulimate Hope: Life in the eternities with Him and our Father in Heaven—and all the blessings associated with that wonderful gift, including to become joint-heirs with Christ, to have our mortal families here be made eternal and to have unending joy. All these are promised to us if we but come unto Him.
It was the Savior who said: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me” (D&C 88:63). What a blessing it is to have the Savior near us. The Psalmist wrote, “It is good for me to draw near to God” (Psalms 73:28). Prior to that verse, David explains why it is good for Him to draw near to God:
“I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
“Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
“Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (Psalms 73:23-26).
I believe whenever we draw unto Christ, we will find it rewarding. As we come unto Him, He will take us by the right hand and guide us with his counsel and strengthen our hearts—and all this will He do so that He may one day receive us into the Kingdom of the Father. If we arrive there, it will be because of the blood He spilt in the Garden and His life He gave on the cross. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few of the ways we can come unto Him.
1. Strengthen yourself through scripture study, fasting and prayer.
When Vince Lombardi was hired to coach the Green Bay Packers, reporters asked him what he was going to do in his new role—would he emphasize the pass, the run, defense, what? Lombardi responded, “We’ll be brilliant at the basics.” Lombardi’s teams were, and they won so much, they named the Super Bowl trophy after him.
Similarly, in our spiritual doings, we need to be brilliant at the basics, so we are prepared for whatever Satan throws at us.
Because He was brilliant at the basics, Christ was strengthened to withstand Satan’s temptations. He was strengthened to withstand the through his forty days of fasting and prayer. He also drew upon the scriptures for strength.
As we fast and we pray, we also find additional strength. In Doctrine & Covenants 10:5, the Lord promises us: “Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conqueror Satan …” Certainly, that is our goal! How de we return to live our Heavenly Father? We conqueror Satan? What’s the best way to conqueror Satan? Pray Always. President Ezra Taft Benson has said, “Communicating with our Father in Heaven through prayer also brings a spiritual power and strength found in no other way.”
Next, in response to each of Satan’s temptations, Christ quotes a scripture. Of this, Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “Think on it carefully. When facing Perdition himself, the Lord drew upon scriptures for protection.”
For us, we too find added protection from studying the scriptures, but we also find a great example in the scriptures in the life of Jesus Christ.
In modern revelation, Christ has said: “Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me” (D&C 19:23).
As we learn about His life, our testimonies deepen as does our resolve to walk his paths, which brings us to point No. 2:
2. Walk in His footsteps
To Peter and his brother Andrew, the Savior said: “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19). During the Last Supper, Christ would repeat this command to Peter, saying, “Follow thou me” (John 21:22). This same invitation was also extended to Phillip (John 1:43). Also, during his ministry, He once said: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).
We use what we have learned of Him to follow Him. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said of the scriptures, “We possess these precious truths! Now they must come to possess us!” The scriptures teach us how to follow Him. They also teach us that great blessings come to us by following Him. Pay attention to the blessings in the following scriptures. First, He has told us: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28). Also,“If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour” (John 12:26). In speaking of inheriting eternal life, He said: “Wherefore, hear my voice and follow me, and you shall be a free people” (D&C 38:27).
Think of all those promises: The promise of eternal life, the promise that He will be with us, and the promise that one day He will give us that eternal freedom that only He can grant. What a great blessing it is to follow Him!
During His life,Christ focused on being an example to us. In blazing the trail back to the Father, He showed us how to walk it. An example of this comes from His baptism:
Christ was baptized to “fulfill all righteouness” (Matthew 3:15). He did so to fulfill the commandment He had received of the Father and to show us the way. In writing to encourage us to be baptized, Nephi writes, “Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do” (2 Nephi 31:17). That’s good advice not just for baptism—but in all aspects of life. By studying Him, we know what we should do. As we come to know Him, we will want to follow in His footsteps.
3. Let the Spirit Be Your Guide
The King James Version of the Bible tells us that the devil led Christ to the various places where Satan tempted Him. Fortunately, through the wonderful Joseph Smith Translation, we know that this is not the case. The JST tells us that Christ followed the Spirit. Christ never allowed Satan to lead Him. Instead, He listened to the Spirit.
Like Christ, each of us have two voices tugging at us: The voice of the Spirit and the voice of the Evil One. If we follow Satan, we know where that will lead. As President Howard W. Hunter said, “The surest way to lose the blessings of time or eternity is to accept them on Satan’s terms.” But if we follow the Spirit, we know where we will be led: Back to the Kingdom of our Father.
Let’s focus for a moment, though, on the fact that He let the Spirit lead Him. Each of us will face times when we can visit an unholy place. Did Christ ever allow Himself to stand in unholy places? In this dispensation, He has issued this command: “Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved” (D&C 87:8). If we stand in holy places, then it obviously becomes easier to live the gospel. The question, then, for each of us becomes this: Is there a place I go that offends the Spirit? If there is, then a change needs to be made—and a new destination needs to be found. There are plenty of holy places here where you can stand; there are plenty of good, fun friends you can hang out with.Your standards never need to be compromised.
Consider also, how Christ treated these temptations from Satan. He dismissed each temptation quickly. From this, we learn He controlled His thoughts. It has been said that thoughts become actions; actions become habits; habits become character. Christ was of a perfect character—perhaps because He controlled His thoughts. “For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7) Satan had no control over Christ because Christ had complete control over His thoughts. Said Elder Wood: “Any thought, activity, or action that is compatible with the name, the life, or the teachings of Jesus Christ is acceptable. Any behavior that is not compatible with his name, his life, or his teachings is not acceptable and should be avoided.”
Our job in this day is to be close to Christ. Said Ezra Taft Benson: “We are meeting the adversary every day. The challenges of this era will rival any of the past, and these challenges will increase both spiritually and temporally.
“We must be close to Christ, we must daily take His name upon us, always remember Him, and keep His commandments.” Here, President Benson quotes the same requirements we take upon us when we take the sacrament. The blessing of which is that His spirit will always be with us. To face the challenges of our day, we need to be led by the Spirit.
In conclusion, I want to bear you my testimony that Christ stands with open arms to receive any who come unto Him. Nephi writes, “He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him” (2 Nephi 26:33). And, a few chapters later, we read: “I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long” (2 Nephi 28:32). I know Christ stands with outstretched arms always waiting to embrace us. I know He is aware of us, and He will do all He can to bring about our happiness. I pray that each of us will come unto Him and find joy in Him and that we all may feel often His love in our lives. I know my life has been blessed by having Him as a friend. How grateful I am for His sustaining love that lifts me up and gives me hope. How grateful I am for the sacrifice He made for me that I might live. How grateful I am for His mercy and His patience with me. And how grateful I am that He has blessed my life so richly. I know the joy of drawing unto Him, and I know the disappointment of moving away from Him. From this, I know I want to live my life near Him, and I want to live my eternities with Him. From my own experience, I can testify that I knowHe means it whenHe says: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you.”
Friday, January 26, 2007
The Proof is in the Fruit
I’ve been thinking all week what I wanted to say here. And all week, one phrase from this week’s lesson keeps coming to my mind, and it comes from Malachi chapter 3: “And prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts” (v. 10). I find that phrase fascinating. I find it interesting that the Lord would ask us to prove Him. I want to focus my comments here today on that phrase: “And prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:10).
Most of you recognize that this comes from a verse about tithing—and the Lord’s challenge concludes with the promise that He will “open … the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).
Mary Fielding Smith, the wife of Hyrum and the mother of President Joseph F. Smith, understood this principle. Of her, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said: “After she lost her husband in the martyrdom at Nauvoo and made her way west with five fatherless children, Mary Fielding Smith continued in her poverty to pay tithing. When someone at the tithing office inappropriately suggested one day that she should not contribute a tenth of the only potatoes she had been able to raise that year, she cried out to the man, “William, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold His blessings from me. I pay my tithing, not only because it is a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. [I need a blessing.] By keeping this and other laws, I expect to … be able to provide for my family.” Said Russell M. Nelson: “[God] tithes His people to bless them.” And said President James E. Faust: “Members of the Church who do not tithe do not lose their membership; they only lose blessings.”
But this particular challenge—to ask us to prove Him—applies to more than just the principle of tithing, for we know that, “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20-21). Thus, each commandment has an accompanying blessing; and as we live those commandments, God will bless us accordingly. In so doing, He proves that His commandments are for our blessing and benefit.
I do not think it is coincidental that the same chapter in which our God asks him to prove us, ends with this verse:
“Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Malachi 3:18).
The Lord here tells us that we will be able to see a distinctive difference between those that serve God and keeps his commandments—and the lives of those who do not. The Savior described this concept more succinctly when he said: “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Herein lies the proof—the proof of God’s love and His willingness to bless us. I personally have seen a common thread in the lives of those people whom I admire most—and that common thread is a love of the gospel and a desire to walk in God’s path. I can see in their lives, the fruit that has sprung from their seed of faith. I can see how in serving Christ, they have become Christlike. I have also seen personally in my life that all good things I have in my life come from trying to live the gospel—With God’s help, my talents have been amplified, my relationships made sweeter, and my life’s path has been made more enjoyable. I don’t know where I would be without the Church—but I know I wouldn’t be happy without it.
The Savior once said, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17). It is through the living of the gospel, that such a man will find his life enriched, his ability to love increased, his happiness multiplied and the promised blessings from a loving Father realized.
We are the product of our decisions. Once again, it was the Savior who said: “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Simply put: make better decisions, be a better person. If you want to be the best person you can be, make the best decision you can make: Live the commandments. If you live the commandments, God will mold you into the kind of person you need to be. My favorite quote at the moment comes from President Ezra Taft Benson, who said: “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.”
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “To open the windows of heaven, we must conform our will to God’s will. Diligent, enduring obedience to God’s laws is the key that opens the windows of heaven. Obedience enables us to be receptive to the mind and will of the Lord. ‘The Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient’ (D&C 64:34) are those who receive the blessings of revelation through the open windows of heaven.”
The prophet Azariah once received this admonishment from the Spirit: "Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded" (2 Chronicles 15:7). King Benjamin said, “He doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you” (Mosiah 2:24). For each commandment lived, a blessing is rendered.
In reflecting on this principle this week, my thoughts turned to my family. I have been blessed to live in a family that is really close. I feel a real kinship to my brother and my sisters, and a great love for my nieces and nephews. I have a hard time imagining a family closer than mine. And it is all because of the way my parents raised us.
The results of their endeavors were evident last week when my family gathered together for Christmas, and that meant our house was full of people, mostly little kids, running around and having a great time, enjoying the company of their cousins. Every nook in our house seemed to have a kid in it. There wasn’t much quiet in our home over the Holidays, but there was a lot of love. I always love it when my siblings visit; they are the best friends I have. And the nieces and nephews are a lot of fun, and they all get along so well, and they are always excited to see each other. We had a family talent show on Saturday night, and then the kids acted out the Nativity on Christmas Eve. In each of these experiences, the love we all have for each other and the joy we receive from interacting with one another were evident.
What makes this so remarkable is that neither one of my parents came from a home with a strong familial bond. As I reflect on that feeling that exists in my home, I must ask myself: “How could two people who came from cold homes create a home so embedded with warmth and love?” The answer is this: When they were newly married, my parents heard a prophet speak, and he asked families to do three things: family prayer, family scripture study and family home evening. My parents decided they would follow the prophet. These are simple things, really, but “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” (Alma 37:6). The prayers, the scriptures and the home evenings brought into our home, the Spirit. And the Spirit knit our hearts together. There was love in our home this past week because the Spirit was there. My parents were able to build a great family because they didn’t rely on their themselves; they relied on God.
They allowed Heavenly Father into their home; they taught their children gospel principles that they themselves lived; and they followed God’s prophets. In essence, they turned their lives and, more specifically, their family over to God, and he blessed their family with the love and closeness that was so foreign to my parents growing up, but now was so real in the family they raised. In turning over their family to God, they found He could do more with them than they could. In short, God proved himself to my parents. He had issued a command through his prophet; they obeyed; He blessed them. I believe that they would tell that the closeness of their children and the joy they receive from their family exceeds what they expected when they first became parents. Because unto them, the Lord opened the windows of heaven and showed them how aware He is of them. I saw a sign in a store recently that said, “All this because two people fell in love.” I think that fits my family, if you add one line: “All this because two people fell in love and followed the Lord.”
It is through our living the gospel, that God proves His dependability to us. I believe this trait, His dependability, is one of His greatest traits. He will never let us down.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: “Though His creations are so vast as to be numberless even to computerized man, has Jesus not told us that the very hairs of our head are numbered? (See Matt. 10:30; Moses 1:35–38.)
“Did not the resurrected Jesus stand by an imprisoned Paul, telling him to be of good cheer and calling him on his mission to Rome? (See Acts 23:11.) Likewise, Jesus stands by the righteous in all their individual ordeals.
“Did not this good and true Shepherd forego repose after the glorious but awful Atonement in order to establish His work among the lost sheep, disobedient in the days of Noah? (See 1 Pet. 3:18–20.) Did He not then visit still other lost sheep in the Americas? (See John 10:16; 3 Ne. 15:17, 21.) Then still other lost sheep? (See 3 Ne. 16:1–3.) What can we tell Him about conscientiousness? Indeed, we cannot teach Him anything! But we can listen to Him. We can love Him, we can honor Him, we can worship Him! We can keep His commandments, and we can feast upon His scriptures! Yes, we who are so forgetful and even rebellious are never forgotten by Him! We are His “work” and His “glory,” and He is never distracted! (See Moses 1:39.)”
Think about that for a moment. He is never distracted from us—He is always aware of us. As I review my life and my past experiences, I must conclude that this is true. I can say, as it does in the hymn that I “doubt not the Lord nor his goodness.”
I’ve “proved him in days that are past” (“We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet”). Indeed, His love for us has been proven—it was proven in the Garden and on the Cross, when, in the Meridian of time, He took upon Himself all the pains, all the afflictions, and, most importantly, all the sins of mankind. It was there that He proved his love by descending below them all and then giving His life so that we might live in the Kingdom of His Father. He alone blazed the trail back home, which He walked alone so that we might know the way.
Neal A. Maxwell said: “His clearly defined footprints are easy to see. They are pressed distinctly and deeply into the soil of the second estate, deeply and distinctly because of the enormous weight which pressed down upon Him, including the awful burden of all of our individual sins. Only He could have carried it all. I thank the Savior personally for bearing all which I added to his hemorrhaging at every pore for all of humanity in Gethsemane. I thank Him for bearing what I added to the decibels of His piercing soul-cry atop Calvary.”
I too would like to add my gratitude for what Christ bore for me that I would have a chance. I can never repay Him. But I can give Him what little I have—my choices. He gave His life for me; I want to turn my life over to Him. After all, He has been proven; it is me who has not. For that is why all of us are here, or, in the words of Christ:
“And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
“And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever” (Abraham 3:25-26).
We do not need to prove Him; we need to prove ourselves. And we do that by simply following Him, for which, we will blessed and, hopefully, one day, crowned in glory and exalted because we followed the One who gave His life for us.
Most of you recognize that this comes from a verse about tithing—and the Lord’s challenge concludes with the promise that He will “open … the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).
Mary Fielding Smith, the wife of Hyrum and the mother of President Joseph F. Smith, understood this principle. Of her, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said: “After she lost her husband in the martyrdom at Nauvoo and made her way west with five fatherless children, Mary Fielding Smith continued in her poverty to pay tithing. When someone at the tithing office inappropriately suggested one day that she should not contribute a tenth of the only potatoes she had been able to raise that year, she cried out to the man, “William, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold His blessings from me. I pay my tithing, not only because it is a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. [I need a blessing.] By keeping this and other laws, I expect to … be able to provide for my family.” Said Russell M. Nelson: “[God] tithes His people to bless them.” And said President James E. Faust: “Members of the Church who do not tithe do not lose their membership; they only lose blessings.”
But this particular challenge—to ask us to prove Him—applies to more than just the principle of tithing, for we know that, “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20-21). Thus, each commandment has an accompanying blessing; and as we live those commandments, God will bless us accordingly. In so doing, He proves that His commandments are for our blessing and benefit.
I do not think it is coincidental that the same chapter in which our God asks him to prove us, ends with this verse:
“Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Malachi 3:18).
The Lord here tells us that we will be able to see a distinctive difference between those that serve God and keeps his commandments—and the lives of those who do not. The Savior described this concept more succinctly when he said: “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Herein lies the proof—the proof of God’s love and His willingness to bless us. I personally have seen a common thread in the lives of those people whom I admire most—and that common thread is a love of the gospel and a desire to walk in God’s path. I can see in their lives, the fruit that has sprung from their seed of faith. I can see how in serving Christ, they have become Christlike. I have also seen personally in my life that all good things I have in my life come from trying to live the gospel—With God’s help, my talents have been amplified, my relationships made sweeter, and my life’s path has been made more enjoyable. I don’t know where I would be without the Church—but I know I wouldn’t be happy without it.
The Savior once said, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17). It is through the living of the gospel, that such a man will find his life enriched, his ability to love increased, his happiness multiplied and the promised blessings from a loving Father realized.
We are the product of our decisions. Once again, it was the Savior who said: “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Simply put: make better decisions, be a better person. If you want to be the best person you can be, make the best decision you can make: Live the commandments. If you live the commandments, God will mold you into the kind of person you need to be. My favorite quote at the moment comes from President Ezra Taft Benson, who said: “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.”
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “To open the windows of heaven, we must conform our will to God’s will. Diligent, enduring obedience to God’s laws is the key that opens the windows of heaven. Obedience enables us to be receptive to the mind and will of the Lord. ‘The Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient’ (D&C 64:34) are those who receive the blessings of revelation through the open windows of heaven.”
The prophet Azariah once received this admonishment from the Spirit: "Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded" (2 Chronicles 15:7). King Benjamin said, “He doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you” (Mosiah 2:24). For each commandment lived, a blessing is rendered.
In reflecting on this principle this week, my thoughts turned to my family. I have been blessed to live in a family that is really close. I feel a real kinship to my brother and my sisters, and a great love for my nieces and nephews. I have a hard time imagining a family closer than mine. And it is all because of the way my parents raised us.
The results of their endeavors were evident last week when my family gathered together for Christmas, and that meant our house was full of people, mostly little kids, running around and having a great time, enjoying the company of their cousins. Every nook in our house seemed to have a kid in it. There wasn’t much quiet in our home over the Holidays, but there was a lot of love. I always love it when my siblings visit; they are the best friends I have. And the nieces and nephews are a lot of fun, and they all get along so well, and they are always excited to see each other. We had a family talent show on Saturday night, and then the kids acted out the Nativity on Christmas Eve. In each of these experiences, the love we all have for each other and the joy we receive from interacting with one another were evident.
What makes this so remarkable is that neither one of my parents came from a home with a strong familial bond. As I reflect on that feeling that exists in my home, I must ask myself: “How could two people who came from cold homes create a home so embedded with warmth and love?” The answer is this: When they were newly married, my parents heard a prophet speak, and he asked families to do three things: family prayer, family scripture study and family home evening. My parents decided they would follow the prophet. These are simple things, really, but “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” (Alma 37:6). The prayers, the scriptures and the home evenings brought into our home, the Spirit. And the Spirit knit our hearts together. There was love in our home this past week because the Spirit was there. My parents were able to build a great family because they didn’t rely on their themselves; they relied on God.
They allowed Heavenly Father into their home; they taught their children gospel principles that they themselves lived; and they followed God’s prophets. In essence, they turned their lives and, more specifically, their family over to God, and he blessed their family with the love and closeness that was so foreign to my parents growing up, but now was so real in the family they raised. In turning over their family to God, they found He could do more with them than they could. In short, God proved himself to my parents. He had issued a command through his prophet; they obeyed; He blessed them. I believe that they would tell that the closeness of their children and the joy they receive from their family exceeds what they expected when they first became parents. Because unto them, the Lord opened the windows of heaven and showed them how aware He is of them. I saw a sign in a store recently that said, “All this because two people fell in love.” I think that fits my family, if you add one line: “All this because two people fell in love and followed the Lord.”
It is through our living the gospel, that God proves His dependability to us. I believe this trait, His dependability, is one of His greatest traits. He will never let us down.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: “Though His creations are so vast as to be numberless even to computerized man, has Jesus not told us that the very hairs of our head are numbered? (See Matt. 10:30; Moses 1:35–38.)
“Did not the resurrected Jesus stand by an imprisoned Paul, telling him to be of good cheer and calling him on his mission to Rome? (See Acts 23:11.) Likewise, Jesus stands by the righteous in all their individual ordeals.
“Did not this good and true Shepherd forego repose after the glorious but awful Atonement in order to establish His work among the lost sheep, disobedient in the days of Noah? (See 1 Pet. 3:18–20.) Did He not then visit still other lost sheep in the Americas? (See John 10:16; 3 Ne. 15:17, 21.) Then still other lost sheep? (See 3 Ne. 16:1–3.) What can we tell Him about conscientiousness? Indeed, we cannot teach Him anything! But we can listen to Him. We can love Him, we can honor Him, we can worship Him! We can keep His commandments, and we can feast upon His scriptures! Yes, we who are so forgetful and even rebellious are never forgotten by Him! We are His “work” and His “glory,” and He is never distracted! (See Moses 1:39.)”
Think about that for a moment. He is never distracted from us—He is always aware of us. As I review my life and my past experiences, I must conclude that this is true. I can say, as it does in the hymn that I “doubt not the Lord nor his goodness.”
I’ve “proved him in days that are past” (“We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet”). Indeed, His love for us has been proven—it was proven in the Garden and on the Cross, when, in the Meridian of time, He took upon Himself all the pains, all the afflictions, and, most importantly, all the sins of mankind. It was there that He proved his love by descending below them all and then giving His life so that we might live in the Kingdom of His Father. He alone blazed the trail back home, which He walked alone so that we might know the way.
Neal A. Maxwell said: “His clearly defined footprints are easy to see. They are pressed distinctly and deeply into the soil of the second estate, deeply and distinctly because of the enormous weight which pressed down upon Him, including the awful burden of all of our individual sins. Only He could have carried it all. I thank the Savior personally for bearing all which I added to his hemorrhaging at every pore for all of humanity in Gethsemane. I thank Him for bearing what I added to the decibels of His piercing soul-cry atop Calvary.”
I too would like to add my gratitude for what Christ bore for me that I would have a chance. I can never repay Him. But I can give Him what little I have—my choices. He gave His life for me; I want to turn my life over to Him. After all, He has been proven; it is me who has not. For that is why all of us are here, or, in the words of Christ:
“And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
“And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever” (Abraham 3:25-26).
We do not need to prove Him; we need to prove ourselves. And we do that by simply following Him, for which, we will blessed and, hopefully, one day, crowned in glory and exalted because we followed the One who gave His life for us.
Jesus' mortal example of manhood
Sometimes, when reading the scriptures, one of the best things we can do is to tap on the brakes and consider things from the point of view of the people in the scriptures. Let’s do that with two verses in the first chapter of Matthew, verses 18 and 19:
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.”
For the next few minutes, I want you to consider this situation from Joseph’s point of view. First, Joseph is in love—and not just with any girl. He was in love with a girl of surpassing beauty, probably the prettiest girl in all of Nazareth. Nephi writes of Mary that “she was exceedingly fair and white” (1 Nephi 11:13) and that she was “most beautiful and fair above all other virgins” (1 Nephi 11:15). (Just a sidenote: I’ve always wonder how Nephi’s wife feels about him writing all this.) Mary was a high-quality person and is rightfully viewed as the paragon of womanhood. Alma tells us that she was “a precious and chosen vessel” (Alma 7:10). Of her, Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “As there is only one Christ, so there is only one Mary. And as the Father chose the most noble and righteous of all his spirit sons to come into mortality as his Only Begotten in the flesh, so we may confidently conclude that he selected the most worthy and spiritually talented of all his spirit daughters to be the mortal mother of his Eternal Son.” This wonderful, beautiful woman belonged to Joseph. He loved her. Little is known about Joseph and his circumstances. I can only imagine that many days, as the mounds of sawdust piled up at his feet from his latest carpentry project, his thoughts must have turned to Mary.
He probably spent considerable time daydreaming what life would be like with his new bride. Life for a peasant carpenter in ancient Israel likely had its struggles, but Mary would better his life considerably. Can you just imagine how excited and how thrilled he must have been to have all this happening? The love of his life, his dreamgirl, loved him. All he had worked for—all he hoped for—was going to be. Can you imagine his joy? During the time of their engagement, Mary left for three months to visit her cousin, Elisabeth, so you can imagine how excited he must have been when she returned.
And you can imagine how dismayed he must have been when she returned noticeably pregnant. What must Joseph have thought? Of this, Elder James E. Talmage wrote, “When Joseph greeted his promised bride after her three months' absence, he was greatly distressed over the indications of her prospective maternity.” One LDS scholar writes: “If ever a man had the right to come to an erroneous conclusion, it was Joseph. After all, there was only one possible explanation for the condition in which he found his espoused.” Now, think about this, put yourself in Joseph’s shoes. Your espoused wife is pregnant, and you know the child can’t be yours. How would you feel? Can’t you see him going from true love to complete heartbreak. Can’t you just see his dreams dissolving? Can’t you just feel his heart breaking? Can’t you just imagine how he must have felt like the world had just collapsed on him and smothered his sunshine? Really, how would you feel, if you were Joseph? Wouldn’t you have felt betrayed? Wouldn’t you have felt like your happiness had been stolen from you? Can you imagine the hurt he must felt? Wouldn’t you be upset? Wouldn’t you be bitter?
It is not known how long it was between the time Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant and the time the angel appeared to Joseph. But we do know, that in between, “he thought on these things” (Matthew 1:20). I would guess that those were some tormented nights. I’ll bet Joseph cried himself to sleep. I would have.
It would have been easy for Joseph to give into the feelings of resentment and bitterness and let those feelings fester into outright hatred for Mary. It would have been easy, but it wouldn’t have been right. Joseph had loved her—he had genuinely loved her. And he still did. He had some options because he was espoused to her. What is espousal? Elder Bruce R. McConkie explains it this way: “According to Jewish law, marriage took place in two steps, first came the espousal or betrothal, later the formal marriage ceremony. Both formalities preceded assumption of the full privileges and responsibilities of the marital state. In a sense, espoused persons were viewed as already married, so that the angel in counseling Joseph to fulfill his marriage plans properly referred to Mary as his ‘wife.’ (v. 20) Espoused persons were considered bound to each other so that their betrothal could only be broken by a formal action akin to divorce. This is what Joseph had contemplated prior to receiving direction from the angelic visitant.” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:83).
Another LDS Scholar gives us this explanation: “[An espousal was] a formal contract of marriage. The contract was not completed in full until the performance of a second ceremony. At that time they could then begin living together as husband and wife. She was considered by law to be the wife of Joseph. The contract could only be broken by a formal ‘bill of divorcement.’ Any infidelity on the part of one espoused would be classed as adultery and subject to death under the laws of Moses” (Bill Beardall). So he had that option. Death was the fiercest punishment but the more probable option appears to have been to “made the divorcement public knowledge, and Mary would have been subject to great gossip” (Bill Beardall).
But he couldn’t do that to her. He still loved her, and he still wanted to treat her with respect, so he decides he will end his relationship with her in the most dignified manner possible. “Joseph's plan was to put Mary away privately. To give her a letter of divorcement in the presence of two witnesses … as allowed by the law” (Bill Beardall). Of Joseph’s decision, James E. Talmage writes, “Now the Jewish law provided for the annulment of a betrothal in either of two ways—by public trial and judgment, or by private agreement attested by a written document signed in the presence of witnesses. Joseph was a just man, a strict observer of the law, yet no harsh extremist; moreover he loved Mary and would save her all unnecessary humiliation, whatever might be his own sorrow and suffering. For Mary's sake he dreaded the thought of publicity; and therefore determined to have the espousal annulled with such privacy as the law allowed.” One LDS scholar says, “His love for Mary was greater than his own pride.” That’s true. But more than that, his love for was greater than his own hurt.
He put her well-being ahead of his own pain; he wanted to make the breakup as dignified as he could to help her save face. It’s human nature when someone hurts us, to try and hurt them back. But Joseph yielded not to that natural man temptation. He could have subjected her to name calling and public taunts. He could have irreparably injured her reputation. But he knew she didn’t deserve that; no woman does, no matter what she’s done. Rather, he decided to treat her with honor. Matthew calls Joseph a “just man”—in considering, his decision at this bleakest moment of his life, don’t you agree that he was, indeed, a “just man?”
So he makes this decision to put her dignity and her honor and her good name ahead of his own pride and his hurt. Then, the angel appears. Can you imagine how thrilled he must have been when the angel appeared—and her story checked out? Can you imagine Mary’s thrill—for she likely had spent considerable time fretting over “What will Joseph think?” This was a real test for both of them. But Joseph came through—and, as his reward, Heavenly Father gave him one of his best. Mary’s child was the Christ child. Mary’s Son was God’s Only Begotten Son. Thirty-three years later, in a Garden and on the Cross, He paid the terrible price of the Atonement. He gave His life for all mankind, including Mary and Joseph. Through the sacrifice of Mary’s Son, Joseph’s proven love for Mary was made eternal. As for them, so it is for all of us. For, by Christ’s redemption are families made eternal. Think about that: Christ’s infinite love for us makes our love for each other eternal!
I really marvel at the love and honor Joseph displayed for Mary. Where lesser men would have cruelly ridiculed Mary, he treated her with all love he could summon. In consideration of his story and his circumstances, one must conclude that his humble carpenter was truly a great man of God. Of him, it has been said, “He must have been much like the Lord himself, for he was Jesus' earthly example of manhood” (Beardall). Of Joseph’s decision to honor—not hurt—Mary, one LDS scholar writes: “He seems to have known Mary well enough and loved enough not to act precipitously.” And then this scholar adds an important question in which lies a great lesson we can take from
Joseph’s story. The scholar writes, “Please note ... what Joseph did before he acted in this matter. ‘He thought on these things.’ Have you ever been injured or injured others because you acted too quickly?”
What if Joseph had acted rashly? He was in a position where he could have really hurt Mary. Again, a lesser man would have. But what if he had charged in, made charges, called her names and had her publicly humiliated? Would Mary have ever recovered? Would he really have been better off? While it’s true that the Jewish law permitted such behavior, the laws of God do not ever give anyone any cause to ridicule someone in such a manner—in particular, God asks his priesthood bearers to treat women with the utmost respect. Here, was Joseph—Jesus’ example of manhood—and he treated Mary with honor. That’s what a man does.
Said Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “In large measure, true manhood is defined in our relationship to women.” God’s definition of manhood is how well a man treats God’s daughters. Said President Thomas S. Monson: “Men, take care not to make women weep, for God counts their tears.”
Joseph’s example serves an important lesson—for both guys and girls—on how they should treat each other in a dating relationship. These relationships are emotionally-charged. As such, when in a romantic relationship, we have the potential each do great harm to the person who we are dating, but we also have the possibility of treating them in such a way that it builds them up. True disciples of Christ seek to build everyone around them. Conversely, those who are not his disciples behave in ways that injure others.
You and I have both seen disastrous dating relationships. You and I have both seen friends suffer serious emotional pain because the person they were dating acted selfishly or maliciously towards them—and caused them undue hurt. You probably have, like I have, seen a friend cry because your friend’s “significant other” made a cruel comment, or this “significant other” did something that made your friend feel devalued, humiliated and unloved. In such situations, you see how downright devastating such comments and actions can be—and you always wish your friend was with someone who treated him or her better. You can’t control your friends. You certainly can’t control those whom they choose to date. But you can control yourself. For those of us, who seek to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must never allow ourselves to be that kind of person who inflicts such harm on those we date. We must be different! We must be thoughtful—and give careful consideration to how our words and actions will affect our partner’s self-worth. We must always treat them like we want them to treat us.
You and I have also seen relationships done right—we have seen our friends grow and increase in self-confidence because of the way the person they were dating treated them. Every relationship is going to have its struggles.
Even Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski had their ups-and-downs. The important thing is that we, like Joseph, treat those we date with respect—no matter what. Our actions toward those we date should be such that we do not become an obstacle between them and the temple. We should ensure that we don’t become an impediment to their true happiness. Even when the relationship sours, we we want them to be better off for having dated us.
There’s two simple ways to make sure this happens: First, live the standards you have been taught and, second, live by the Golden Rule. If the relationship should falter, another consideration should be given to how you handle the break-up. My advice is “Don’t Burn a Bridge.” The person you’ve been dating has genuinely cared for you; and now they’re just going to care for you in a different way. I know that’s not true in all cases, but it is true in most. I have found that some of the best friends and the best advisors I’ve had in life are girls I’ve dated. They’ve hung out with me, and they know me. They’ve become a valuable resource as time has gone on, and I really treasure their friendship. So I would advise you to do everything you can to salvage that friendship. That’s not always possible, and, in some cases, it might be wise to not go forward as friends, but if you can remain friends, it’s really to your benefit.
Finally, I want to spend a few minutes talking about heartbreak and how to deal with it, as I think it is one of the toughest things people our age go through. My worst experience in this category came about five or six years ago. Soon after my mission, I began dating a girl who I just loved. And we dated about a year. In every way, she was my dream: she was smart, she was funny, she was a great person, and she was really pretty—none of my friends could believe she was with me. And I couldn’t believe it either. We had some really serious talks about getting married—and I definitely wanted to. But, then one night, she told she had to talk with me. She told me she had been reading her scriptures when she got her answer—and it was that I was not the one for her.
That was not a fun experience. When I said earlier that I would have cried myself to sleep if I was in Joseph’s position, it’s because when I did find myself in a similar position to Joseph’s, I did cry myself to sleep. Many times. But I am so grateful that I went through that experience because I learned so much from that time. First of all, I know that as much as heartbreak hurts, it really is for our good. As Lehi told Jacob: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11). The heartbreak we suffer in dating will make us appreciate the love we find in marriage even more. I really think it’s a good thing to have your heart broken at least once in your life. Because I know what it’s like to have my heart really broken, I know that when eternal love comes my way, I will treat my wife better than I would have otherwise.
Because I know what it means to have loved-and-lost, I will treasure an everlasting love even more. Having experienced the bitter, I will better appreciate the sweet (D&C 29:39).
The other thing I learned in this period of my life was just how much I can depend on my Savior. I want to read from Psalms 147:3: “[Christ] healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” I testify that Christ can heal the broken-hearted. I know that in my darkest hours He has been there for me; and I know that in your darkest hours, He will be there for you. I testify that “He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3)—which sorrows and grief he freely welcomed and experienced so that He can help us in our times of trouble. Of this, the great prophet Alma prophesied: “[Christ] will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:12). Whatever trial, disappointment or sorrow we may experience, Christ has experienced Himself. Thus, He knows better than anyone else what you are going through and how to get through it. The wisest thing you can do in a time of trouble or any other time is to come unto Christ and put your trust in Him.
I really love Joseph’s story. I think he stands as an example of what a true man is and how we should conduct ourselves, even through the difficult hours of heartbreak. In the early part of Jesus’ ministry, he preached in Nazareth. They rejected him, saying foolishly, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matt 13:5). This nearsighted response is foolish on two counts: (1) Jesus wasn’t Joseph’s son; He was the son of God, and (2) Joseph was more than just a carpenter—he was one of the greatest men who lived. A man from whose example we can learn much. By taking this time to examine two short verses about him in the Book of Matthew, we have learned how a man of Christ treats the woman he loves, and we’ve learned why it’s important that, when making important decisions, we don’t act rashly, but take the time to think, ponder and pray before we make a weighty decision.
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.”
For the next few minutes, I want you to consider this situation from Joseph’s point of view. First, Joseph is in love—and not just with any girl. He was in love with a girl of surpassing beauty, probably the prettiest girl in all of Nazareth. Nephi writes of Mary that “she was exceedingly fair and white” (1 Nephi 11:13) and that she was “most beautiful and fair above all other virgins” (1 Nephi 11:15). (Just a sidenote: I’ve always wonder how Nephi’s wife feels about him writing all this.) Mary was a high-quality person and is rightfully viewed as the paragon of womanhood. Alma tells us that she was “a precious and chosen vessel” (Alma 7:10). Of her, Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “As there is only one Christ, so there is only one Mary. And as the Father chose the most noble and righteous of all his spirit sons to come into mortality as his Only Begotten in the flesh, so we may confidently conclude that he selected the most worthy and spiritually talented of all his spirit daughters to be the mortal mother of his Eternal Son.” This wonderful, beautiful woman belonged to Joseph. He loved her. Little is known about Joseph and his circumstances. I can only imagine that many days, as the mounds of sawdust piled up at his feet from his latest carpentry project, his thoughts must have turned to Mary.
He probably spent considerable time daydreaming what life would be like with his new bride. Life for a peasant carpenter in ancient Israel likely had its struggles, but Mary would better his life considerably. Can you just imagine how excited and how thrilled he must have been to have all this happening? The love of his life, his dreamgirl, loved him. All he had worked for—all he hoped for—was going to be. Can you imagine his joy? During the time of their engagement, Mary left for three months to visit her cousin, Elisabeth, so you can imagine how excited he must have been when she returned.
And you can imagine how dismayed he must have been when she returned noticeably pregnant. What must Joseph have thought? Of this, Elder James E. Talmage wrote, “When Joseph greeted his promised bride after her three months' absence, he was greatly distressed over the indications of her prospective maternity.” One LDS scholar writes: “If ever a man had the right to come to an erroneous conclusion, it was Joseph. After all, there was only one possible explanation for the condition in which he found his espoused.” Now, think about this, put yourself in Joseph’s shoes. Your espoused wife is pregnant, and you know the child can’t be yours. How would you feel? Can’t you see him going from true love to complete heartbreak. Can’t you just see his dreams dissolving? Can’t you just feel his heart breaking? Can’t you just imagine how he must have felt like the world had just collapsed on him and smothered his sunshine? Really, how would you feel, if you were Joseph? Wouldn’t you have felt betrayed? Wouldn’t you have felt like your happiness had been stolen from you? Can you imagine the hurt he must felt? Wouldn’t you be upset? Wouldn’t you be bitter?
It is not known how long it was between the time Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant and the time the angel appeared to Joseph. But we do know, that in between, “he thought on these things” (Matthew 1:20). I would guess that those were some tormented nights. I’ll bet Joseph cried himself to sleep. I would have.
It would have been easy for Joseph to give into the feelings of resentment and bitterness and let those feelings fester into outright hatred for Mary. It would have been easy, but it wouldn’t have been right. Joseph had loved her—he had genuinely loved her. And he still did. He had some options because he was espoused to her. What is espousal? Elder Bruce R. McConkie explains it this way: “According to Jewish law, marriage took place in two steps, first came the espousal or betrothal, later the formal marriage ceremony. Both formalities preceded assumption of the full privileges and responsibilities of the marital state. In a sense, espoused persons were viewed as already married, so that the angel in counseling Joseph to fulfill his marriage plans properly referred to Mary as his ‘wife.’ (v. 20) Espoused persons were considered bound to each other so that their betrothal could only be broken by a formal action akin to divorce. This is what Joseph had contemplated prior to receiving direction from the angelic visitant.” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:83).
Another LDS Scholar gives us this explanation: “[An espousal was] a formal contract of marriage. The contract was not completed in full until the performance of a second ceremony. At that time they could then begin living together as husband and wife. She was considered by law to be the wife of Joseph. The contract could only be broken by a formal ‘bill of divorcement.’ Any infidelity on the part of one espoused would be classed as adultery and subject to death under the laws of Moses” (Bill Beardall). So he had that option. Death was the fiercest punishment but the more probable option appears to have been to “made the divorcement public knowledge, and Mary would have been subject to great gossip” (Bill Beardall).
But he couldn’t do that to her. He still loved her, and he still wanted to treat her with respect, so he decides he will end his relationship with her in the most dignified manner possible. “Joseph's plan was to put Mary away privately. To give her a letter of divorcement in the presence of two witnesses … as allowed by the law” (Bill Beardall). Of Joseph’s decision, James E. Talmage writes, “Now the Jewish law provided for the annulment of a betrothal in either of two ways—by public trial and judgment, or by private agreement attested by a written document signed in the presence of witnesses. Joseph was a just man, a strict observer of the law, yet no harsh extremist; moreover he loved Mary and would save her all unnecessary humiliation, whatever might be his own sorrow and suffering. For Mary's sake he dreaded the thought of publicity; and therefore determined to have the espousal annulled with such privacy as the law allowed.” One LDS scholar says, “His love for Mary was greater than his own pride.” That’s true. But more than that, his love for was greater than his own hurt.
He put her well-being ahead of his own pain; he wanted to make the breakup as dignified as he could to help her save face. It’s human nature when someone hurts us, to try and hurt them back. But Joseph yielded not to that natural man temptation. He could have subjected her to name calling and public taunts. He could have irreparably injured her reputation. But he knew she didn’t deserve that; no woman does, no matter what she’s done. Rather, he decided to treat her with honor. Matthew calls Joseph a “just man”—in considering, his decision at this bleakest moment of his life, don’t you agree that he was, indeed, a “just man?”
So he makes this decision to put her dignity and her honor and her good name ahead of his own pride and his hurt. Then, the angel appears. Can you imagine how thrilled he must have been when the angel appeared—and her story checked out? Can you imagine Mary’s thrill—for she likely had spent considerable time fretting over “What will Joseph think?” This was a real test for both of them. But Joseph came through—and, as his reward, Heavenly Father gave him one of his best. Mary’s child was the Christ child. Mary’s Son was God’s Only Begotten Son. Thirty-three years later, in a Garden and on the Cross, He paid the terrible price of the Atonement. He gave His life for all mankind, including Mary and Joseph. Through the sacrifice of Mary’s Son, Joseph’s proven love for Mary was made eternal. As for them, so it is for all of us. For, by Christ’s redemption are families made eternal. Think about that: Christ’s infinite love for us makes our love for each other eternal!
I really marvel at the love and honor Joseph displayed for Mary. Where lesser men would have cruelly ridiculed Mary, he treated her with all love he could summon. In consideration of his story and his circumstances, one must conclude that his humble carpenter was truly a great man of God. Of him, it has been said, “He must have been much like the Lord himself, for he was Jesus' earthly example of manhood” (Beardall). Of Joseph’s decision to honor—not hurt—Mary, one LDS scholar writes: “He seems to have known Mary well enough and loved enough not to act precipitously.” And then this scholar adds an important question in which lies a great lesson we can take from
Joseph’s story. The scholar writes, “Please note ... what Joseph did before he acted in this matter. ‘He thought on these things.’ Have you ever been injured or injured others because you acted too quickly?”
What if Joseph had acted rashly? He was in a position where he could have really hurt Mary. Again, a lesser man would have. But what if he had charged in, made charges, called her names and had her publicly humiliated? Would Mary have ever recovered? Would he really have been better off? While it’s true that the Jewish law permitted such behavior, the laws of God do not ever give anyone any cause to ridicule someone in such a manner—in particular, God asks his priesthood bearers to treat women with the utmost respect. Here, was Joseph—Jesus’ example of manhood—and he treated Mary with honor. That’s what a man does.
Said Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “In large measure, true manhood is defined in our relationship to women.” God’s definition of manhood is how well a man treats God’s daughters. Said President Thomas S. Monson: “Men, take care not to make women weep, for God counts their tears.”
Joseph’s example serves an important lesson—for both guys and girls—on how they should treat each other in a dating relationship. These relationships are emotionally-charged. As such, when in a romantic relationship, we have the potential each do great harm to the person who we are dating, but we also have the possibility of treating them in such a way that it builds them up. True disciples of Christ seek to build everyone around them. Conversely, those who are not his disciples behave in ways that injure others.
You and I have both seen disastrous dating relationships. You and I have both seen friends suffer serious emotional pain because the person they were dating acted selfishly or maliciously towards them—and caused them undue hurt. You probably have, like I have, seen a friend cry because your friend’s “significant other” made a cruel comment, or this “significant other” did something that made your friend feel devalued, humiliated and unloved. In such situations, you see how downright devastating such comments and actions can be—and you always wish your friend was with someone who treated him or her better. You can’t control your friends. You certainly can’t control those whom they choose to date. But you can control yourself. For those of us, who seek to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must never allow ourselves to be that kind of person who inflicts such harm on those we date. We must be different! We must be thoughtful—and give careful consideration to how our words and actions will affect our partner’s self-worth. We must always treat them like we want them to treat us.
You and I have also seen relationships done right—we have seen our friends grow and increase in self-confidence because of the way the person they were dating treated them. Every relationship is going to have its struggles.
Even Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski had their ups-and-downs. The important thing is that we, like Joseph, treat those we date with respect—no matter what. Our actions toward those we date should be such that we do not become an obstacle between them and the temple. We should ensure that we don’t become an impediment to their true happiness. Even when the relationship sours, we we want them to be better off for having dated us.
There’s two simple ways to make sure this happens: First, live the standards you have been taught and, second, live by the Golden Rule. If the relationship should falter, another consideration should be given to how you handle the break-up. My advice is “Don’t Burn a Bridge.” The person you’ve been dating has genuinely cared for you; and now they’re just going to care for you in a different way. I know that’s not true in all cases, but it is true in most. I have found that some of the best friends and the best advisors I’ve had in life are girls I’ve dated. They’ve hung out with me, and they know me. They’ve become a valuable resource as time has gone on, and I really treasure their friendship. So I would advise you to do everything you can to salvage that friendship. That’s not always possible, and, in some cases, it might be wise to not go forward as friends, but if you can remain friends, it’s really to your benefit.
Finally, I want to spend a few minutes talking about heartbreak and how to deal with it, as I think it is one of the toughest things people our age go through. My worst experience in this category came about five or six years ago. Soon after my mission, I began dating a girl who I just loved. And we dated about a year. In every way, she was my dream: she was smart, she was funny, she was a great person, and she was really pretty—none of my friends could believe she was with me. And I couldn’t believe it either. We had some really serious talks about getting married—and I definitely wanted to. But, then one night, she told she had to talk with me. She told me she had been reading her scriptures when she got her answer—and it was that I was not the one for her.
That was not a fun experience. When I said earlier that I would have cried myself to sleep if I was in Joseph’s position, it’s because when I did find myself in a similar position to Joseph’s, I did cry myself to sleep. Many times. But I am so grateful that I went through that experience because I learned so much from that time. First of all, I know that as much as heartbreak hurts, it really is for our good. As Lehi told Jacob: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11). The heartbreak we suffer in dating will make us appreciate the love we find in marriage even more. I really think it’s a good thing to have your heart broken at least once in your life. Because I know what it’s like to have my heart really broken, I know that when eternal love comes my way, I will treat my wife better than I would have otherwise.
Because I know what it means to have loved-and-lost, I will treasure an everlasting love even more. Having experienced the bitter, I will better appreciate the sweet (D&C 29:39).
The other thing I learned in this period of my life was just how much I can depend on my Savior. I want to read from Psalms 147:3: “[Christ] healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” I testify that Christ can heal the broken-hearted. I know that in my darkest hours He has been there for me; and I know that in your darkest hours, He will be there for you. I testify that “He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3)—which sorrows and grief he freely welcomed and experienced so that He can help us in our times of trouble. Of this, the great prophet Alma prophesied: “[Christ] will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:12). Whatever trial, disappointment or sorrow we may experience, Christ has experienced Himself. Thus, He knows better than anyone else what you are going through and how to get through it. The wisest thing you can do in a time of trouble or any other time is to come unto Christ and put your trust in Him.
I really love Joseph’s story. I think he stands as an example of what a true man is and how we should conduct ourselves, even through the difficult hours of heartbreak. In the early part of Jesus’ ministry, he preached in Nazareth. They rejected him, saying foolishly, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matt 13:5). This nearsighted response is foolish on two counts: (1) Jesus wasn’t Joseph’s son; He was the son of God, and (2) Joseph was more than just a carpenter—he was one of the greatest men who lived. A man from whose example we can learn much. By taking this time to examine two short verses about him in the Book of Matthew, we have learned how a man of Christ treats the woman he loves, and we’ve learned why it’s important that, when making important decisions, we don’t act rashly, but take the time to think, ponder and pray before we make a weighty decision.
A man of honor
I’m sure most of you remembering camping in the Boy Scouts—and you probably remember that your Scoutmaster saying something like, “Scouts always leave the campground better than they found it.” I think I heard that statement a few million times—and groaned each time that I had to quit burning things in the fire and, instead, pick up a trash bag. But I have really come to believe there is some merit to that statement. The Scouts, as you know, are about honor. And a person of honor always leaves anything he encounters better than when he found it.
That’s true of campgrounds—but much, much more importantly, it’s true of people. A man of honor always leaves the people he encounters better than they were when he encountered them. It may be through a kind word, a helping hand or even a simple hello, but a man of honor always seeks to lift off the burdens of fellow human beings. He never seeks to burden them further. At this point, what a man of honor is far supercedes the label “Scout” and, instead, he bears the label “man of Christ.”
He is fulfilling what he promised to do when he entered the waters of baptism. “At the waters of Mormon, Alma declared that those who seek baptism into the Church ‘are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:8–9).’ (First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve)
Furthermore, a man of honor is fulfilling his role as a priesthood holder, as we read in D&C 128:11-12: “Now the great and grand secret of the whole matter, and the summum bonum of the whole subject that is lying before us, consists in obtaining the powers of the Holy Priesthood. For him to whom these keys are given there is no difficulty in obtaining a knowledge of facts in relation to the salvation of the children of men, both as well for the dead as for the living. Herein is glory and honor, and immortality and eternal life.” Our honor, as priesthood holders, consists of learning about the plan of salvation, teaching it others and helping others make and keep the saving covenants. In the discharge of our priesthood duties, there will be no individuals for whom we have greater responsibility than to our wife and children. We are to help these grow and help sustain them through difficult times. Obviously, our wife and children should be better off because they entered our sphere.
But high on the list of those for whom we are responsible are the people whom we home teach. Just as with your wife and kids, you have a responsibility to those whom you home teach as well. They also must you lift and help grow and help sustain through difficult times. They too must be better off because they entered your sphere. Today, as we examine the need for home teachers and how we can become better home teachers, keep in mind that the calling to home teach may seem routine, but it is, in fact, a sacred calling.
Said President Ezra Taft Benson, while he was president of the Church: “Brethren, home teaching is not just another program. It is the priesthood way of watching over the Saints and accomplishing the mission of the Church. Home teaching is not just an assignment. It is a sacred calling. Home teaching is not to be undertaken casually. A home teaching call is to be accepted as if extended to you personally by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior Himself was a teacher. The only perfect man to walk the face of the earth was a humble, dedicated, inspired teacher who brought to His followers salvation and exaltation. Oh, that all the brethren of the Church would catch that vision of home teaching!”
I want you to focus my comments here on that quote. First, consider the line: “Brethren, home teaching is not just another program. It is the priesthood way of watching over the Saints and accomplishing the mission of the Church.” Let me repeat that: Home teaching is the priesthood way of watching over the Church. Most of you know he is referring here specifically to the duties of the teacher—a calling to which we have all been called and to which none of us have been released. In Doctrine & Covenants 20:53, 54, and 59, we read: “The teacher’s duty is to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them;
“And see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking
“They are, however, to warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ.”
As home teachers, we thus have the call to bring people to Christ. We also have the call to be with them and to strengthen them. My mom has taught English 1010 at Dixie College for years and years and years. Each semester, she has her students bring a notebook to class, which they use as a journal, and she gives them the first 10 minutes of class time to write in this journal. And she has them hand it in from time-to-time, so she can make sure they are actually writing in them. I remember her telling me once that I would be surprised at just how many kids write in their journals about how lonely they are and how alone they feel. Whatever loneliness or separation they feel may not be known to many, but it is known to the Savior.
I thought of that yesterday, and I remembered D&C 81:5—and I saw in that verse as a personal plea from the Savior
to those He has called to be home teachers. In that verse, the Savior says: “Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” In strengthening the feeble knees and lifting up the hands which hang down, we, as home teachers, we must be their friends. I truly believe the call to home teach is the call to be someone’s friend. And, secondly, we have to strengthen them—through our message, through our Spirit, and through our encouragement. It was the Savior who said: “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:32)
Next, let’s consider the second line from the quote by President Benson that I read earlier. That line states: “Home teaching is not just an assignment. It is a sacred calling.” You can’t think about home teaching as though it were just an assignment that Max makes. Because it is not Max who issued the call. So then who issued the call?
That takes us to the next few lines from President Benson’s quote: “Home teaching is not to be undertaken casually. A home teaching call is to be accepted as if extended to you personally by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior Himself was a teacher. The only perfect man to walk the face of the earth was a humble, dedicated, inspired teacher who brought to His followers salvation and exaltation.”
President Boyd K. Packer once said, “I have heard men say in response to a question about their Church assignment, “I am only a home teacher.” Only a home teacher. Only the guardian of a flock. Only the one appointed where the ministry matters most. Only a servant of the Lord!”
President Packer continued by saying: “I . . . realize there are some activities in the Church that are more exciting and some more interesting. Perhaps even most have more appeal. ... I repeat, some activities may have much more appeal, but there is none that is more important. ... Home teaching, strangely enough, is so taken for granted that most members pay little attention to it, participating routinely, sometimes almost with annoyance. Through it, nevertheless, there come to members of the Church a protection and a watch-care not known elsewhere.”
What makes home teaching so important? It’s the individualized nature of the program. Said President Benson:”[Home teachers] are in the front line of defense to watch over and strengthen the individual and the family unit.” In the home, lessons can be personalized. Specific needs can be addressed. Because of that, the Lord can deliver more powerfully a message to one of his children through a home teaching message than he can through a Sunday School lesson. Also, a great home teacher does more than teach, he serves. He tries to improve the lives of those he serves—both spiritually and temporally. He does his best to make sure that all his home teachee’s needs are met—spiritually, temporally and socially.
Said Marion G. Romney: “I feel that the time has come for each bearer of the priesthood to put on the full armor of Christ with respect to home teaching; to stand up like a man of God and do his duty by visiting the home of every member entrusted to his care, as often as is necessary; and to encourage and inspire him to live his life as the Lord would have him live it. If we would so render this service as to receive from the Master the words, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant,’ we must perform it not only as a duty, but, in the true spirit of our beloved Savior, out of a dedicated love and real concern for the eternal lives of one another.”
I like the challenge there from President Romney—Stand Up and Be a Man of God. At the last General Conference,
Elder D. Todd Christofferson said: “We who hold the priesthood of God cannot afford to drift. We have work to do. We must arise from the dust of self-indulgence and be men!” I agree with that. We have work to do. We have home teaching to do. And, in doing home teaching, we can shake off “the dust of self-indulgence.”
Said Elder Russell M. Nelson: “Home teaching opportunities provide a means by which an important aspect of character may be developed: love of service above self. We become more like the Savior, who has challenged us to emulate His example: “What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am’.”
Isn’t that our ultimate goal: To be as He is? Home teaching is another opportunity to forget ourselves and go to work. It’s another opportunity for us, as home teachers, to become more like Christ, as we help others come unto Him. Lastly, returning to the final line of President Benson’s quote: “Oh, that all the brethren of the Church would catch that vision of home teaching!”
What was the vision he wanted us to catch? I think I’ll let him tell it, for he ended this talk by saying the following: “The Good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep—for you and me—for us all (see John 10:17–18). The symbolism of the Good Shepherd is not without parallel in the Church today. The sheep need to be led by watchful shepherds. Too many are wandering. Some are being enticed away by momentary distractions. Others have become completely lost. …
“With a shepherd’s care, our new members, those newly born into the gospel, must be nurtured by attentive fellowshipping as they increase in gospel knowledge and begin living new standards. Such attention will help to ensure that they will not return to old habits. With a shepherd’s loving care, our young people, our young lambs, will not be as inclined to wander. And if they do, the crook of the shepherd’s staff, a loving arm and an understanding heart, will help to retrieve them. With a shepherd’s care, many of those who are now independent of the flock can still be reclaimed. Many who have married outside the Church and have assumed the life-styles of the world may respond to an invitation to return to the fold” As I foresee the troublesome times that lie ahead—when deepening trials and testing shall be thrust upon members of the Church (see D&C 1:12–23; D&C 101:4–5)—the gentle caring of compassionate home teachers may literally save spiritual lives.” Let me end by repeating that last line from President Benson’s talk, for that is the kind of home teachers we must become:
“As I foresee the troublesome times that lie ahead—when deepening trials and testing shall be thrust upon members of the Church —the gentle caring of compassionate home teachers may literally save spiritual lives.”
That’s true of campgrounds—but much, much more importantly, it’s true of people. A man of honor always leaves the people he encounters better than they were when he encountered them. It may be through a kind word, a helping hand or even a simple hello, but a man of honor always seeks to lift off the burdens of fellow human beings. He never seeks to burden them further. At this point, what a man of honor is far supercedes the label “Scout” and, instead, he bears the label “man of Christ.”
He is fulfilling what he promised to do when he entered the waters of baptism. “At the waters of Mormon, Alma declared that those who seek baptism into the Church ‘are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:8–9).’ (First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve)
Furthermore, a man of honor is fulfilling his role as a priesthood holder, as we read in D&C 128:11-12: “Now the great and grand secret of the whole matter, and the summum bonum of the whole subject that is lying before us, consists in obtaining the powers of the Holy Priesthood. For him to whom these keys are given there is no difficulty in obtaining a knowledge of facts in relation to the salvation of the children of men, both as well for the dead as for the living. Herein is glory and honor, and immortality and eternal life.” Our honor, as priesthood holders, consists of learning about the plan of salvation, teaching it others and helping others make and keep the saving covenants. In the discharge of our priesthood duties, there will be no individuals for whom we have greater responsibility than to our wife and children. We are to help these grow and help sustain them through difficult times. Obviously, our wife and children should be better off because they entered our sphere.
But high on the list of those for whom we are responsible are the people whom we home teach. Just as with your wife and kids, you have a responsibility to those whom you home teach as well. They also must you lift and help grow and help sustain through difficult times. They too must be better off because they entered your sphere. Today, as we examine the need for home teachers and how we can become better home teachers, keep in mind that the calling to home teach may seem routine, but it is, in fact, a sacred calling.
Said President Ezra Taft Benson, while he was president of the Church: “Brethren, home teaching is not just another program. It is the priesthood way of watching over the Saints and accomplishing the mission of the Church. Home teaching is not just an assignment. It is a sacred calling. Home teaching is not to be undertaken casually. A home teaching call is to be accepted as if extended to you personally by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior Himself was a teacher. The only perfect man to walk the face of the earth was a humble, dedicated, inspired teacher who brought to His followers salvation and exaltation. Oh, that all the brethren of the Church would catch that vision of home teaching!”
I want you to focus my comments here on that quote. First, consider the line: “Brethren, home teaching is not just another program. It is the priesthood way of watching over the Saints and accomplishing the mission of the Church.” Let me repeat that: Home teaching is the priesthood way of watching over the Church. Most of you know he is referring here specifically to the duties of the teacher—a calling to which we have all been called and to which none of us have been released. In Doctrine & Covenants 20:53, 54, and 59, we read: “The teacher’s duty is to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them;
“And see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking
“They are, however, to warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ.”
As home teachers, we thus have the call to bring people to Christ. We also have the call to be with them and to strengthen them. My mom has taught English 1010 at Dixie College for years and years and years. Each semester, she has her students bring a notebook to class, which they use as a journal, and she gives them the first 10 minutes of class time to write in this journal. And she has them hand it in from time-to-time, so she can make sure they are actually writing in them. I remember her telling me once that I would be surprised at just how many kids write in their journals about how lonely they are and how alone they feel. Whatever loneliness or separation they feel may not be known to many, but it is known to the Savior.
I thought of that yesterday, and I remembered D&C 81:5—and I saw in that verse as a personal plea from the Savior
to those He has called to be home teachers. In that verse, the Savior says: “Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” In strengthening the feeble knees and lifting up the hands which hang down, we, as home teachers, we must be their friends. I truly believe the call to home teach is the call to be someone’s friend. And, secondly, we have to strengthen them—through our message, through our Spirit, and through our encouragement. It was the Savior who said: “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:32)
Next, let’s consider the second line from the quote by President Benson that I read earlier. That line states: “Home teaching is not just an assignment. It is a sacred calling.” You can’t think about home teaching as though it were just an assignment that Max makes. Because it is not Max who issued the call. So then who issued the call?
That takes us to the next few lines from President Benson’s quote: “Home teaching is not to be undertaken casually. A home teaching call is to be accepted as if extended to you personally by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Savior Himself was a teacher. The only perfect man to walk the face of the earth was a humble, dedicated, inspired teacher who brought to His followers salvation and exaltation.”
President Boyd K. Packer once said, “I have heard men say in response to a question about their Church assignment, “I am only a home teacher.” Only a home teacher. Only the guardian of a flock. Only the one appointed where the ministry matters most. Only a servant of the Lord!”
President Packer continued by saying: “I . . . realize there are some activities in the Church that are more exciting and some more interesting. Perhaps even most have more appeal. ... I repeat, some activities may have much more appeal, but there is none that is more important. ... Home teaching, strangely enough, is so taken for granted that most members pay little attention to it, participating routinely, sometimes almost with annoyance. Through it, nevertheless, there come to members of the Church a protection and a watch-care not known elsewhere.”
What makes home teaching so important? It’s the individualized nature of the program. Said President Benson:”[Home teachers] are in the front line of defense to watch over and strengthen the individual and the family unit.” In the home, lessons can be personalized. Specific needs can be addressed. Because of that, the Lord can deliver more powerfully a message to one of his children through a home teaching message than he can through a Sunday School lesson. Also, a great home teacher does more than teach, he serves. He tries to improve the lives of those he serves—both spiritually and temporally. He does his best to make sure that all his home teachee’s needs are met—spiritually, temporally and socially.
Said Marion G. Romney: “I feel that the time has come for each bearer of the priesthood to put on the full armor of Christ with respect to home teaching; to stand up like a man of God and do his duty by visiting the home of every member entrusted to his care, as often as is necessary; and to encourage and inspire him to live his life as the Lord would have him live it. If we would so render this service as to receive from the Master the words, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant,’ we must perform it not only as a duty, but, in the true spirit of our beloved Savior, out of a dedicated love and real concern for the eternal lives of one another.”
I like the challenge there from President Romney—Stand Up and Be a Man of God. At the last General Conference,
Elder D. Todd Christofferson said: “We who hold the priesthood of God cannot afford to drift. We have work to do. We must arise from the dust of self-indulgence and be men!” I agree with that. We have work to do. We have home teaching to do. And, in doing home teaching, we can shake off “the dust of self-indulgence.”
Said Elder Russell M. Nelson: “Home teaching opportunities provide a means by which an important aspect of character may be developed: love of service above self. We become more like the Savior, who has challenged us to emulate His example: “What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am’.”
Isn’t that our ultimate goal: To be as He is? Home teaching is another opportunity to forget ourselves and go to work. It’s another opportunity for us, as home teachers, to become more like Christ, as we help others come unto Him. Lastly, returning to the final line of President Benson’s quote: “Oh, that all the brethren of the Church would catch that vision of home teaching!”
What was the vision he wanted us to catch? I think I’ll let him tell it, for he ended this talk by saying the following: “The Good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep—for you and me—for us all (see John 10:17–18). The symbolism of the Good Shepherd is not without parallel in the Church today. The sheep need to be led by watchful shepherds. Too many are wandering. Some are being enticed away by momentary distractions. Others have become completely lost. …
“With a shepherd’s care, our new members, those newly born into the gospel, must be nurtured by attentive fellowshipping as they increase in gospel knowledge and begin living new standards. Such attention will help to ensure that they will not return to old habits. With a shepherd’s loving care, our young people, our young lambs, will not be as inclined to wander. And if they do, the crook of the shepherd’s staff, a loving arm and an understanding heart, will help to retrieve them. With a shepherd’s care, many of those who are now independent of the flock can still be reclaimed. Many who have married outside the Church and have assumed the life-styles of the world may respond to an invitation to return to the fold” As I foresee the troublesome times that lie ahead—when deepening trials and testing shall be thrust upon members of the Church (see D&C 1:12–23; D&C 101:4–5)—the gentle caring of compassionate home teachers may literally save spiritual lives.” Let me end by repeating that last line from President Benson’s talk, for that is the kind of home teachers we must become:
“As I foresee the troublesome times that lie ahead—when deepening trials and testing shall be thrust upon members of the Church —the gentle caring of compassionate home teachers may literally save spiritual lives.”
As a burning fire shut up in my bones.
As I read about Jeremiah this week, I just noticed how his story was similar to that of my older sister, Tiffany, so I called up my sister and asked her to e-mail me the story about how she decided to go on a mission. This is what she e-mailed me:
“A few months before I turned 21, I started to think that maybe I was supposed to go on a mission. I really didn't want to, because I knew that spiritually I wasn't where I needed to be, and my knowledge of the scriptures was next to nothing. I couldn't imagine that I was the kind of person the Lord would want out there working for Him. And yet, I couldn't squash those feelings that I should go.
“I took a missionary prep class at the Institute hoping to find clearer reasons why I should or shouldn't be a missionary. One day our teacher asked us to list the reasons why someone should go on a mission. The class came up with a pretty good list, but then the teacher said there was one reason that beat all the rest. He said the best reason to serve a mission was that you loved the Lord. Well, I thought that I was off the hook. I wasn't sure I really did love the Lord enough to serve Him.
“A few days later, I was reading my patriarchal blessing and came across a passage that read: ‘You have a wonderful ancestry and heritage; they loved the Lord. This is a trait given to you, you also love the Lord.’
“There it was in black and white. I couldn't believe it actually said that. The Lord thought I loved Him, and how can you argue with your patriarchal blessing? I knelt by my bed to say the prayer I had been putting off saying for months. I would finally ask Heavenly Father if He wanted me to serve a mission. As soon as I said "Dear Heavenly Father" I felt the spirit stronger than I ever had, and I knew that I was being called to serve a mission. The Lord wanted me to go out into the world and serve Him even though I was unknowledgable and spiritually weak.
“My mission was the best thing that ever happened to me. It completely altered the course of my life. My testimony grew and solidified. Everything I had learned and heard in church and seminary finally clicked for me. I felt like I finally understood what the gospel was and, therefore, I could commit myself to living it better than I had been. I discovered talents that I had been given that continue to help me to serve in the church.
“What you have heard many missionaries say is certainly true in my case, I was the main person that was converted as a result of my mission. I'm so grateful that the Lord called me on a mission.”
Tiffany’s call to serve and subsequent mission parallels Jeremiah’s calling and mission in that (1) the Lord called both to serve, even though both had some feelings of inadequacy when accepting their callings, (2) both were shaped and formed upon the Potter’s Wheel during their missions, and (3) both found a deepened testimony of the gospel, as they served.
Three verses, in particular, really define Jeremiah’s story. The first is Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” The key here is to know that the Lord gave Jeremiah a task to perform. As we go through Jeremiah's life, we will see he struggled greatly to perform this task—and even, at times, felt like giving up, yet he persevered, kept going and ultimately succeeded in performing his mission.
The second key verse comes in Jeremiah 18:6: “Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” This is, I think, the major theme of Jeremiah—through all his trials, Jeremiah was being shaped and formed. This concept of clay in the Potter’s hands corresponds to what the Lord told Joseph Smith when Joseph was in Liberty Jail: “Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7) Jeremiah and Joseph Smith faced similar persecutions: Jeremiah, like Joseph, was routinely teased, imprisoned and beaten. Like Joseph, a defining moment in Jeremiah’s life came in prison.
Jeremiah had been out prophesying, as the Lord had commanded him to do. He was overheard by Pashur, the chief governor of the Temple. Pashur hated what Jeremiah had to say—so he had Jeremiah beaten and then put him into the stocks by the temple’s high gate so that Jeremiah would be publicly humiliated. It is in the midst of this ordeal that Jeremiah begins mourning how his life has turned out. It’s easy to imagine Jeremiah taking a deep sigh and muttering—Why? I did what the Lord told me to do. Why did it turn out like this? “I am in derision daily,” he laments (Jer. 20:7).
A basic human need is to be loved and accepted—and, in following the Lord, Jeremiah has been met only with hate and loneliness. It’s just easy to feel his frustration, as he considers the way his life has turned out.
Certainly, it’s easy to understand how Jermiah feels because many have felt like that at some point in their lives. His frustration is understandable, and so perhaps is the tantrum that follows—in which he essentially says: “This is it! I am done! No more!”
And that brings us to perhaps what is one of the most remarkable verses in all of the scriptures in Jeremiah 20:9. “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Let’s look at that one more time: “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.” But then you look at the very next words he writes: “But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”
So, there Jeremiah is, so discouraged that he feels he can’t go on, so he makes this vow, this pronouncement that he will no longer speak of the Lord. And you can just see him saying this. And then you can just see him take a sigh—and in a moment of honest, life-changing realization—say, “Ah, who I am kidding? I can't quit teaching God's word! It's been burned too deeply into my heart to quit now.” Two things that really jump out about this verse: 1) the great description of what a strong testimony feels like: “as a burning fire shut up in my bones,” but 2) this verse is really about perseverance—giving God room in your heart (thereby, creating inner strength) so that you can keep going and even move past your trials, no matter how fierce or cumulative they may seem.
I like how Jeffrey R. Holland described this process that happened within Jeremiah: “So speak unto them [Jeremiah] did, but initially not with much success. Things went from bad to worse until finally he was imprisoned and made a laughingstock among the people. Angry that he had been so mistreated and maligned, Jeremiah vowed, in effect, never to teach another lesson, whether that be to an investigator, Primary child, new convert, or—heaven forbid—the 15-year-olds. “I will not make mention of [the Lord], nor speak any more in his name,” the discouraged prophet said. But then came the turning point of Jeremiah’s life. Something had been happening with every testimony he had borne, every scripture he had read, every truth he had taught. Something had been happening that he hadn’t counted on. Even as he vowed to close his mouth and walk away from the Lord’s work, he found that he could not.”
In other words, all the testimonies Jeremiah had ever given, every attempt he made to fulfill his calling, he was really allowing himself to be shaped by the Lord. And when he comes to this critical moment, he discovers that the Lord had been shaping him on the Potter’s Wheel, and Jeremiah finds himself stronger than he thought he was, more converted than he thought he was, and more willing to soldier on in the good fight than he thought he was.
Let me end by quoting James E. Faust, who said: “Any man or woman who enjoys the Master's touch is like potter's clay in his hands. More important than acquiring fame or fortune is being what God wants us to be. Before we came to this earth, we may have been fashioned to do some small good in this life that no one else can do. The Lord said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations" (Jer. 1:5). If God has a work for those with many talents, I believe he also has an important work for those of us who have few.
“What is the central characteristic of those having only five loaves and two fishes? What makes it possible, under the Master's touch, for them to serve, lift, and bless so that they touch for good the lives of hundreds, even thousands? After a lifetime of dealing in the affairs of men and women, I believe it is the ability to overcome personal ego and pride—both are enemies to the full enjoyment of the Spirit of God and walking humbly before him.”
So for Jeremiah, and for my sister, Tiffany, the change came from humbly placing themselves on the Potter’s Wheel, going where the Lord wanted them to go, and doing what the Lord wanted them to do. It doesn’t matter whether it was in Jerusalem where Jeremiah served, or the Arizona Tempe Mission where Tiffany served, or the Dixie College Seventh Ward where we serve—what matters is that we do what the Lord wants us to do. And by doing this will we allow Him to instill in us the strength and testimony we need to succeed in this life and attain Eternal Life in the life to come.
“A few months before I turned 21, I started to think that maybe I was supposed to go on a mission. I really didn't want to, because I knew that spiritually I wasn't where I needed to be, and my knowledge of the scriptures was next to nothing. I couldn't imagine that I was the kind of person the Lord would want out there working for Him. And yet, I couldn't squash those feelings that I should go.
“I took a missionary prep class at the Institute hoping to find clearer reasons why I should or shouldn't be a missionary. One day our teacher asked us to list the reasons why someone should go on a mission. The class came up with a pretty good list, but then the teacher said there was one reason that beat all the rest. He said the best reason to serve a mission was that you loved the Lord. Well, I thought that I was off the hook. I wasn't sure I really did love the Lord enough to serve Him.
“A few days later, I was reading my patriarchal blessing and came across a passage that read: ‘You have a wonderful ancestry and heritage; they loved the Lord. This is a trait given to you, you also love the Lord.’
“There it was in black and white. I couldn't believe it actually said that. The Lord thought I loved Him, and how can you argue with your patriarchal blessing? I knelt by my bed to say the prayer I had been putting off saying for months. I would finally ask Heavenly Father if He wanted me to serve a mission. As soon as I said "Dear Heavenly Father" I felt the spirit stronger than I ever had, and I knew that I was being called to serve a mission. The Lord wanted me to go out into the world and serve Him even though I was unknowledgable and spiritually weak.
“My mission was the best thing that ever happened to me. It completely altered the course of my life. My testimony grew and solidified. Everything I had learned and heard in church and seminary finally clicked for me. I felt like I finally understood what the gospel was and, therefore, I could commit myself to living it better than I had been. I discovered talents that I had been given that continue to help me to serve in the church.
“What you have heard many missionaries say is certainly true in my case, I was the main person that was converted as a result of my mission. I'm so grateful that the Lord called me on a mission.”
Tiffany’s call to serve and subsequent mission parallels Jeremiah’s calling and mission in that (1) the Lord called both to serve, even though both had some feelings of inadequacy when accepting their callings, (2) both were shaped and formed upon the Potter’s Wheel during their missions, and (3) both found a deepened testimony of the gospel, as they served.
Three verses, in particular, really define Jeremiah’s story. The first is Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” The key here is to know that the Lord gave Jeremiah a task to perform. As we go through Jeremiah's life, we will see he struggled greatly to perform this task—and even, at times, felt like giving up, yet he persevered, kept going and ultimately succeeded in performing his mission.
The second key verse comes in Jeremiah 18:6: “Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” This is, I think, the major theme of Jeremiah—through all his trials, Jeremiah was being shaped and formed. This concept of clay in the Potter’s hands corresponds to what the Lord told Joseph Smith when Joseph was in Liberty Jail: “Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7) Jeremiah and Joseph Smith faced similar persecutions: Jeremiah, like Joseph, was routinely teased, imprisoned and beaten. Like Joseph, a defining moment in Jeremiah’s life came in prison.
Jeremiah had been out prophesying, as the Lord had commanded him to do. He was overheard by Pashur, the chief governor of the Temple. Pashur hated what Jeremiah had to say—so he had Jeremiah beaten and then put him into the stocks by the temple’s high gate so that Jeremiah would be publicly humiliated. It is in the midst of this ordeal that Jeremiah begins mourning how his life has turned out. It’s easy to imagine Jeremiah taking a deep sigh and muttering—Why? I did what the Lord told me to do. Why did it turn out like this? “I am in derision daily,” he laments (Jer. 20:7).
A basic human need is to be loved and accepted—and, in following the Lord, Jeremiah has been met only with hate and loneliness. It’s just easy to feel his frustration, as he considers the way his life has turned out.
Certainly, it’s easy to understand how Jermiah feels because many have felt like that at some point in their lives. His frustration is understandable, and so perhaps is the tantrum that follows—in which he essentially says: “This is it! I am done! No more!”
And that brings us to perhaps what is one of the most remarkable verses in all of the scriptures in Jeremiah 20:9. “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Let’s look at that one more time: “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.” But then you look at the very next words he writes: “But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”
So, there Jeremiah is, so discouraged that he feels he can’t go on, so he makes this vow, this pronouncement that he will no longer speak of the Lord. And you can just see him saying this. And then you can just see him take a sigh—and in a moment of honest, life-changing realization—say, “Ah, who I am kidding? I can't quit teaching God's word! It's been burned too deeply into my heart to quit now.” Two things that really jump out about this verse: 1) the great description of what a strong testimony feels like: “as a burning fire shut up in my bones,” but 2) this verse is really about perseverance—giving God room in your heart (thereby, creating inner strength) so that you can keep going and even move past your trials, no matter how fierce or cumulative they may seem.
I like how Jeffrey R. Holland described this process that happened within Jeremiah: “So speak unto them [Jeremiah] did, but initially not with much success. Things went from bad to worse until finally he was imprisoned and made a laughingstock among the people. Angry that he had been so mistreated and maligned, Jeremiah vowed, in effect, never to teach another lesson, whether that be to an investigator, Primary child, new convert, or—heaven forbid—the 15-year-olds. “I will not make mention of [the Lord], nor speak any more in his name,” the discouraged prophet said. But then came the turning point of Jeremiah’s life. Something had been happening with every testimony he had borne, every scripture he had read, every truth he had taught. Something had been happening that he hadn’t counted on. Even as he vowed to close his mouth and walk away from the Lord’s work, he found that he could not.”
In other words, all the testimonies Jeremiah had ever given, every attempt he made to fulfill his calling, he was really allowing himself to be shaped by the Lord. And when he comes to this critical moment, he discovers that the Lord had been shaping him on the Potter’s Wheel, and Jeremiah finds himself stronger than he thought he was, more converted than he thought he was, and more willing to soldier on in the good fight than he thought he was.
Let me end by quoting James E. Faust, who said: “Any man or woman who enjoys the Master's touch is like potter's clay in his hands. More important than acquiring fame or fortune is being what God wants us to be. Before we came to this earth, we may have been fashioned to do some small good in this life that no one else can do. The Lord said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations" (Jer. 1:5). If God has a work for those with many talents, I believe he also has an important work for those of us who have few.
“What is the central characteristic of those having only five loaves and two fishes? What makes it possible, under the Master's touch, for them to serve, lift, and bless so that they touch for good the lives of hundreds, even thousands? After a lifetime of dealing in the affairs of men and women, I believe it is the ability to overcome personal ego and pride—both are enemies to the full enjoyment of the Spirit of God and walking humbly before him.”
So for Jeremiah, and for my sister, Tiffany, the change came from humbly placing themselves on the Potter’s Wheel, going where the Lord wanted them to go, and doing what the Lord wanted them to do. It doesn’t matter whether it was in Jerusalem where Jeremiah served, or the Arizona Tempe Mission where Tiffany served, or the Dixie College Seventh Ward where we serve—what matters is that we do what the Lord wants us to do. And by doing this will we allow Him to instill in us the strength and testimony we need to succeed in this life and attain Eternal Life in the life to come.
One day it will seem far away
Near the end of his life, and after his great journey to the Promised Land was complete, Lehi gathered his children. As part of his sermon, he said: “I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep” (2 Nephi 4:19-20).
I was reminded strongly of that statement recently, as my own journey that will hopefully culminate with a spot in the Promised Land, hit a stumbling block that made my knees buckle. But through some things that have happened these last few weeks, I can say, as did Lehi: “I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support (2 Nephi 4:19-20).
If you don’t mind, it’s a little personal, but I’d like to share it with you because I think it has a universal application. My life is almost always pretty good. But, occasionally, something will happen that really shakes up my soul, and my life will feel like it’s collapsing. I had such a Day of Despair recently. After suffering by myself for a little while, I knew there was only one way out; I was going to have to have a blessing. And I was going to have to ask for one—which is always hard for me to do.
So I called up Jeremy Schudde, and I asked him to come over to give me a blessing. And he did. And it worked, like blessings always do. One of the things he said in that blessing was, “Some day, this day will look faraway.”
That line particularly hit me. And it became even more meaningful last Sunday during our Priesthood/Relief Society combined meeting when we were watching President Hinckley’s speech. My first year I was at BYU, I took a Teachings of the Living Prophets class, and, in that class, we studied a packet of President Hinckley’s talks. And in that packet was a speech similar to the one we heard last Sunday. And so I knew that he was going to tell a certain story—and even before I heard him say it, the Spirit was telling me what the message was for me.
First, I’ll give the story, and then I’ll share with you the message:
“A group in Cedar City were talking about [Ellen Pucell Unthank] and others who were in those ill-fated companies. Members of the group spoke critically of the Church and its leaders because the company of converts had been permitted to start so late in the season. I now quote from a manuscript which I have:
“One old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it. Then he arose and said things that no person who heard will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.
“He said in substance, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. A mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited was there too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church because every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.
“‘I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.’ ” He continues: “ ‘I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.
“‘Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.’ ” (Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1948, p. 8.)
Now, for the message I was given to help me:
The first part of it is to liken the experience of the Handcart Pioneers to my situation. Like them, I am on a journey. My intended destination isn’t the Salt Lake Valley, it’s the Celestial Kingdom. Like them, my trek will encounter difficult days. There will, at times, stand before me huge obstacles—such as the one I faced the other week. At such a time, it’s easy to say: This is it. This is as far as I can go.
Such was the attitude of Laman and Lemuel, who wanted to stay in the Land Bountiful—instead of pushing on to the Promised Land. But it wasn’t the attitude of Nephi, who wanted to keep going, until he reached his destination. Like Nephi, my job is to keep pushing forward—to keep walking the strait and narrow, now matter how sharp the incline, no matter how difficult the trail.
But like Brother Webster, I never walk the trail alone. The Savior said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).
I have found this past week that, indeed, the Savior has been yoked to me, and he helped get through this trouble and over the rock. In a very real way, He bore my burden and made it light. And, now, it is behind me. Perhaps the message I most needed to hear that day was the same that Jeremy gave me in the blessing: “One day, this day will seem so far away.” The stumbling block I faced that day would one day be behind me—never to be encountered again. The Martin Handcart Company didn’t return every winter and say, “Let’s do it again.” Once it was behind them, it was behind them. The stumbling block of today will one day be just a rock in the path of yesteryear—a distant memory I faced and overcame long ago. Those rocks the pioneers pulled their humble handcarts over where one day hundreds of miles behind them—out of sight, never to be seen by them again. A mere pebble I faced and overcame. Perhaps I will have similar trials in the future. But those rocks will not be nearly as difficult because I now know how to manage the course. One day, should I see my journey through and arrive at the Celestial Kingdom, it will not matter how difficult my journey was—what will matter is that I’m there. That I arrived where I wanted to be.
I’ve been thinking about that experience this week as I prepared this lesson, and I’ve seen some similarities between that experience and the stories of Hezekiah and Josiah.
When I asked Jeremy for a blessing, I was asking him to do what a priesthood leader does: Act in the name of the father. And in so doing, act as a conduit between me and my Heavenly Father.
As he stood between my Heavenly Father and me, I know that my Heavenly Father was providing, through one of his priesthood holders, living water for my soul. I thought of that as I studied Hezekiah’s conduit. I am certain that the words I heard in that blessing weren’t Jeremy’s; they were Christ’s. And I’m certain the message I heard on Sunday was a message not from President Hinckley or Bishop Shepherd but a message from God to me. I was also reminded that Hezekiah once stood and urged the priests to “be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him” (2 Chronicles 29:11). On that day, when I needed a blessing, Jeremy wasn’t negligent in his call as a priesthood holder and he stood between God and me. How grateful I am that he was ready when I needed him to be.
In realizing how my prayers were answered, I thought of what the Lord had said to Josiah: “Because thine heart was
tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.” I know God heard my prayers. It was tough for me to swallow my pride and call and ask for a blessing. But I knew I needed that added strength, and I knew I needed a blessing. So I humbled myself. I prayed that God would bless me with the comfort I needed to get through this time. How grateful I am to have a Heavenly Father who listens to his children’s prayers.
Another thing I thought of as I reflected back on this was what had been said of Josiah: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.” And I had that verse on my heart this week, when I just happened to stumble across this verse in Alma: “[Christ] cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong” (Alma 7:20).
As I thought about how Josiah prospered because he turned not aside to the right or the left as he walked the strait-and-narrow; or, in other words, he was so focused on walking God’s path that he didn’t consider other paths, and as I thought about our Savior, how in his life, he walked the path so perfectly that even his shadow fell in perfectly with path. I made a realization. I had, in some ways, brought this trial upon me. Because I had been walking that path, but I had been walking while looking off to the side. I wasn’t focused on what I should’ve been focused. I was looking, somewhat enviously, at other things. And that had caused me some problems.
One of the things Jeremy said—or I should say, the Lord said, in that blessing was “Remember that it’s much easier to be happy than it is to be sad.” I agree with that wholeheartedly. By veering my eyes off the path, I allowed myself to start thinking about things that were wrong in my life; not what was right. Satan has a way of just getting into your brain and building a case for why you should be despondent and why you should be in despair. Satan loves to have worry weigh us down. He loves to manufacture fears in each of us; unease in each of us. Satan loves to prey on the small things we dislike about ourselves or our lives and turn those little molehill problems in mountains. Satan has to work overtime to make such arguments because each of us has a million things to be happy about. Sadness almost always is engineered, but happiness is almost always available. It’s just a matter of perspective. Life is to be enjoyed. Not only should you cont your blessings; you should enjoy your blessings. This is the time to smell the roses. To enjoy hanging out with good friends and just enjoying the life that is ours here in America. Of course, that enjoyment should never come at the expense of the commandments or our responsibilities, but there is plenty we can do to enjoy life right here, right now. And our God wants us to be happy.
That falls in with the major message I got from this blessing: Be still and know that I am God. God’s on my side; things will work out; they always do. It was as if the Lord was saying to me what Hezekiah once said to his armies: “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed …: for there be more with us than with him” (2 Chronicles 32:7). The important get me through this time was that I be not like the Israelites who “turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs” (2 Chronicles 29:6), but that I do, as Hezekiah once instructed his people to do: To yield myself unto God.
I know the time will come when my life will have run its course and my journey will be few. And the trial of these past weeks, if remembered at all, will be just a long-past rock. But I hope no matter that no matter what happens to me in my life that I can come to the end of it, as Lehi did, as say as he did: “I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support” (2 Nephi 4:19-20). I know that if I can say such a thing, then I will have done the things that ensure that my destination will be where I want my destination to be: In the Kingdom of My Father.
I was reminded strongly of that statement recently, as my own journey that will hopefully culminate with a spot in the Promised Land, hit a stumbling block that made my knees buckle. But through some things that have happened these last few weeks, I can say, as did Lehi: “I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support (2 Nephi 4:19-20).
If you don’t mind, it’s a little personal, but I’d like to share it with you because I think it has a universal application. My life is almost always pretty good. But, occasionally, something will happen that really shakes up my soul, and my life will feel like it’s collapsing. I had such a Day of Despair recently. After suffering by myself for a little while, I knew there was only one way out; I was going to have to have a blessing. And I was going to have to ask for one—which is always hard for me to do.
So I called up Jeremy Schudde, and I asked him to come over to give me a blessing. And he did. And it worked, like blessings always do. One of the things he said in that blessing was, “Some day, this day will look faraway.”
That line particularly hit me. And it became even more meaningful last Sunday during our Priesthood/Relief Society combined meeting when we were watching President Hinckley’s speech. My first year I was at BYU, I took a Teachings of the Living Prophets class, and, in that class, we studied a packet of President Hinckley’s talks. And in that packet was a speech similar to the one we heard last Sunday. And so I knew that he was going to tell a certain story—and even before I heard him say it, the Spirit was telling me what the message was for me.
First, I’ll give the story, and then I’ll share with you the message:
“A group in Cedar City were talking about [Ellen Pucell Unthank] and others who were in those ill-fated companies. Members of the group spoke critically of the Church and its leaders because the company of converts had been permitted to start so late in the season. I now quote from a manuscript which I have:
“One old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it. Then he arose and said things that no person who heard will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.
“He said in substance, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. A mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited was there too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church because every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.
“‘I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.’ ” He continues: “ ‘I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.
“‘Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.’ ” (Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1948, p. 8.)
Now, for the message I was given to help me:
The first part of it is to liken the experience of the Handcart Pioneers to my situation. Like them, I am on a journey. My intended destination isn’t the Salt Lake Valley, it’s the Celestial Kingdom. Like them, my trek will encounter difficult days. There will, at times, stand before me huge obstacles—such as the one I faced the other week. At such a time, it’s easy to say: This is it. This is as far as I can go.
Such was the attitude of Laman and Lemuel, who wanted to stay in the Land Bountiful—instead of pushing on to the Promised Land. But it wasn’t the attitude of Nephi, who wanted to keep going, until he reached his destination. Like Nephi, my job is to keep pushing forward—to keep walking the strait and narrow, now matter how sharp the incline, no matter how difficult the trail.
But like Brother Webster, I never walk the trail alone. The Savior said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).
I have found this past week that, indeed, the Savior has been yoked to me, and he helped get through this trouble and over the rock. In a very real way, He bore my burden and made it light. And, now, it is behind me. Perhaps the message I most needed to hear that day was the same that Jeremy gave me in the blessing: “One day, this day will seem so far away.” The stumbling block I faced that day would one day be behind me—never to be encountered again. The Martin Handcart Company didn’t return every winter and say, “Let’s do it again.” Once it was behind them, it was behind them. The stumbling block of today will one day be just a rock in the path of yesteryear—a distant memory I faced and overcame long ago. Those rocks the pioneers pulled their humble handcarts over where one day hundreds of miles behind them—out of sight, never to be seen by them again. A mere pebble I faced and overcame. Perhaps I will have similar trials in the future. But those rocks will not be nearly as difficult because I now know how to manage the course. One day, should I see my journey through and arrive at the Celestial Kingdom, it will not matter how difficult my journey was—what will matter is that I’m there. That I arrived where I wanted to be.
I’ve been thinking about that experience this week as I prepared this lesson, and I’ve seen some similarities between that experience and the stories of Hezekiah and Josiah.
When I asked Jeremy for a blessing, I was asking him to do what a priesthood leader does: Act in the name of the father. And in so doing, act as a conduit between me and my Heavenly Father.
As he stood between my Heavenly Father and me, I know that my Heavenly Father was providing, through one of his priesthood holders, living water for my soul. I thought of that as I studied Hezekiah’s conduit. I am certain that the words I heard in that blessing weren’t Jeremy’s; they were Christ’s. And I’m certain the message I heard on Sunday was a message not from President Hinckley or Bishop Shepherd but a message from God to me. I was also reminded that Hezekiah once stood and urged the priests to “be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him” (2 Chronicles 29:11). On that day, when I needed a blessing, Jeremy wasn’t negligent in his call as a priesthood holder and he stood between God and me. How grateful I am that he was ready when I needed him to be.
In realizing how my prayers were answered, I thought of what the Lord had said to Josiah: “Because thine heart was
tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.” I know God heard my prayers. It was tough for me to swallow my pride and call and ask for a blessing. But I knew I needed that added strength, and I knew I needed a blessing. So I humbled myself. I prayed that God would bless me with the comfort I needed to get through this time. How grateful I am to have a Heavenly Father who listens to his children’s prayers.
Another thing I thought of as I reflected back on this was what had been said of Josiah: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.” And I had that verse on my heart this week, when I just happened to stumble across this verse in Alma: “[Christ] cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong” (Alma 7:20).
As I thought about how Josiah prospered because he turned not aside to the right or the left as he walked the strait-and-narrow; or, in other words, he was so focused on walking God’s path that he didn’t consider other paths, and as I thought about our Savior, how in his life, he walked the path so perfectly that even his shadow fell in perfectly with path. I made a realization. I had, in some ways, brought this trial upon me. Because I had been walking that path, but I had been walking while looking off to the side. I wasn’t focused on what I should’ve been focused. I was looking, somewhat enviously, at other things. And that had caused me some problems.
One of the things Jeremy said—or I should say, the Lord said, in that blessing was “Remember that it’s much easier to be happy than it is to be sad.” I agree with that wholeheartedly. By veering my eyes off the path, I allowed myself to start thinking about things that were wrong in my life; not what was right. Satan has a way of just getting into your brain and building a case for why you should be despondent and why you should be in despair. Satan loves to have worry weigh us down. He loves to manufacture fears in each of us; unease in each of us. Satan loves to prey on the small things we dislike about ourselves or our lives and turn those little molehill problems in mountains. Satan has to work overtime to make such arguments because each of us has a million things to be happy about. Sadness almost always is engineered, but happiness is almost always available. It’s just a matter of perspective. Life is to be enjoyed. Not only should you cont your blessings; you should enjoy your blessings. This is the time to smell the roses. To enjoy hanging out with good friends and just enjoying the life that is ours here in America. Of course, that enjoyment should never come at the expense of the commandments or our responsibilities, but there is plenty we can do to enjoy life right here, right now. And our God wants us to be happy.
That falls in with the major message I got from this blessing: Be still and know that I am God. God’s on my side; things will work out; they always do. It was as if the Lord was saying to me what Hezekiah once said to his armies: “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed …: for there be more with us than with him” (2 Chronicles 32:7). The important get me through this time was that I be not like the Israelites who “turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs” (2 Chronicles 29:6), but that I do, as Hezekiah once instructed his people to do: To yield myself unto God.
I know the time will come when my life will have run its course and my journey will be few. And the trial of these past weeks, if remembered at all, will be just a long-past rock. But I hope no matter that no matter what happens to me in my life that I can come to the end of it, as Lehi did, as say as he did: “I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support” (2 Nephi 4:19-20). I know that if I can say such a thing, then I will have done the things that ensure that my destination will be where I want my destination to be: In the Kingdom of My Father.
How Could You?
There was a time when the Nephite nation stood on the brink of destruction. The Lamanites, the hatred for the Nephites fueled by Nephite dissenters, began waging war, and the Lamanites kept winning battle after battle after battle. The destruction of the Nephite nation seemed imminent, and the genocide these bloodthirsty dissenters wanted was surely at hand. The Nephites were weak, and they were outnumbered. They didn’t keep the Lord’s commandments, so they didn’t have His protection as they had had in the days of Captain Moroni. Their cities kept falling to the Lamanites. They were so weak thbat their best strategy was to retreat and keep hoping that the “next time” would be the battle that changed the war. “Next time” never came, and the Nephites’ situation was becoming more and more perilous.
The Nephites were fortunate, however, for there were two among them who went forth and defeated the Lamanites and rescued the Nephites from imminent destruction. These two were Nephi, the son of Helaman, and his brother, Lehi. Nephi and Lehi marched toward the Lamanite Armies, armed, not with swords or spears, but with the word of God and the Spirit of the Lord. These two missionaries were all that stood between the Nephites and destruction. And where the Nephite Armies had failed, God’s Army of Two succeeded. Nephi and Lehi first converted the dissenters, whose hatred had started the war in the first place. They began converting the Lamanite soldiers. Nephi and Lehi were thrown into prison, but a miraculous event in prison convinced 300 of the Lamanites of the reality of Jesus Christ. And these 300 soldiers went from the Lamanite Army straight into God’s and soon converted the majority of the Lamanite warriors. The result? The Lamanites folded up their tents and returned home. The Nephites were spared! In Alma 31:5, we read: “And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them.” Truly, that was borne out here. The Nephites had been spared not by their swords but by the word of God.
Nephi and Lehi stand as some of the greatest missionaries in all of the scriptures. After that, Nephi spent the next five or so years of his life, continuing his missionary work. Then he headed home to his beloved Zarahemla.
I wonder what Nephi expected to find in Zarahemla. I wonder how he imagined what life in Zarahemla would be like. Every missionary seems to give home an exalted status and remembers it to be much better than it really was. When you’re out on a mission, your hometown gets built up in your mind as a Shangri-La. I think the movie, The RM, dramatizes so well how a missionary visualizes his return home to be so perfect, and how divorced from reality that view of home can be. You start thinking of home as a place where no one does anything wrong, everyone likes you, and every girl wants to date you. I don’t think Nephi was focused on whether he’d have lots of friends and whether the ladies would like him. But I think Nephi expected that the people in his hometown would be keeping the commandments. Here, were his friends—the ones who had been spared by the preaching of the word of God. Surely, they would be grateful that the Lord had spared them. Surely, they would recognize what a great thing the Lord had done for them. And, surely, in knowing all this, the people of Zarahemla would be walking humbly in God’s paths. Certainly, the people of Zarahemla couldn’t forget the miracle by which they were spared.
And just like the missionary in The R.M., Nephi was disappointed by what he found when he returned home.
Wickedness had overrun the city. The corrupt Gadianton Robbers ran the government. The innocent were being condemned. The guilty were being let free. The people were living not serve God, but to “get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills” (Helaman 7:5).
This wasn’t the Zarahemla Nephi remembered. This wasn’t the Zarahemla Nephi hoped to come home to. This was not his Shangri-La. You can feel the heartbreak and sadness that comes to Nephi as he witnesses this. Of this, we read, “when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow” (Helaman 7:6).
What Nephi does next speaks to the greatness of him as a man and as a missionary, and why we remember him as a great prophet and one of the greatest missionaries of all time. When he returned home from years of hard missionary labor, he didn’t quit being a missionary. He saw the people needed the word of God, so he preached it to them.
From a tower in his own garden, he preaches to the passersby. The most significant part of that sermon on the tower, for me, is the question he asks these people, the very people who had been spared by the preaching of the word of God. Nephi asks them: “O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you?” (Helaman 7:20).
Now, you know how the Lord had delivered them. You know they were only alive by the grace of God. So don’t you also wonder: How these people could have forgotten God after what He had done for them? If you were Nephi, wouldn’t you also want to ask them: How could you? How could you forget your Lord?
There is someone I’d like to ask this question to. And that’s King Solomon. If I ever met him, I would like to ask him: How could you have forgotten your God after all he did for you? How could you have forsaken him and turned to your idols? Before he granted your wish for wisdom, you said this about yourself: “I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in” (1 Kings 3:7). He made you wise. Your wisdom became legendary. When God made you wise, He said: “Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee” (1 Kings 3:12). Thousands of years later, people still remember how wise you were. But then you turned your back on God. You began to worship idols. You began to use your riches, not bless others, but to live lavishly. Your life quit being about serving others, and became self-serving instead. How could you, Solomon? How could you have forgotten that God who gave you your wisdom and your riches and your fame? How could you have been so foolish?
In 2 Nephi 7:11, we read: “Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand—ye shall lie down in sorrow.”
What caused Solomon to fall is the same thing that causes others to fall—he just forgot what the Lord had done for him. He quit walking in the Light of Christ and chose instead to walk in the sparks that he created. When he had walked in the Light of the Lord, he was wise. But when he walked in his self-made sparks, he was foolish.
Now, Solomon was as wise a man as there has ever been, and if he’s not bright enough to light his path, are any of us? No, we are not. That is why we need Christ to light the way for us. Look at it this way. Say, you get a call one night that tells you that if you get to Salt Lake by 6 p.m. the following day, you’ll get a million dollars. You have two choices: You can travel by night. But your car doesn’t have headlights. But you do have a pack of sparklers left over from the Fourth of July that you can use to light the way. Or, you could wait until the sun comes up and travel in the Light of the Day. Which option will actually get you to where you want to go? Traveling in the Light of the Day will get you there. Traveling 300 miles by the Light of Sparklers will surely end in tragedy. The same is true of your lives. You came here to Earth with a destination in mind. Walk in your own sparks, and you will crash and stumble and not go anywhere that matters. But walk in the Light of Christ, and you will reach your destination.
The story of the Jaredites’ journey to the America tells just how important it is to be guided by that Light. Jared and his brother were at the Tower of Babel when the Lord started confounding languages. It was then that the Brother of Jared began praying fervently that he, his family and his friends would not have their language confounded. Not only were those prayers are answered, but the Lord gave the Brother of Jared an additional promise: “I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.
“And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me” (Ether 1:42-43).
Let me re-read that last line: “And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me” (Ether 1:43). Because of his dutiful praying, the Brother of Jared’s prayers were answered on this most critical occasion. You would think that the Brother of Jared, having been so blessed because of this habit, would keep praying. But he didn’t. For four years, the Jaredites didn’t cross the sea because the Brother of Jared forgot to pray to the Lord.
This is really another “How could you?” story because I wonder just what he was thinking? How could he have forgotten God after he had been so miraculously blessed? Well, I won’t be asking that question to the Brother of Jared because, one, he’s a much, much better man than I am, and, two, the Lord kinda already did ask him that question.
As we read in Ether 2:14: “And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord.” Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of that chastisement. Think about it, the Brother of Jared had been spared because of his prayers—during which time he was walking in the Light of Christ and being blessed for it. But then he wastes four years of his life because he forgot to pray and instead walked in the sparks of his own understanding.
Now, the Brother of Jared is faced with the task of building the barges to cross the sea. He follows the Lord’s direction. But there’s a problem: There’s no light. I think it’s an interesting problem to be faced by a man whose journey had been set back because he walked in his own sparks. And now, what is his solution when he wants to travel by light? He asks the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, to touch his finger to the sixteen white stones. Here, he was asking Christ to light the way for his journey. Really, we all need to do the same. We can have Christ light the path for us or we can walk in our own sparks. Again, with the Son of God lighting the way, we will reach our journey’s end. But if we don’t, we will end up elsewhere. Having Christ light our way is simple—we do the small things: come to church, read our scriptures, praying, following promptings from the Spirit and keeping the commandments. Do these things, and you’ll find the Light.
To me, that is the gospel. The chance to redefine who we are through repentance. A woman, who was well-known as a sinner, once came into the house of a Pharisee where Jesus was at. She then bathed his feet with her tears. The Pharisee wondered why Jesus would let such this filthy sinner touch his feet. But Jesus knew who she was. He knew she as no longer a sinner, and she was no longer filthy. Rather, she was a woman of Christ, a disciple. She had applied Christ’s blood to her soul. And she had let it change who she was. She had been redefined. Her past would no longer hold her tomorrow hostage. She could once again progress and become what she set out to be when she came to this Earth.
To each of us, Christ gives that opportunity. To remove, bit-by-bit, the unholy parts of ourselves, scrubbed clean by the Savior’s blood. And, as we take away the ungodly parts of ourselves and replace them with Christ-like attributes, we become more and more like our Savior—and, one day, we are as He is.
I look back at some reasons in my younger years for which I felt tempted to miss church—and, in careful reflection, I realize at just how idiotic they were. Two of those reasons were that church seemed too boring and I didn’t get anything out of it. I’d like to refute that by using something Wade Vest once told me about how Henry B. Eyring said to his dad that a particular lesson he’d heard that day in church was boring. And Elder Eyring’s father responded by disagreeing, and by saying, “Whenever I’m in a lesson, I try to think about how I would teach it.” I think that’s an important idea. I think if we come to church and listen to the lessons and think about how the topic applies to us, and how we have seen that principle played out in our lives, and if we think about how we could apply that principle to our lives. And if we get involved and make comments and start sharing insights, then church becomes interesting and we do learn important truths. Most of all, the best reason to come to Church is to feel the Spirit—when the Spirit is there, it will tell you all things, and it will deliver a personal message to you. Certainly, inviting the Spirit is the primary responsibility of the teacher, but it is also the responsibility of the students, who can invite the Spirit through insights and testimonies; and who shouldn’t chase the Spirit away through their irreverence.
Also, I can’t believe I ever thought going to Sacrament Meeting wasn’t worth the bother. As if renewing my covenants with the Savior wasn’t worth getting dressed up for. Hmmm. He gave His life for me, suffered all things for me, but I’d really rather stay home and watch the game? Wow. What was I thinking? The sacrament is an opportunity to remember that sacrifice, and if we’re not here to renew that covenant, then how can we remember Him always? The sacrament is our chance to show our gratitude to our Savior for what He did for us. It’s to remind us just how much we need Him.
I’m really glad I have the church because, honestly, I don’t know where I would be without the gospel, and I never want to put distance between me and Christ ever again.
Let me end by saying this: If you walk in the Light of the Gospel, you will never have anyone come up to you and say, “How could you have done what you did?” because if you walk in the Light of the Gospel, then your actions will be honorable. And your choices will reflect the gratitude you have for the blessings you have received. And your life will reflect that of the Master’s in whose Light you walk.
The Nephites were fortunate, however, for there were two among them who went forth and defeated the Lamanites and rescued the Nephites from imminent destruction. These two were Nephi, the son of Helaman, and his brother, Lehi. Nephi and Lehi marched toward the Lamanite Armies, armed, not with swords or spears, but with the word of God and the Spirit of the Lord. These two missionaries were all that stood between the Nephites and destruction. And where the Nephite Armies had failed, God’s Army of Two succeeded. Nephi and Lehi first converted the dissenters, whose hatred had started the war in the first place. They began converting the Lamanite soldiers. Nephi and Lehi were thrown into prison, but a miraculous event in prison convinced 300 of the Lamanites of the reality of Jesus Christ. And these 300 soldiers went from the Lamanite Army straight into God’s and soon converted the majority of the Lamanite warriors. The result? The Lamanites folded up their tents and returned home. The Nephites were spared! In Alma 31:5, we read: “And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them.” Truly, that was borne out here. The Nephites had been spared not by their swords but by the word of God.
Nephi and Lehi stand as some of the greatest missionaries in all of the scriptures. After that, Nephi spent the next five or so years of his life, continuing his missionary work. Then he headed home to his beloved Zarahemla.
I wonder what Nephi expected to find in Zarahemla. I wonder how he imagined what life in Zarahemla would be like. Every missionary seems to give home an exalted status and remembers it to be much better than it really was. When you’re out on a mission, your hometown gets built up in your mind as a Shangri-La. I think the movie, The RM, dramatizes so well how a missionary visualizes his return home to be so perfect, and how divorced from reality that view of home can be. You start thinking of home as a place where no one does anything wrong, everyone likes you, and every girl wants to date you. I don’t think Nephi was focused on whether he’d have lots of friends and whether the ladies would like him. But I think Nephi expected that the people in his hometown would be keeping the commandments. Here, were his friends—the ones who had been spared by the preaching of the word of God. Surely, they would be grateful that the Lord had spared them. Surely, they would recognize what a great thing the Lord had done for them. And, surely, in knowing all this, the people of Zarahemla would be walking humbly in God’s paths. Certainly, the people of Zarahemla couldn’t forget the miracle by which they were spared.
And just like the missionary in The R.M., Nephi was disappointed by what he found when he returned home.
Wickedness had overrun the city. The corrupt Gadianton Robbers ran the government. The innocent were being condemned. The guilty were being let free. The people were living not serve God, but to “get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills” (Helaman 7:5).
This wasn’t the Zarahemla Nephi remembered. This wasn’t the Zarahemla Nephi hoped to come home to. This was not his Shangri-La. You can feel the heartbreak and sadness that comes to Nephi as he witnesses this. Of this, we read, “when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow” (Helaman 7:6).
What Nephi does next speaks to the greatness of him as a man and as a missionary, and why we remember him as a great prophet and one of the greatest missionaries of all time. When he returned home from years of hard missionary labor, he didn’t quit being a missionary. He saw the people needed the word of God, so he preached it to them.
From a tower in his own garden, he preaches to the passersby. The most significant part of that sermon on the tower, for me, is the question he asks these people, the very people who had been spared by the preaching of the word of God. Nephi asks them: “O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you?” (Helaman 7:20).
Now, you know how the Lord had delivered them. You know they were only alive by the grace of God. So don’t you also wonder: How these people could have forgotten God after what He had done for them? If you were Nephi, wouldn’t you also want to ask them: How could you? How could you forget your Lord?
There is someone I’d like to ask this question to. And that’s King Solomon. If I ever met him, I would like to ask him: How could you have forgotten your God after all he did for you? How could you have forsaken him and turned to your idols? Before he granted your wish for wisdom, you said this about yourself: “I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in” (1 Kings 3:7). He made you wise. Your wisdom became legendary. When God made you wise, He said: “Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee” (1 Kings 3:12). Thousands of years later, people still remember how wise you were. But then you turned your back on God. You began to worship idols. You began to use your riches, not bless others, but to live lavishly. Your life quit being about serving others, and became self-serving instead. How could you, Solomon? How could you have forgotten that God who gave you your wisdom and your riches and your fame? How could you have been so foolish?
In 2 Nephi 7:11, we read: “Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand—ye shall lie down in sorrow.”
What caused Solomon to fall is the same thing that causes others to fall—he just forgot what the Lord had done for him. He quit walking in the Light of Christ and chose instead to walk in the sparks that he created. When he had walked in the Light of the Lord, he was wise. But when he walked in his self-made sparks, he was foolish.
Now, Solomon was as wise a man as there has ever been, and if he’s not bright enough to light his path, are any of us? No, we are not. That is why we need Christ to light the way for us. Look at it this way. Say, you get a call one night that tells you that if you get to Salt Lake by 6 p.m. the following day, you’ll get a million dollars. You have two choices: You can travel by night. But your car doesn’t have headlights. But you do have a pack of sparklers left over from the Fourth of July that you can use to light the way. Or, you could wait until the sun comes up and travel in the Light of the Day. Which option will actually get you to where you want to go? Traveling in the Light of the Day will get you there. Traveling 300 miles by the Light of Sparklers will surely end in tragedy. The same is true of your lives. You came here to Earth with a destination in mind. Walk in your own sparks, and you will crash and stumble and not go anywhere that matters. But walk in the Light of Christ, and you will reach your destination.
The story of the Jaredites’ journey to the America tells just how important it is to be guided by that Light. Jared and his brother were at the Tower of Babel when the Lord started confounding languages. It was then that the Brother of Jared began praying fervently that he, his family and his friends would not have their language confounded. Not only were those prayers are answered, but the Lord gave the Brother of Jared an additional promise: “I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.
“And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me” (Ether 1:42-43).
Let me re-read that last line: “And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me” (Ether 1:43). Because of his dutiful praying, the Brother of Jared’s prayers were answered on this most critical occasion. You would think that the Brother of Jared, having been so blessed because of this habit, would keep praying. But he didn’t. For four years, the Jaredites didn’t cross the sea because the Brother of Jared forgot to pray to the Lord.
This is really another “How could you?” story because I wonder just what he was thinking? How could he have forgotten God after he had been so miraculously blessed? Well, I won’t be asking that question to the Brother of Jared because, one, he’s a much, much better man than I am, and, two, the Lord kinda already did ask him that question.
As we read in Ether 2:14: “And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord.” Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of that chastisement. Think about it, the Brother of Jared had been spared because of his prayers—during which time he was walking in the Light of Christ and being blessed for it. But then he wastes four years of his life because he forgot to pray and instead walked in the sparks of his own understanding.
Now, the Brother of Jared is faced with the task of building the barges to cross the sea. He follows the Lord’s direction. But there’s a problem: There’s no light. I think it’s an interesting problem to be faced by a man whose journey had been set back because he walked in his own sparks. And now, what is his solution when he wants to travel by light? He asks the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, to touch his finger to the sixteen white stones. Here, he was asking Christ to light the way for his journey. Really, we all need to do the same. We can have Christ light the path for us or we can walk in our own sparks. Again, with the Son of God lighting the way, we will reach our journey’s end. But if we don’t, we will end up elsewhere. Having Christ light our way is simple—we do the small things: come to church, read our scriptures, praying, following promptings from the Spirit and keeping the commandments. Do these things, and you’ll find the Light.
To me, that is the gospel. The chance to redefine who we are through repentance. A woman, who was well-known as a sinner, once came into the house of a Pharisee where Jesus was at. She then bathed his feet with her tears. The Pharisee wondered why Jesus would let such this filthy sinner touch his feet. But Jesus knew who she was. He knew she as no longer a sinner, and she was no longer filthy. Rather, she was a woman of Christ, a disciple. She had applied Christ’s blood to her soul. And she had let it change who she was. She had been redefined. Her past would no longer hold her tomorrow hostage. She could once again progress and become what she set out to be when she came to this Earth.
To each of us, Christ gives that opportunity. To remove, bit-by-bit, the unholy parts of ourselves, scrubbed clean by the Savior’s blood. And, as we take away the ungodly parts of ourselves and replace them with Christ-like attributes, we become more and more like our Savior—and, one day, we are as He is.
I look back at some reasons in my younger years for which I felt tempted to miss church—and, in careful reflection, I realize at just how idiotic they were. Two of those reasons were that church seemed too boring and I didn’t get anything out of it. I’d like to refute that by using something Wade Vest once told me about how Henry B. Eyring said to his dad that a particular lesson he’d heard that day in church was boring. And Elder Eyring’s father responded by disagreeing, and by saying, “Whenever I’m in a lesson, I try to think about how I would teach it.” I think that’s an important idea. I think if we come to church and listen to the lessons and think about how the topic applies to us, and how we have seen that principle played out in our lives, and if we think about how we could apply that principle to our lives. And if we get involved and make comments and start sharing insights, then church becomes interesting and we do learn important truths. Most of all, the best reason to come to Church is to feel the Spirit—when the Spirit is there, it will tell you all things, and it will deliver a personal message to you. Certainly, inviting the Spirit is the primary responsibility of the teacher, but it is also the responsibility of the students, who can invite the Spirit through insights and testimonies; and who shouldn’t chase the Spirit away through their irreverence.
Also, I can’t believe I ever thought going to Sacrament Meeting wasn’t worth the bother. As if renewing my covenants with the Savior wasn’t worth getting dressed up for. Hmmm. He gave His life for me, suffered all things for me, but I’d really rather stay home and watch the game? Wow. What was I thinking? The sacrament is an opportunity to remember that sacrifice, and if we’re not here to renew that covenant, then how can we remember Him always? The sacrament is our chance to show our gratitude to our Savior for what He did for us. It’s to remind us just how much we need Him.
I’m really glad I have the church because, honestly, I don’t know where I would be without the gospel, and I never want to put distance between me and Christ ever again.
Let me end by saying this: If you walk in the Light of the Gospel, you will never have anyone come up to you and say, “How could you have done what you did?” because if you walk in the Light of the Gospel, then your actions will be honorable. And your choices will reflect the gratitude you have for the blessings you have received. And your life will reflect that of the Master’s in whose Light you walk.
The Toothbrush Saga
THE TOOTHBRUSH DEMONSTRATION: This was a demonstration in which you place a large glop of toothpaste—like, a whole toothbrush’s worht—on a toothbrush and ask a volunteer if he or she brushed with that much toothpaste when would he or she need to brush again?
In preparing for this demonstration, I went to Ask.com, and I typed in, “Why should I brush my teeth?” In looking at the pages Ask.com recommended, I saw a lot of horrifying smiles. It reminded me of my mission to England. I remember one of the elders in my mission was showing me his mission journal. In it, he had a picture of a woman’s mouth, and, underneath it, he had written, “The first British woman I met who had all her teeth.” Obviously, that’s an exaggeration. But I’ll admit I saw some fairly scary mouths in my two years there—mostly among the older generation. Some of them never learned the value of using a toothbrush daily. And it’s too late. They can no longer brush their teeth; they can only brush their tooth.
Anyhow, two years of serving in Britain can convert anyone to the virtues of using a toothbrush at least twice daily. I got even more convinced when Ask.com, directed me to this piece of information:
“Tiny bacteria live in your mouth and can stick to your teeth to make plaque. Plaque is colourless and sticky and if it hardens it becomes tartar. The bacteria use the sugar in the food that you eat. They release waste products including acid, which destroys the enamel on your teeth. You get [a] toothache when the enamel on your teeth has holes in it and the acid gets in to the tooth nerves inside your tooth. Brushing your teeth scrubs away the food and sugar so the bacteria has no sugar to make into acid.” (Suzy.co.nz).
I don’t know about you, but I’m not particularly thrilled about bacteria and its waste products living in my mouth. So … I don’t think I’ll be waiting until next Sunday to brush my teeth.
Obviously, I didn’t stand up here today to persuade to brush your teeth. Hopefully, you’re already doing that. If you’re not, well, you might be in the singles ward for quite some time. My purpose in this demonstration and in this lesson today is to get you take care of your soul—not just on Sunday, but throughout the week. Coming to church is critical. In some ways, it is like going to dentist but without the pain.
When you leave a dentist’s office, you have an expectation that your teeth will have been cleaned, any problems in your mouth will have be detected and solved and your dentist will have hopefully given you some advice. Likewise, when you walk through those glass doors today, hopefully some things will have happened. Hopefully, you will have had your soul cleansed by partaking of the sacrament. Hopefully, you will have felt the Spirit and your testimony will have been deepened and your knowledge that God loves you and is aware of you will be strengthened. Hopefully, your resolve to walk God’s paths will also have been strengthened. When you walk through those doors, if all goes right, you will walk out of here with your soul renewed, a better person than you were three hours ago and committed to living a life that follows the course of our Savior’s. Personally, when I have had to miss church for work or some other reason, I have always felt cheated. I’ve always felt like I missed out on that little boost I need to get through the week. I need these three hours to recharge my spirit and give me the strength I need to take on the battles of the upcoming week. I have learned from the experiences of my life that, without this three-hour recharge, I am not strong enough to meet life’s challenges. I have also learned the messages and insights you receive here are only as valuable as how you treat them. If you hear a message you know is for you, and you don’t apply it into your life, then, you have essentially said, “That message is of no value to me.” Said President Benson: “The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.”
On that point, let me relate this story, told by Elder Merlin R. Lybbert:
“An enterprising turkey gathered the flock together and, following instructions and demonstrations, taught them how to fly. All afternoon they enjoyed soaring and flying and the thrill of seeing new vistas. After the meeting, all of the turkeys walked home.”
“It is not our understanding of the principles of the gospel that brings the blessings of heaven, but the living of them.”
At church, you’ll learn the lessons on how to be like God. You’ll learn a path here that’s better than anything any philosopher has ever thought. You’ll learn how to be as He is. So why walk out of here and act like the world? Why act like those whose paths lead never to happiness, but always to sorrow?
Church is valuable, but even all the good feelings and all the Light you receive here at the Church cannot be enough to get you through the week. Just like bacteria collect on your teeth throughout the course of your day, grime also creeps onto your soul. Much of the grime comes from just existing—each person will encounter some scenario during the day that can drive away the Spirit. Perhaps, at work, you help one surly customer after another. Perhaps, at school, you might have to hear some disparaging remarks about the church. But nothing can chase away the Spirit than the frustrations of sharing the road with St. George drivers. Someone once said, “You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.” Other times, we bring into our lives the things that bring grime onto our souls—whether it’s our music or our movies or hanging out with someone who brings us down. The point is, that each of us will, just as a result of going through life, have experiences that dim the Light we received on Sunday and can weaken our resolve to walk God’s paths. So how do we renew that Light and strengthen that resolve during the week? Perhaps the simplest and surest way is to read the scriptures.
Reading the scriptures brings back into our lives the Light we lost through the inconvenience of living in the world. It will strengthen our resolve to walk God’s paths. Obviously, the grime we get on our souls can only be washed away through the Atonement. But scripture reading reminds us of the Atonement—and those reminders help us bring the Atonement more fully into our lives. The scriptures also bring to our attention what changes we need to make in our lives.
In short, if we neglect our scripture reading, it’s like neglecting to brush our teeth. When one forgets to brush their teeth, the corrosive effects of that bacteria buildup will cause cavities and, eventually, the loss of teeth. When one forgets to read the scriptures during the week, more hazardous outcomes result. The corrosive effects of sin may cause the soul to become damaged and, eventually, lost.
For that reason, it’s important you give Christ more than three hours a week. Can I say that again: It’s important you give Christ more than three hours a week? After all, for you, He gave everything He had. It’s important to realize that this life is a struggle between good and evil. If you only give Christ’s side three hours a week and spend the rest of the week dabbling in the things of the world, then whose likely to win the battle for your soul?
Giving thought to the Church only on Sunday doesn’t cut it because Satan uses so many ways to cut you down throughout the week. Just simple things like daily prayers, Institute attendance and scripture study will keep you strong enough to fight off the evil influences around you. Even decisions as to you who you hang out with and where you go may show where your true loyalties lie. If you are standing in holy places, it’s much, much easier for you to keep your hands clean and your heart pure. The strengthening and Spirit you need to get through the week starts at church but does not end at church.
As you go through the week, the longer it will have been since you received that reawakening of the soul here at Church; the more the week goes by, the more you will experience the grime of the world that dirties the soul, and the more you will hear the world’s darkening doctrines that dim the Light you picked up here today. The easiest way to help that Light shine better and to fortify your determination to keep your soul unsullied is to pick up your scriptures. Y’know, I picked on the English earlier, so I think I’d better give the Brits some respect. So, on this point, we’ll turn to a story told by an Englishman, Kenneth Johnson:
“[In 1966], I sold [my] Hillman Minx [car] and upgraded to a 1962 Vauxhall Victor Estate. Shortly after making the transaction, the man who had purchased the Hillman phoned to ask me if I had experienced any difficulty steering the vehicle. I told that I had not but then recalled that I had found the Vauxhall to have far more responsive steering than my Hillman. The new owner agreed to bring the Hillman to my business office so he could demonstrate the difficulty he was having. Once I was seated in the car and had driven it a short distance, I realized how rigid the steering mechanism was. I concluded that during the time I owned the vehicle, the mechanism had deteriorated so gradually that I had not detected the change. I agreed that the steering was defective and ended up taking responsibility for making the needed repairs.
“The experience provided me an interesting lesson. … Just as our bodies require daily nourishment in order to function properly, so do our testimonies need ongoing nourishment. Without regular renewal through prayer, scripture study, partaking of the sacrament, and involvement in Church activity and service, immediate weakening may be so slight as to be imperceptible, but over time we can become bereft and find ourselves spiritually malnourished.”
I’ve learned very well in the last year that what Elder Johnson speaks of is true. The daily regimen of scripture study provides God a chance to talk to us. There have been so many times recently when I have read the Book of Mormon, and I’ve read the verse I needed to read that day.
A year ago, President Hinckley challenged each member to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. In the Ensign article where he issued that challenge, President Hinckley concluded with this promise: “Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.” That challenge came at a fairly inconvenient time for me. I had a heavy workload at school and a demanding new job. At first, I gave no place to the challenge in my life. But then, I realized it was more than something I should do, it was something I needed to do. I made time in what was already a very full schedule. And I read the Book of Mormon—and some things happened; I had the best semester I ever had in college; I excelled in my new demanding job. Most importantly, the promises President Hinckley made were fulfilled. The Spirit did come more fully into my life. I did find it easier to keep the commandments. And my testimony was really, really strengthened. Then came Spring semester, and I went back to my sporadic reading program. And some things happened: Despite the fact I had an easier schedule, my grades weren’t as good as they were the semester before. I didn’t do as well in my job as I had in the Fall semester. And I found myself not enjoying life as much as I had before. In reflecting on that, I know what variable changed. When I read the Book of Mormon, I was happier and more successful. So I’ve set a personal goal for myself this upcoming semester to read the Book of Mormon again because I know it will make a better student; and, more importantly, a better man.
With that, I want introduce you to a man who loved the scriptures. His name was Josiah. When he was eight years old, he became King of Judah. Succeeding two wicked kings, Josiah remarkably chose to walk in God’s paths.
Of him, we are told: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (1 Kings 22:2). “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him” (1 Kings 23:25). At age 15, he ordered the destruction of the idols in the kingdom and started to restore the temple. While they were cleaning out the temple, “Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses” (2 Chronicles 34:12). Hilkiah brought the newly-rediscovered scriptures to the young king. As Josiah read them, he began to weep because he realized just how far his people had strayed from the commandments of the Lord.
Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. The kid is 15. He’s a king. I try to imagine what kind of king the 15-year-old-version of myself would make. I don’t think I’d be the kind of king who was agonizing over whether my people were keeping the commandments or not. I think I’d raising taxes and building palaces and not giving two thoughts to the peasants. But here, Josiah was 15 and a king and his greatest concern was the welfare of his people’s souls. In reading the Book, he knew that if his people wanted to live under God’s protection, they had better live God’s commandments. So he said to the priests: “Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book” (2 Chronicles 34:21).
The Lord, in answering the priests’ prayer, addressed Josiah: “And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;
“Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 34:26-27). I love those verses, when the Lord tells Josiah, essentially, because you had a tender heart and were humble, I have heard your prayers; I have seen your tears.
It’s a beautiful thought to know that at those times when the elements of life beat upon us and reduce us to tears, God really does hear our prayers and count our tears and He stands there ready and willing to help us.
I know that many times in my life, when I have prayed through the tears, that God has heard and God has answered and God has helped.
What Josiah does next is remarkable, and it reiterates his love for and devotion to the Lord. He gathers his people together and reads to them the scriptures—a meeting that lasted for eight hours. He did this because he knew the people could not follow God’s commandments, if they did not know them. Said President Spencer W. Kimball: “I feel strongly that we must all of us return to the scriptures just as King Josiah did and let them work mightily within us, impelling us to an unwavering determination to serve the Lord. Josiah had the law of Moses only. In our scriptures we have the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness; and if a taste is sweet, in fulness there is joy.”
This happened in 625 B.C. in Jerusalem. So the timeline is such that it’s possible that in Josiah’s audience listening that day was a young man named Lehi. While history tells us that the people Jerusalem didn’t follow God’s commandments as they should have and eventually paid the price, the Book of Mormon record also lets us know that Lehi did value the scriptures and did keep the commandments. And to him and his seed was given a great Land of Promise.
Lehi’s son Nephi taught us a valuable lesson on just how important the scriptures are to us in journey through life. You know the story about how he and his brothers returned to get the brass plates and how Laban was delivered into Nephi’s hands and how Nephi was commanded to kill Laban. Understandably, valiant Nephi, for once, hesitates to follow this commandment. So then comes the reasoning given to him by the Spirit with which you are all familiar: “It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief” (2 Nephi 4:13). Even with that assurance, Nephi still needs to think about it. I want to read you the verses where Nephi makes his decision. As I do, I want you to listen to the value he realizes are found in the scriptures:
“And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise.
“Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have the law.
“And I also knew that the law was engraven upon the plates of brass.
“And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments.
“Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit” (1 Nephi 4:14-18).
Nephi chose to have the scriptures in his life because he realized how much he and his children needed the scriptures. Let’s consider that for a moment: Without the Brass plates, would the Nephite nation have ever risen in glory? Would it have ever been there to see the coming of Christ? Probably not. If Nephi hadn’t received the plates, it’s likely that we would have known nothing of Alma or Ammon or the stripling warriors because without the scriptures, they wouldn’t have been familiar with God. And if they were unfamiliar with Him, then how could they have walked in his paths? Like the people in Josiah’s time who stumbled because they didn’t have the scriptures, the Nephites would have stumbled because they didn’t have the scriptures. But the Nephites had the scriptures and because they did, they became a mighty nation. Really, if you want to see what would have happened to the Nephites without the scriptures, look at the Mulekites. They were similar to the Nephites: The Lord had brought them out of Jerusalem and into the Promised Land. But they brought no records with them. And look at the description of what kind of people they were:
“And at the time that Mosiah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them” (Omni 1:17).
Because they didn’t have the scriptures, they had had wars and contentions and they knew not Christ. Their whole society was in disarray and had been hindered because they didn’t have the words of Christ. The Nephites, however, had the scriptures and they knew Christ and their society was functioning. The scriptures matter. The scriptures make the difference. The scriptures bring you to Christ. The scriptures can let in the sunshine on a cloudy day. The scriptures lift the soul every time their read. The scriptures enhance the mind’s ability to learn and comprehend. The scriptures guide you to a better life. The scriptures gently teach you the small corrections you need to make. Applying lessons gleaned from the scriptures will improve your life every time.
The scriptures help you become like Christ. You need the scriptures to become as He is. No person can achieve what he or she can become unless they have dedicated themselves to a study of the scriptures.
Now, in knowing the value of the scriptures and how they blessed the Nephites, let me ask you this: Do you think … do you think it was worth it? Do you think it was worth it to travel hundreds of miles to get the plates? Do you think it was worth it to have to endure the trouble Nephi had to endure to get the plates? Do you think it was worth it? Of course it was. If the value of the scriptures was worth such a long journey to Nephi, should they be any less valuable to us? Are they not worth 10 or 15 minutes of our day? If you make time to brush, you can make time to read. Treat your soul better than you treat your teeth; you’ll have your soul for a much longer time. Again, the strengthening and Spirit you need to get through the week starts at church but does not end at church. You need to give Christ more than three hours a week. I urge you to find time in your life for the scriptures. You’ll never regret any time you spent reading the scriptures. I promise you that as you do, God will bless you; you will be nearer to Him, you will see your testimony deepened and your strength increased, and you will feel His love more frequently in your life, and you will find it easier to walk His paths. I urge you to let the scriptures bless your life.
In preparing for this demonstration, I went to Ask.com, and I typed in, “Why should I brush my teeth?” In looking at the pages Ask.com recommended, I saw a lot of horrifying smiles. It reminded me of my mission to England. I remember one of the elders in my mission was showing me his mission journal. In it, he had a picture of a woman’s mouth, and, underneath it, he had written, “The first British woman I met who had all her teeth.” Obviously, that’s an exaggeration. But I’ll admit I saw some fairly scary mouths in my two years there—mostly among the older generation. Some of them never learned the value of using a toothbrush daily. And it’s too late. They can no longer brush their teeth; they can only brush their tooth.
Anyhow, two years of serving in Britain can convert anyone to the virtues of using a toothbrush at least twice daily. I got even more convinced when Ask.com, directed me to this piece of information:
“Tiny bacteria live in your mouth and can stick to your teeth to make plaque. Plaque is colourless and sticky and if it hardens it becomes tartar. The bacteria use the sugar in the food that you eat. They release waste products including acid, which destroys the enamel on your teeth. You get [a] toothache when the enamel on your teeth has holes in it and the acid gets in to the tooth nerves inside your tooth. Brushing your teeth scrubs away the food and sugar so the bacteria has no sugar to make into acid.” (Suzy.co.nz).
I don’t know about you, but I’m not particularly thrilled about bacteria and its waste products living in my mouth. So … I don’t think I’ll be waiting until next Sunday to brush my teeth.
Obviously, I didn’t stand up here today to persuade to brush your teeth. Hopefully, you’re already doing that. If you’re not, well, you might be in the singles ward for quite some time. My purpose in this demonstration and in this lesson today is to get you take care of your soul—not just on Sunday, but throughout the week. Coming to church is critical. In some ways, it is like going to dentist but without the pain.
When you leave a dentist’s office, you have an expectation that your teeth will have been cleaned, any problems in your mouth will have be detected and solved and your dentist will have hopefully given you some advice. Likewise, when you walk through those glass doors today, hopefully some things will have happened. Hopefully, you will have had your soul cleansed by partaking of the sacrament. Hopefully, you will have felt the Spirit and your testimony will have been deepened and your knowledge that God loves you and is aware of you will be strengthened. Hopefully, your resolve to walk God’s paths will also have been strengthened. When you walk through those doors, if all goes right, you will walk out of here with your soul renewed, a better person than you were three hours ago and committed to living a life that follows the course of our Savior’s. Personally, when I have had to miss church for work or some other reason, I have always felt cheated. I’ve always felt like I missed out on that little boost I need to get through the week. I need these three hours to recharge my spirit and give me the strength I need to take on the battles of the upcoming week. I have learned from the experiences of my life that, without this three-hour recharge, I am not strong enough to meet life’s challenges. I have also learned the messages and insights you receive here are only as valuable as how you treat them. If you hear a message you know is for you, and you don’t apply it into your life, then, you have essentially said, “That message is of no value to me.” Said President Benson: “The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.”
On that point, let me relate this story, told by Elder Merlin R. Lybbert:
“An enterprising turkey gathered the flock together and, following instructions and demonstrations, taught them how to fly. All afternoon they enjoyed soaring and flying and the thrill of seeing new vistas. After the meeting, all of the turkeys walked home.”
“It is not our understanding of the principles of the gospel that brings the blessings of heaven, but the living of them.”
At church, you’ll learn the lessons on how to be like God. You’ll learn a path here that’s better than anything any philosopher has ever thought. You’ll learn how to be as He is. So why walk out of here and act like the world? Why act like those whose paths lead never to happiness, but always to sorrow?
Church is valuable, but even all the good feelings and all the Light you receive here at the Church cannot be enough to get you through the week. Just like bacteria collect on your teeth throughout the course of your day, grime also creeps onto your soul. Much of the grime comes from just existing—each person will encounter some scenario during the day that can drive away the Spirit. Perhaps, at work, you help one surly customer after another. Perhaps, at school, you might have to hear some disparaging remarks about the church. But nothing can chase away the Spirit than the frustrations of sharing the road with St. George drivers. Someone once said, “You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.” Other times, we bring into our lives the things that bring grime onto our souls—whether it’s our music or our movies or hanging out with someone who brings us down. The point is, that each of us will, just as a result of going through life, have experiences that dim the Light we received on Sunday and can weaken our resolve to walk God’s paths. So how do we renew that Light and strengthen that resolve during the week? Perhaps the simplest and surest way is to read the scriptures.
Reading the scriptures brings back into our lives the Light we lost through the inconvenience of living in the world. It will strengthen our resolve to walk God’s paths. Obviously, the grime we get on our souls can only be washed away through the Atonement. But scripture reading reminds us of the Atonement—and those reminders help us bring the Atonement more fully into our lives. The scriptures also bring to our attention what changes we need to make in our lives.
In short, if we neglect our scripture reading, it’s like neglecting to brush our teeth. When one forgets to brush their teeth, the corrosive effects of that bacteria buildup will cause cavities and, eventually, the loss of teeth. When one forgets to read the scriptures during the week, more hazardous outcomes result. The corrosive effects of sin may cause the soul to become damaged and, eventually, lost.
For that reason, it’s important you give Christ more than three hours a week. Can I say that again: It’s important you give Christ more than three hours a week? After all, for you, He gave everything He had. It’s important to realize that this life is a struggle between good and evil. If you only give Christ’s side three hours a week and spend the rest of the week dabbling in the things of the world, then whose likely to win the battle for your soul?
Giving thought to the Church only on Sunday doesn’t cut it because Satan uses so many ways to cut you down throughout the week. Just simple things like daily prayers, Institute attendance and scripture study will keep you strong enough to fight off the evil influences around you. Even decisions as to you who you hang out with and where you go may show where your true loyalties lie. If you are standing in holy places, it’s much, much easier for you to keep your hands clean and your heart pure. The strengthening and Spirit you need to get through the week starts at church but does not end at church.
As you go through the week, the longer it will have been since you received that reawakening of the soul here at Church; the more the week goes by, the more you will experience the grime of the world that dirties the soul, and the more you will hear the world’s darkening doctrines that dim the Light you picked up here today. The easiest way to help that Light shine better and to fortify your determination to keep your soul unsullied is to pick up your scriptures. Y’know, I picked on the English earlier, so I think I’d better give the Brits some respect. So, on this point, we’ll turn to a story told by an Englishman, Kenneth Johnson:
“[In 1966], I sold [my] Hillman Minx [car] and upgraded to a 1962 Vauxhall Victor Estate. Shortly after making the transaction, the man who had purchased the Hillman phoned to ask me if I had experienced any difficulty steering the vehicle. I told that I had not but then recalled that I had found the Vauxhall to have far more responsive steering than my Hillman. The new owner agreed to bring the Hillman to my business office so he could demonstrate the difficulty he was having. Once I was seated in the car and had driven it a short distance, I realized how rigid the steering mechanism was. I concluded that during the time I owned the vehicle, the mechanism had deteriorated so gradually that I had not detected the change. I agreed that the steering was defective and ended up taking responsibility for making the needed repairs.
“The experience provided me an interesting lesson. … Just as our bodies require daily nourishment in order to function properly, so do our testimonies need ongoing nourishment. Without regular renewal through prayer, scripture study, partaking of the sacrament, and involvement in Church activity and service, immediate weakening may be so slight as to be imperceptible, but over time we can become bereft and find ourselves spiritually malnourished.”
I’ve learned very well in the last year that what Elder Johnson speaks of is true. The daily regimen of scripture study provides God a chance to talk to us. There have been so many times recently when I have read the Book of Mormon, and I’ve read the verse I needed to read that day.
A year ago, President Hinckley challenged each member to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. In the Ensign article where he issued that challenge, President Hinckley concluded with this promise: “Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.” That challenge came at a fairly inconvenient time for me. I had a heavy workload at school and a demanding new job. At first, I gave no place to the challenge in my life. But then, I realized it was more than something I should do, it was something I needed to do. I made time in what was already a very full schedule. And I read the Book of Mormon—and some things happened; I had the best semester I ever had in college; I excelled in my new demanding job. Most importantly, the promises President Hinckley made were fulfilled. The Spirit did come more fully into my life. I did find it easier to keep the commandments. And my testimony was really, really strengthened. Then came Spring semester, and I went back to my sporadic reading program. And some things happened: Despite the fact I had an easier schedule, my grades weren’t as good as they were the semester before. I didn’t do as well in my job as I had in the Fall semester. And I found myself not enjoying life as much as I had before. In reflecting on that, I know what variable changed. When I read the Book of Mormon, I was happier and more successful. So I’ve set a personal goal for myself this upcoming semester to read the Book of Mormon again because I know it will make a better student; and, more importantly, a better man.
With that, I want introduce you to a man who loved the scriptures. His name was Josiah. When he was eight years old, he became King of Judah. Succeeding two wicked kings, Josiah remarkably chose to walk in God’s paths.
Of him, we are told: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (1 Kings 22:2). “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him” (1 Kings 23:25). At age 15, he ordered the destruction of the idols in the kingdom and started to restore the temple. While they were cleaning out the temple, “Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses” (2 Chronicles 34:12). Hilkiah brought the newly-rediscovered scriptures to the young king. As Josiah read them, he began to weep because he realized just how far his people had strayed from the commandments of the Lord.
Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. The kid is 15. He’s a king. I try to imagine what kind of king the 15-year-old-version of myself would make. I don’t think I’d be the kind of king who was agonizing over whether my people were keeping the commandments or not. I think I’d raising taxes and building palaces and not giving two thoughts to the peasants. But here, Josiah was 15 and a king and his greatest concern was the welfare of his people’s souls. In reading the Book, he knew that if his people wanted to live under God’s protection, they had better live God’s commandments. So he said to the priests: “Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book” (2 Chronicles 34:21).
The Lord, in answering the priests’ prayer, addressed Josiah: “And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;
“Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 34:26-27). I love those verses, when the Lord tells Josiah, essentially, because you had a tender heart and were humble, I have heard your prayers; I have seen your tears.
It’s a beautiful thought to know that at those times when the elements of life beat upon us and reduce us to tears, God really does hear our prayers and count our tears and He stands there ready and willing to help us.
I know that many times in my life, when I have prayed through the tears, that God has heard and God has answered and God has helped.
What Josiah does next is remarkable, and it reiterates his love for and devotion to the Lord. He gathers his people together and reads to them the scriptures—a meeting that lasted for eight hours. He did this because he knew the people could not follow God’s commandments, if they did not know them. Said President Spencer W. Kimball: “I feel strongly that we must all of us return to the scriptures just as King Josiah did and let them work mightily within us, impelling us to an unwavering determination to serve the Lord. Josiah had the law of Moses only. In our scriptures we have the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness; and if a taste is sweet, in fulness there is joy.”
This happened in 625 B.C. in Jerusalem. So the timeline is such that it’s possible that in Josiah’s audience listening that day was a young man named Lehi. While history tells us that the people Jerusalem didn’t follow God’s commandments as they should have and eventually paid the price, the Book of Mormon record also lets us know that Lehi did value the scriptures and did keep the commandments. And to him and his seed was given a great Land of Promise.
Lehi’s son Nephi taught us a valuable lesson on just how important the scriptures are to us in journey through life. You know the story about how he and his brothers returned to get the brass plates and how Laban was delivered into Nephi’s hands and how Nephi was commanded to kill Laban. Understandably, valiant Nephi, for once, hesitates to follow this commandment. So then comes the reasoning given to him by the Spirit with which you are all familiar: “It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief” (2 Nephi 4:13). Even with that assurance, Nephi still needs to think about it. I want to read you the verses where Nephi makes his decision. As I do, I want you to listen to the value he realizes are found in the scriptures:
“And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise.
“Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have the law.
“And I also knew that the law was engraven upon the plates of brass.
“And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments.
“Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit” (1 Nephi 4:14-18).
Nephi chose to have the scriptures in his life because he realized how much he and his children needed the scriptures. Let’s consider that for a moment: Without the Brass plates, would the Nephite nation have ever risen in glory? Would it have ever been there to see the coming of Christ? Probably not. If Nephi hadn’t received the plates, it’s likely that we would have known nothing of Alma or Ammon or the stripling warriors because without the scriptures, they wouldn’t have been familiar with God. And if they were unfamiliar with Him, then how could they have walked in his paths? Like the people in Josiah’s time who stumbled because they didn’t have the scriptures, the Nephites would have stumbled because they didn’t have the scriptures. But the Nephites had the scriptures and because they did, they became a mighty nation. Really, if you want to see what would have happened to the Nephites without the scriptures, look at the Mulekites. They were similar to the Nephites: The Lord had brought them out of Jerusalem and into the Promised Land. But they brought no records with them. And look at the description of what kind of people they were:
“And at the time that Mosiah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them” (Omni 1:17).
Because they didn’t have the scriptures, they had had wars and contentions and they knew not Christ. Their whole society was in disarray and had been hindered because they didn’t have the words of Christ. The Nephites, however, had the scriptures and they knew Christ and their society was functioning. The scriptures matter. The scriptures make the difference. The scriptures bring you to Christ. The scriptures can let in the sunshine on a cloudy day. The scriptures lift the soul every time their read. The scriptures enhance the mind’s ability to learn and comprehend. The scriptures guide you to a better life. The scriptures gently teach you the small corrections you need to make. Applying lessons gleaned from the scriptures will improve your life every time.
The scriptures help you become like Christ. You need the scriptures to become as He is. No person can achieve what he or she can become unless they have dedicated themselves to a study of the scriptures.
Now, in knowing the value of the scriptures and how they blessed the Nephites, let me ask you this: Do you think … do you think it was worth it? Do you think it was worth it to travel hundreds of miles to get the plates? Do you think it was worth it to have to endure the trouble Nephi had to endure to get the plates? Do you think it was worth it? Of course it was. If the value of the scriptures was worth such a long journey to Nephi, should they be any less valuable to us? Are they not worth 10 or 15 minutes of our day? If you make time to brush, you can make time to read. Treat your soul better than you treat your teeth; you’ll have your soul for a much longer time. Again, the strengthening and Spirit you need to get through the week starts at church but does not end at church. You need to give Christ more than three hours a week. I urge you to find time in your life for the scriptures. You’ll never regret any time you spent reading the scriptures. I promise you that as you do, God will bless you; you will be nearer to Him, you will see your testimony deepened and your strength increased, and you will feel His love more frequently in your life, and you will find it easier to walk His paths. I urge you to let the scriptures bless your life.
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