Following Christ

As we have studied the New Testament again this year, it has been interesting to read again about how Christ called each of his disciples. He called Matthew as he passed by the tax office where Matthew worked. The Lord called Phillip and Phillip brought Nathanael, who believed when Christ told him about a private moment he had under a fig tree. Andrew believed the preaching of John the Baptist and brought his brother, Simon Peter, to meet the Messiah. The Lord later called Andrew, Peter, James, and John, from their fishing boats after performing a miracle to fill their nets with fish.

Though each of these men would eventually be ordained as apostles, they were first called to be disciples. Others were called too: Mary called Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, Susanna, Salome, and many others recognized the Savior and accepted the call to follow him (Luke 8:2-3).

So what was it these disciples were called to do?

To the fishermen, Andrew, Peter, James, and John, the Lord called, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:18). To Matthew, son of Alpheas, as with Phillip, Nathanael, and others, the Lord said simply, “follow me.” To the rich young ruler, the Lord called, “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). Indeed, “if any man will come after me,” the Lord taught, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16).

Following Christ is more than just believing in him. It is doing the things that he did during his life and that he would do again if he were here with us today. Alma taught that the members of Christ’s church follow him when they “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 that ye may be in, even until death” and enter into covenants to serve him and keep his commandments (Mosiah 18:8-10).

Each of us is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ who has accepted the call to follow him and covenanted through baptism and temple ordinances to serve him and keep his commandments. So what do you think it is that he has called you and I to do? That is, what would Christ do if he were to come to our community today?

I believe he would minister to us like he did to the people he visited in 3 Nephi. He would command “that none of you should go away, but rather… that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see” (3 Nephi 18:25). He would administer the sacrament and minister especially to our children and youth. He would teach us and perform miracles. He would invite the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and admonish us to put an end to all contention, to love one another, and to hold up our light, which is Christ, that it may shine unto the world (3 Nephi 18:24).

The invitation to us is to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and come and follow Christ. Come and do the things that he would do if he were here. Set aside the cares of the world and come learn the word of God. Let go of criticism, cynicism, and doubt and come, minister to one another with love, especially for our children and youth. Come partake of the sacrament each week and invite the spirit into your life to change your heart. Come perform miracles. Come hold up your light and witness of Christ at all times and in all things and in all places.

After they had received the priesthood, Christ sent his disciples on assignments to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. He admonished them to preach as they went and charged them to, “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, [and] cast out devils” (Matthew 10:6-8). They returned rejoicing and astonished at the miracles they had performed in the name of Christ (Luke 9:10, 10:17).

Yet, on another occasion, a “certain man” approached the Savior and begged on his knees: “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him” (Matthew 17:15-16).

After the Lord had rebuked the devil and cured the child, the disciples asked why they had not been successful. “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:18-21).

We can pray and fast for direction and courage to share the gospel. Surely Christ would be anxiously engaged in this work if he were in our community; and He is just as anxious to teach us what to do and guide us to those He has prepared. Just as a tiny mustard seed grows into a large seed, at least some of our fasting and prayer today must be for the faith to believe that, as we follow Christ and do the things he would do, our ward can grow into something greater than it is.

President Ballard once related the following story in General Conference:

“Some years ago a faithful convert, Brother George McLaughlin, was called to preside over a small branch of 20 members in Farmingdale, Maine. He was a humble man, driving a milk delivery truck for a living. Through his fasting and earnest prayer, the Spirit taught him what he and the members of his branch needed to do to help the Church grow in their area. Through his great faith, constant prayer, and powerful example, he taught his members how to share the gospel.

“It’s a marvelous story, one of the great missionary stories of this dispensation. In just one year there were 450 convert baptisms in the branch. The next year there were an additional 200 converts. … Just five years later, the Augusta Maine Stake was organized. Much of the leadership of that new stake came from those converts in the Farmingdale Branch.

“Now we might ask why there was such great success in those days, and the answer may be because of the urgent need to strengthen the Church. Let me assure you that that same urgency in all units of the Church is every bit as critical today as it was then” (April 2003).

President Nelson has promised that “as [we] choose to let God prevail in [our] lives, [we] will experience for [ourselves] that our God is ‘a God of miracles’ (Mormon 9:11” (Let God Prevail, October 2020). He taught on another occasion: “the Lord will bless you with miracles if you believe in Him, ‘doubting nothing’. Do the spiritual work to seek miracles. Prayerfully ask God to help you exercise that kind of faith. I promise that you can experience for yourself that Jesus Christ ‘giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he ‘increaseth strength’.”

The Lord has called each of us to follow Him and do the things He would do if He were in our community. He is the Good Shepherd and He wants us to find his lost sheep of the house of Israel. Some of those lost sheep are members of our families, others are members of our ward, and still more are in our community looking for the truth, but they know not where to find it.

Elder Stevenson has taught us how to follow Christ and reach out to these lost sheep:

“The first thing we can do is love as Christ loved… By demonstrating Christ’s love to others, we may cause those who see our good works to ‘glorify [our] Father which is in heaven’. We do this expecting nothing in return.

“Our hope, of course, is they will accept our love and our message, though how they react is not within our control… Through Christlike love for others, we preach the glorious, life-transforming properties of Christ’s gospel, and we participate significantly in the fulfilling of His great commission.

“The second thing we can do is share… We all share things with others. We do it often. We share what movies and food we like, funny things we see, places we visit, art we appreciate, quotes we’re inspired by…

“Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf explained: ‘If someone asks about your weekend, don’t hesitate to talk about what you experienced at church. Tell about the little children who stood in front of a congregation and sang with eagerness how they are trying to be like Jesus. Talk about the group of youth who spent time helping the elderly in rest homes to compile personal histories’.

“Sharing isn’t about ‘selling’ the gospel. You don’t have to write a sermon or correct someone’s incorrect perceptions. When it comes to missionary work, God doesn’t need you to be His sheriff; He does, however, ask that you be His sharer.”

“The third thing you can do is invite… There are hundreds of invitations we can extend to others. We can invite others to ‘come and see’ a sacrament service, a ward activity, an online video that explains the gospel of Jesus Christ. ‘Come and see’ can be an invitation to read the Book of Mormon or visit a new temple during its open house… Sometimes the invitation is something we extend inward—an invitation to ourselves, giving us awareness and vision of opportunities surrounding us to act upon.

“In our digital age, members often share messages through social media. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of uplifting things you might find worthy of sharing. This content offers invitations to ‘come and see.’ ‘come and serve,’ and ‘come and belong.’”

As we each deny ourselves, take up our cross, and strive to follow Christ and share his gospel, we will experience miracles in our lives and in our communities.

Settle This in Your Hearts

People have all kinds of reasons for not doing all kinds of things in life. Some won't go to war. Some don't want to work. Some excuse their way out of responsibility. Some claim to be too tired, ill, busy, poor, or self-conscious to get involved. Some claim self-importance and talent only for bigger things. There are those content to let somebody else do it and others who simply talk up a storm about love or peace or investing one's humanity. Yes, there are all kinds of reasons and all kinds of people.

That is the introductory paragraph to an article by Leon R. Hartshorn about President Heber J. Grant (New Era, January 1972). President Grant was the seventh president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and widely known as a man without excuses. "If it wasn't an easy task," Hartshorn explained, "he worked to bring about the proper result anyway. He tackled the impossible with enthusiasm, rising to the challenge in seeming glee."

One of the best-known stories about President Grant is about how he learned to play baseball. As the only child of his widowed mother, President Grant wrote of his childhood that he "grew more or less on the principle of a hothouse plant, the growth of which is 'long and lanky' but not substantial. I learned to sweep, and to wash and wipe dishes, but did little stone throwing and little indulging in those sports which are interesting and attractive to boys, and which develop their physical frames."

As a result, when he finally joined a baseball club he was assigned to play with boys two age groups younger than his own because he didn't have the strength to run, bat or even throw a ball to the next base. He was teased by the other boys and it would seem he had many good reasons to quit. He wasn't very athletic and clearly baseball wasn't his thing. Besides, did he really need to endure the verbal abuse of his peers or the embarrassment of playing with kids much younger than himself? Wouldn't his time be better spent helping his widowed mother or developing talents he was already inclined to do well?

People have all kinds of reasons for not doing all kinds of things in life, but not Heber J. Grant. He later stated, "So much fun was engendered on my account by my youthful companions that I solemnly vowed that I would play baseball in the nine that would win that championship of the Territory of Utah."

President Grant started saving his tips from shining shoes and soon had enough to buy a baseball. "I spent hours and hours throwing the ball at Bishop Edwin D. Woolley's barn, which caused him to refer to me as the laziest boy in the Thirteenth Ward. Often my arm would ache so that I could scarcely go to sleep at night. But I kept on practicing and... eventually played in the nine that won the championship of the territory and beat the nine that had won the championship for California, Colorado, and Wyoming" (Presidents of the Church Student Manual, (2012), 122-29).

President Grant's unwillingness to excuse himself from difficult tasks aided his rise in business and helped him to be a trusted instrument in the Lord's work. This principle of success is illustrated again in the Parable of the Great Supper. Speaking to a group of lawyers and Pharisees, Christ taught:

A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper (Luke 14:16-24).

There may be times when our reasons are valid and we ought to excuse ourselves; but when it comes to living the gospel, we will always forfeit blessings when put other priorities above the Lord. In the Savior's words, "Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Wherefore, settle this in your hearts, that ye will do the things which I shall teach, and command you" (JST Luke 14:27-28).

President Grant solemnly vowed to play on the baseball team that won the territorial championship before he could throw a ball to the next base or swing a baseball bat, but he was successful because he began with end in mind and worked diligently toward his goal. Just as a surgeon doesn't make an incision without a plan for closing it and a track star doesn't start a race without knowing where the finish line is, we should settle in our hearts what our lives will be about. Will we accept the Lord's invitation to be his disciples or will we make excuses to justify our absence? Though we will not speak at our own funerals, we determine to a large degree what others will say by the way we live our lives with or without excuse.

If we decide to be disciples of Christ, there will certainly be hard times ahead. That path has never been easy. We bear our cross when we face those challenges we don't want to face with faith in God's plan for us. Christ did not say he would suffer in Gethsemane as long as he didn't miss the game or die for us unless it would embarrass him in public. Rather, he put aside even his best excuses to do the will of the Father. As the cross is a symbol of Christ's death, we bear our cross when we live and die for him, for others, and for the gospel.

People have all kinds of reasons for not doing all kinds of things in life. The Lord challenges us to settle in our hearts now whether we will follow him when the prophet says something we don't like, when we're tempted to watch popular but offensive movies and television shows, or when we need to repent of our sins or forgive someone else. He challenges us to settle in our hearts now whether we will be disciples like President Grant or if we're too tired, ill, busy, poor or self-important to attend the Great Supper of blessings he has prepared for us.

Yes, there are all kinds of reasons and all kinds of people. Who are you going to be?

What Would I Do (WWID)?

When facing a difficult decision, millions of Christians around the world have rightly learned to ask the steering question, 'What would Jesus do?' The answer to that question sheds light on any scenario as we strive to act with the compassion, courage and wisdom of our Great Exemplar. In our efforts to follow our Savior and act righteously, we may also benefit from asking the often overlooked companion question: What would I do?

This question is not meant to be blasphemous nor elevate your own opinions to conceit and the kind of pride that rationalizes sin and blinds us to our own faults. The life of Christ remains the standard to which all of us must aspire. Rather, this question echoes the advice Karl Maeser once gave to a young J. Golden Kimball to 'Always be yourself; but always be your better self.' Let me explain.

Steven Covey's 7 Habits is one of dozens of books that have briefly summarized the basic research of maturity with the simple, three-step model of dependence, independence, and interdependence. This is easy enough to understand-- when we're kids we depend on our parents to meet our needs, then one day we set out on our own, and ideally we end up learning we can do more working together with a spouse, coworkers and others than any of us could ever accomplish working separately.

It's important to note that maturity must be a progression. We cannot function properly in a marriage relationship if we have never learned to be independent, for example. Trading dependence on parents for dependence on a spouse only is hardly a recipe for a successful relationship, regardless of whether that dependence is physical, emotional, financial or otherwise. We may accomplish a stage of maturity in a very brief period, even seconds, but we must experience each stage to progress to the next.

The end goal for our maturity is interdependence, which requires two or more independent parties to work toward a common goal by acting with complete trust in a partner or colleague. Under the Law of Consecration, the saints chose to give all of their income for the needs of the community as a whole. Handing over your whole paycheck with no guarantees requires immense belief in the integrity and character of the other participants; yet, if everyone participates, the principles of economics predict that the community will produce more than the sum of what the individuals produced before consecration and all are insured against disability, unemployment, and other such personal tragedies. Similarly, when we give our whole hearts to our spouse we expose ourselves to hurt and disappointment, but through coordinated effort and complete trust we make possible greater happiness (and ultra-romantic economic efficiencies) than either of us could have alone.

Examples of other successful interdependent relationships abound. When Dell and Intel agree to work together on a computer, each faces the risk of significant losses if the other party is unable to deliver on their contractual agreement; yet, when they go to work with full faith in each other they co-manufacture computers with rapidly advancing technology in significantly less time than if each were attempting to produce all of the computer on their own. It's the same when neighboring communities work together to deliver 911 services or when Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg contribute their talents along with a larger cast and crew to make a movie. When two independent individuals voluntarily decide to work together toward a common goal, relying in whole or in part on another person for their support, interdependence happens-- and the results exceed the sum of the parts.

Each of us are complex creatures with varying maturity in different areas of our lives. We don't have to be living with our parents to be emotionally, socially, or fiscally immature; nor does our immaturity in any one area of our lives guarantee that we are not enjoying the benefits of independence or interdependence in another area. To make things even more complex, our maturity may slide up or down the maturity continuum from day to day. Returning missionaries with testimonies of their own often face the choice of building their faith by associating with those who will strengthen and be strengthened by them or depending on the faith (or doubts) of others.

The point here is that as we mature in the gospel, as with anything else, we will find the greatest benefit when we become interdependent with others. When we are baptized, we covenant to take upon ourselves the name of Christ just as a new bride takes the name of her husband. In so doing, we pledge to rely on Him for salvation from our sins and He asks that we do all we can to live righteously and spread the gospel. It doesn't matter that He is better at all those things than we are any more than it matters that a lawyer and a farmer may both be living the law of consecration at the same time; if we have a testimony and are doing good on our own, the result of the interdependent relationship we have entered by covenant will be just as advantageous to us spiritually as the cooperation of Dell and Intel is profitable.

Hopefully our second question is now all but obvious. Interdependent relationships require two or more independent individuals working toward a common goal. If we are to reap the benefits of an interdependent relationship with Christ, we must also be using our agency to take independent action toward our common goals of immortality and eternal life. Neither prayer without action nor action without prayer are sufficient; it is through prayer that we unify our goals with His and through action that we can realize those goals.

In the Lord's words:

It is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned (D&C 58:26-29).

So, if you are an agent unto yourself and free to choose your actions, and knowing that the greatest benefit will always come through interdependent relationships, particularly such a relationship with the same Christ that can forgive sin and empower us to do all things, it follows that once we consider the example of Christ we must also inquire of our own agency and ability, 'What would I do?'

In contemplating what you or I could do that would be of greatest benefit, we do well to remember another mastery scripture from the teachings of King Benjamin:

And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not be laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne—and of all these things which I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day. Yet, my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast... for I have only been in the service of God. And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God...[A]nd if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another? (Mosiah 2:14-18)

As we face difficult decisions, there is much we can learn from asking, 'What would Jesus do?' Completing the question we've worked on with advice from King Benjamin, we may also benefit from asking the companion question, 'What would I do if Christ were here?' In the service we render as accountants, bus drivers, school volunteers, policymakers, salespersons, entertainers, home teachers, or whatever else, do we treat others as though we are delivering the service to Christ? If we manage others, do we develop policies that direct our subordinates to treat all people as you would want them to treat the Savior? Do we treat our own kids with the same dignity and respect?

We will achieve the impossible if we labor independently and collectively toward our common goals, trusting in each other and in our Savior to complement our efforts. We will be resurrected from the dead and inherit all that God has. So ask yourself, 'What would I do?' and get to work.