Today I was asked to base my talk on the General Conference talk “The First Great Commandment” by Jeffrey R. Holland. I absolutely love this talk and I love Elder Holland. Now, I could summarize Elder Holland’s whole talk in 9 minutes and call it good, but I don’t think the bishopric would be very pleased with that.
Here is a brief summary: The first great commandment is to love the Lord thy God. Elder Holland starts out by talking about the 11 remaining apostles following Christ’s death. He explains that they must not have known what to do after the Savior left them, after all, Christ had organized an entire church in just 3 years and the apostles didn’t have a whole lot of experience. They were left kind of clueless and did the only thing they knew how. They went back to fishing. One thing that kept going through my mind as I read about the apostles going back to their everyday lives after Christ left them, was how a lot of us do the same thing every week. We spend all day on Sunday, or at least 3 hours, with Christ, and then we go back to our fishing, our video games, our classes, our friends. As I thought about this, I came up with 5 different keys to keep Christ with us throughout our week. I’m sure you’ve all heard them before, after going to church for 18 years, it’s kind of hard to come up with original material.
1. Faith
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines faith as “a strong belief or trust in someone or something” but as we read the scriptures and listen to prophets we hear faith called “hope.” Though the dictionary defines hope as thinking that something COULD happen, in the scriptures and words of the prophets, hope and faith are KNOWING that something will happen. LDS.org defines faith as “a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements, heal the sick, and influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants.” When I read this I thought that it was a cool definition, but when am I ever going to command the elements or heal the sick? As I thought further on this I realized how many people pray for rain and receive it, ask for storms to be calmed and for it to happen. How many people pray for strength through illness and receive that, ask to be healed quickly from injury and for it to be so. I realize that not everyone has experienced things like that, but I have and no matter how large or small my trials are, I will not doubt my faith. My faith in our savior, my faith in our Father in Heaven, or my faith in this gospel.
As we exercise our faith, it grows. Just small actions of relying on faith in our savior each day, can cause your faith to grow exponentially. I have a personal testimony of faith and I know that with every act of faith, I take a step closer to our savior.
2. Repentance
According to LDS.org repentance is “a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world.” It is “a turning of the heart and will to God.” I don’t know about any of you, but when I sin and need to repent, I definitely “change my mind” and have a “fresh view about God,” myself, and the world. My favorite part of the definition is when it says that repentance is “a turning of the heart and WILL to God.” To me “will” means a want or a wish, and I definitely WANT to do everything God asks me, but sometimes I mess up. Because of repentance, I can try again and again.
Repentance is a beautiful concept, made possible by the atonement of our savior Jesus Christ. Because he died and lived again, so can we, and we don’t have to do it with our sins clinging to our heals. We can wash our sins off through the blood of Christ.
I don’t know everything about the atonement, I’m not sure I will ever completely understand it in this life, but that cannot prevent me from being eternally grateful to my savior. Repentance gives you a fresh restart, a new beginning, anywhere from a second chance to a 4,782nd chance and beyond.
I’m not perfect, I know I need to repent daily. I have a very strong testimony that even though we may take a small step away from our savior when we sin, we can take a giant leap toward Him when we repent.
3. Baptism
“Baptism symbolizes death, burial, and resurrection.” In this way it directly reflects the atonement of Christ. I don’t know how many people realize that your sins are washed away for the very first time at your baptism, while you are performing an act that represents exactly what Jesus did for you to make it possible for your sins to be washed away. Baptism is a saving ordinance that you must choose for yourself, that replicates what our Savior did for us. You have to choose for yourself to be baptized, but it doesn’t stop there. You must continue to act on your baptismal covenants each week during the Sacrament and every day of your life. Baptism isn’t just a one time, “ok now your saved” kind of deal. It is a lifelong commitment to our Savior. I could go on and on about the promises we make at baptism, and how we keep them throughout our lives, but my time is short.
One thing I will mention, is the fact that at baptism, we take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. We become His representatives. In the church you always hear about how Christ is our advocate with the Father, which is true, but one thing we don’t realize as much, is that we are His advocate with our brothers and sisters on this earth. We can reach people in ways that a bodiless Holy Spirit cannot. While the Spirit can accompany us and testify of Christ, we can go out and act. We can serve, we can be a friend, we can bring others closer to Christ if we go out and lead them to Him.
4. Holy Ghost
There are two “versions” of the Holy Ghost on the earth. There is the power of the Holy Ghost, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Before you are baptized you experience the power of the Holy Ghost. This is the witness that investigators and children feel that the gospel is true. This is where testimony begins. The gift of the Holy Ghost comes only after baptism, through the laying on of hands. The gift is the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, as long as you are worthy. Through the gift of the Holy Ghost, you can access the atonement and be forgiven of your sins, as well as receive personal revelation from our Father in Heaven.
I was taught a concept a long time ago that has really stuck with me. It is that God sends us promptings because He needs us to do something, and usually He needs us to be the answer to someone else’s prayer. The part that really stuck with me, is that if we don’t follow the promptings that the Lord sends us, He’s going to start asking other people to do them. By acting on promptings that the Lord sends us, He knows that he can rely on us more and more, and we grow closer and closer to Him.
5. Endure to the end
Enduring to the end means “to remain firm in a commitment to be true to the commandments of God despite temptation, opposition, and adversity.” I love this definition, mostly because I’m human and I mess up. Enduring to the end does not mean be perfect every second of everyday until Christ comes and takes you up to the celestial kingdom. It means being firm, not wavering, in your commitment to the commandments of God. It means never stop trying. Temptations come, there is opposition in all things, and the adversary is constantly watching you, looking for weakness. I once heard someone relate living the gospel to roller skating up a hill. If you aren’t working to move forward, you’re going to start sliding backward. There is no standing still. Sometimes it’s easy to slip up, or just take a break, not realizing the consequences. But if we do our best and endure to the end, God with greet us with a loving embrace and “Well done.”
I’d like to end with a quote from Elder Holland’s talk. Elder Holland says this as he is speculating on what Christ may have said to the apostles when He finds they have gone back to their nets, “What I need are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do.” Christ needs disciples, He needs us. He is always calling to us, He is always waiting, but He needs us, and He needs us now. He needs someone to go after His lost lambs, someone to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick. We need to be His advocates here on this earth, and then He will be ours before our Father at the judgement day.
Brothers and Sisters, I stand before you today, as an 18 year old girl who doesn’t understand everything about the gospel. But I stand before you today as a witness of my savior Jesus Christ. He atoned for me and every one of you. And he didn’t just atone for our sins, but our pains, afflictions, temptations, and sicknesses. He knows every one of us individually and wants us all to return to our Father in Heaven where we can be reunited with and never again separated from our eternal families. I testify of the truthfulness of this gospel, and I say these things in the name of our savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Anyway... I hope you enjoyed it:) As far as an update on the mission papers goes, I am going to both the doctor and the dentist on Tuesday this week and then everything will be done!! Then I just have to wait until September 10th to submit them!! I'm so excited and cannot wait to receive my call!! Wish me luck!
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