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.”
