How to Increase Our Love and Obedience

 

Behold, Here I Am

By Elder Taylor G. Godoy

Of the Seventy

How can we cultivate that willingness to offer a “Behold, here I am” in response to every request that Heavenly Father makes of us as members of the Church, or sometimes on a personal level?...

What I would like to emphasize, though, is the love-obedience relationship, meaning that we obey the Father because we love Him. I believe that choosing to obey is one of the best ways to clearly declare our love for Him. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26), and personally I don’t think love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ without obedience is very alive either.

How to Increase Our Love and Obedience

How do we increase our love for Him and our obedience to Him? The Savior said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Knowing Jesus Christ—and, through Him, the Father—enables us to know of the love that They have for us and of the indescribable things that They have done and yet will do for us, including during the difficult moments that we experience in this mortal life. Knowing of Them changes our hearts, making us desire to follow Their examples in our actions and to be willing to say, in word and deed, “Behold, here I am.” This willingness is reflected in a desire to read the scriptures or in addressing Heavenly Father in prayer.

“Behold, here I am” can be a response to a call to serve a mission or to be more consecrated in obeying commandments such as keeping the Sabbath holy, honoring our parents, or seeking to live a morally clean life. “Behold, here I am” is the expression that constantly accompanies Christ’s disciples, even when the requested sacrifice affects that which we desire the most or for which we have paid a high price.