For those that may have missed it, I had the opportunity to speak to my church congregation before I left. Here's what I said, if you are interested!
Good morning, brothers and
sisters! I am excited I have the opportunity to speak to you, and I am even
more excited to go serve in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission, Spanish
speaking! In thinking about a topic to speak about today, I wanted to speak
about a deciding factor in my serving a mission. I have a couple reasons for
wanting to serve a mission, but the main one revolves around the happiness I
have felt through the love of my Savior Jesus Christ. I can only hope that on
my mission I have the opportunity to help someone else feel that love and
happiness that I have felt in my own life.
I believe that Jesus plays three
distinct roles in our lives. First, Jesus Christ is our perfect teacher and
example. His life shows us the right way, and gives us something to strive for.
He taught of hope, charity, and love, and then went on to show those
characteristics in His actions. Through His many instances of healing the afflicted,
He taught us that He has time for each and every one of us individually. In his
preachings on the Sermon on the Mount, He taught us characteristics that should
be aimed for. His interactions with the adulteress woman who was to be stoned
and her accusers taught us that He loves us endlessly no matter what we may
have done in our past, a knowledge that allows us to move forward in hope. These
are just a few examples of His teachings; the list is endless.
Thomas S. Monson, the current prophet here on the Earth today, said,
“In the home, the school, or the house of God, there is one teacher whose life
overshadows all others. He taught of life and death, of duty and destiny. He
lived not to be served, but to serve; not to receive, but to give; not to save
his life, but to sacrifice it for others. He described a love more beautiful
than lust, a poverty richer than treasure. It was said of this teacher that he
taught with authority and not as did the scribes. I speak of the Master
Teacher, even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of all
mankind.” When we respond to Christ’s gentle invitation, ‘Come learn of me,’ we
do learn, but we also become partakers of His divine power.
Christ is our teacher, which makes us His students. Our lives here
on the Earth are like a test, or a continuous classroom. God, our loving Father
and caring Parent, sent us down to Earth to be tested, to learn, to grow. We
have our good days where our focus is solely on Christ the Teacher and the good
things that He teaches us to do. Other days, we may need a friendly reminder to
return to the important tasks at hand. We have the tests that we excel at, and
we have the tests that require much preparation and diligence. Sometimes, we
even have the tests that we may fail that require us to go to the Teacher for help. I am thankful to have Jesus Christ as the
head of that classroom, as an ever-present teacher that is willing to do
anything to help us succeed.
The second role that Jesus Christ plays in our lives is as our
Brother. We are all children of Heavenly Father; Christ is our perfect brother
who Father sent down to Earth for a time to help us along our way. As our
Brother, He loves us endlessly. Romans 8:37-39 states, “Nay, in all things we
are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” Because of this love which He has for us, He can heal us from things that
plague us, just as He did with the people He came in contact with during His
time on Earth. Christ cares about everything we care about, and He dislikes the
things that make us unhappy. If we come to Him, He can take away any pain. Like
my own two brothers that came to cheer me on in my softball games, Christ is in
our fan section. One of my favorite scriptures is Romans 8:31, which basically
says, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” It’s a comfort for me to know
that Christ is there for me in everything.
The third role of Jesus Christ in our lives is as the Savior of the
world. This is the most powerful position for someone to hold, but also the
most merciful. John 3:17-18 states this perfectly. It says, “For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him,
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
I love the second chapter of the 2nd book of Nephi in the
Book of Mormon. It gives me hope that when we make a mistake, it allows us to
grow and learn. Verses 11-14 read,
11. “For it must needs be, that there is an
opposition in all things. If not so, righteousness could not be brought to
pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.
Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should
be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor
corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor
insensibility.
12 Wherefore, it must needs
have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no
purpose in the end of its creation.
13 And if ye shall say there
is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin,
ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness
there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be
no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if
there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no
creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things
must have vanished away.
14 And now, my sons, I speak
unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he
hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in
them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.”
Those scriptures are very deep, but they fill me with hope. We are
here on Earth to choose between good and bad. It is those decisions and their
consequences that bring purpose to our lives. Mistakes do not have to be the
end; we do not need to give up when a mistake is made! It is only when we make
mistakes that we grow. Christ’s sacrifice and Atonement is there to complete
us, to make up where we lack, to make us whole.
Brad Wilcox, who is a professor at Brigham Young University, once
spoke in a devotional about Christ’s grace. If we had time in this meeting, I
would read you the whole talk as it is very good, but instead, I will just pull
some of my favorite parts. He said, “Too many are giving up because they are
tired of constantly feeling like they are falling short. They have tried in the
past, but they always feel like they are just not good enough. They don’t
understand grace. There are young women who know they are daughters of a
Heavenly Father who loves them, and they love Him. Then they graduate from high
school, and the values they memorized are put to the test. They slip up. They
let things go too far, and suddenly they think it is all over. These young
women don’t understand grace.
“There are young men who grow up their whole lives singing, “I hope
they call me on a mission,” and then they do actually grow a foot or two and
flake out completely. They get their Eagles, graduate from high school, and go
away to college. Then suddenly these young men find out how easy it is to not
be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful,
thrifty, brave, clean, or reverent. They mess up. They say, “I’ll never do it
again,” and then they do it. They say, “I’ll never do it again,” and then they
do it. They say, “This is stupid. I will never do it again.” And then they do
it. The guilt is almost unbearable. They don’t dare talk to a bishop. Instead,
they hide. They say, “I can’t do this Mormon thing. I’ve tried, and the
expectations are just way too high.” So they quit. These young men don’t
understand grace.
“In all of these cases there should never be just two options:
perfection or giving up. When learning the piano, are the only options
performing at Carnegie Hall or quitting? No. Growth and development take time.
Learning takes time. When we understand grace, we understand that God is
long-suffering, that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in
our lives. When we understand grace, we understand that the blessings of
Christ’s Atonement are continuous and His strength is perfect in our weakness.”
I love the metaphor of Christ as a Shepherd. Mosiah 14:6 states,
“All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.” We all stray, we all
make mistakes. Christ is not going to leave us to get lost. Instead, He will
find us. He will continue to find us time after time. I know that Christ as our
Savior will never let us down and will never leave us on our own. The Good
Shepherd who knows his sheep has proven to me personally that I am numbered
among that flock.
To end, I want to read a poem that I heard when I was attending BYU
this past year that convinced me that I needed to serve a mission.
"I’d been in
that hole for a very long time. In the dark
and the damp, in the cold and the slime.
The shaft was
above me; I could see it quite clear, but
there’s no way I ever could reach it from here.
Nor could I
remember the world way up there, so I lost all
my hope and gave into despair.
I knew nothing
but darkness, the floors, and the walls, when
from off in the distance I heard someone call,
“Get up! Get
ready! There’s nothing the matter! Take
rocks and take sticks and build up a fine ladder.”
This had never
occurred to me, had not crossed my mind, so I
started to stack all the stones I could find.
When I ran out
of stones, the old sticks were my goal, for some
way or another I’d get out of that hole.
So I soon had a
ladder that was really quite tall, and I
thought, “I’ll soon leave this place once and for all!”
Then I climbed
up my ladder, it was no easy chore. For
from lifting those boulders my shoulders were sore.
So I worked and
I climbed and at last had to stop, for my ladder
stopped short – some ten feet from the top.
I climbed back
down the ladder and felt all around, but there
were no more boulders nor sticks to be found.
I went back to
my ladder and started to cry. I’d done all
I could do; I gave my best try.
But in spite of
my work, in this hole I must die, and all I
could do was to sit and think, “Why?”
Was my ladder
too short? Or my hole much too deep? Then
from way up on high came a voice: “Do not weep.”
And then hope,
love, and faith entered my chest, as the voice
said to me that I’d done my best.
He said,
“Nothing’s the matter. There’s reason to hope. Just climb up your ladder; I’ll throw down my rope.
You have worked
very hard, and your labor’s been rough, but the
ladder you've built is at last tall enough.”
I climbed up
the ladder, then climbed up the cord. When
I stood at the top, there stood the Lord.
I’ve never been
happier; my struggle was done. I blinked in
the brightness that came from the Son.
I fell to the
ground; his feet did I kiss. I cried, “What
can I do to repay thee for this?”
He looked all
around Him – there were holes in the ground. They
had people inside, and were seen all around.
There were
thousands of holes that were damp, dark, and deep. Then the Lord turned to me and He said, “Feed my sheep.”
Then He went on
His way to help other lost souls. And I got
right to work, calling down to the holes,
“Get
up! Get ready! There’s nothing the matter! Take rocks and take sticks and build up a fine ladder!”
It now was my
turn to spread the good word. The most
glorious message that man ever heard.
That there’s
One who is willing to save one and all, and
we've got to be ready when He gives the call.
He’ll pull us
all out of the hole that we’re in, and save all
our souls from death and from sin.
So do not lose
faith; there is reason to hope: Just build up
your ladder; He’ll throw down His rope."
I am eternally grateful for my Teacher, my Brother, my Savior, Jesus
Christ. His love, his grace, is life-changing. No matter what we may have done,
no matter if we may do it again; His love is all encompassing. His power in my
life gives me hope for what is to come. I look forward to teaching this message
of salvation on my mission to Kentucky, along with the other joys that the
gospel provides to my life. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
