Worship and Idols

 

Worship

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Whatever takes precedence over worship of the Father and the Son becomes an idol....

Ultimately, how we live may be the best, most genuine form of worship. Showing our devotion means emulating the Father and the Son—cultivating Their attributes and character in ourselves.

A Zion Ward

 

Building Zion in Our Wards and Branches: It Can Start with Me

By Merrilee Browne Boyack

Building Unity

A Zion ward or branch is reflected in how members treat others. Elder Christofferson taught that we develop greater unity by following the Savior’s commandment “to love one another not only as we love ourselves but as He loved us.” We can work to promote beautiful unity within our congregations. What can we do to become of “one heart and one mind”? (Moses 7:18). Here are some ideas:

• One sister refused to say a negative word about anyone in her ward. This impacted many others who began to act the same way.

• One brother committed to learn all the ward members’ names and greet them as often as possible.

• In one ward, the bishopric invites new people to come to the front of the chapel after sacrament meeting so they can greet them and connect them with leaders from each organization.

• The Relief Society presidency in my ward invited new sisters to introduce themselves six weeks in a row. (This was before two-hour church, when we had Relief Society each Sunday.) We would laugh each time, but it allowed us to really get to know new sisters and connect.

Becoming a Holy People

Elder Christofferson explained, “Much of the work to be done in establishing Zion consists in our individual efforts to become ‘the pure in heart’ [Doctrine and Covenants 97:21].”

What specifically can we do to become a holy people? It starts with our individual efforts to live according to the covenants we have made with God.

I lived in a ward where one woman was like a beacon of righteousness. Jessica (name has been changed) radiated love and goodness every week in our meetings. She went from person to person, greeting them and loving them—especially those who were “hanging on the edges” of the ward. She invited the lonely to her home, talked to the shy ones, and went out of her way to spread her commitment to Christ and His gospel. It impacted the entire ward for good.

 

Worthiness Is Not Flawlessness

By Bradley R. Wilcox

Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency

Some mistakenly receive the message that they are not worthy to participate fully in the gospel because they are not completely free of bad habits. God’s message is that worthiness is not flawlessness.¹¹ Worthiness is being honest and trying. We must be honest with God, priesthood leaders, and others who love us,¹² and we must strive to keep God’s commandments and never give up just because we slip up.¹³ Elder Bruce C. Hafen said that developing a Christlike character “requires patience and persistence more than it requires flawlessness.”....

One young man I’ll call Damon wrote: “Growing up, I struggled with pornography. I always felt so ashamed that I could not get things right.” Each time Damon slipped, the pain of regret became so intense, he harshly judged himself to be unworthy of any kind of grace, forgiveness, or additional chances from God. He said: “I decided I just deserved to feel terrible all the time. I figured God probably hated me because I wasn’t willing to work harder and get on top of this once and for all. I would go a week and sometimes even a month, but then I would relapse and think, ‘I’ll never be good enough, so what’s the use of even trying?’”

At one such low moment, Damon said to his priesthood leader: “Maybe I should just stop coming to church. I’m sick of being a hypocrite.”

His leader responded: “You’re not a hypocrite because you have a bad habit you are trying to break. You are a hypocrite if you hide it, lie about it, or try to convince yourself the Church has the problem for maintaining such high standards. Being honest about your actions and taking steps to move forward is not being a hypocrite. It is being a disciple.”¹⁶ This leader quoted Elder Richard G. Scott, who taught: “The Lord sees weaknesses differently than He does rebellion. … When the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy.”...

Damon said: “The only time I had turned to God in the past was to ask for forgiveness, but now I also asked for grace—His ‘enabling power’ [Bible Dictionary, “Grace”]. I had never done that before. These days I spend a lot less time hating myself for what I have done and a lot more time loving Jesus for what He has done.”...

Instead, they started with small, reachable goals. They got rid of the all-or-nothing expectations and focused on incremental growth, which allowed Damon to build on a series of successes instead of failures....

Elder D. Todd Christofferson has counseled: “To deal with something [very] big, we may need to work at it in small, daily bites. … Incorporating new and wholesome habits into our character or overcoming bad habits or addictions [most] often means an effort today followed by another tomorrow and then another, perhaps for many days, even months and years. … But we can do it because we can appeal to God … for the help we need each day.”...

Remember change is possible, repentance is a process, and worthiness is not flawlessness....

Some mistakenly receive the message that God is waiting to help until after we repent. God’s message is that He will help us as we repent. His grace is available to us “no matter where we are in the path of obedience.”²³ Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf has said: “God does not need people who are flawless. He seeks those who will offer their ‘heart and a willing mind’ [Doctrine and Covenants 64:34], and He will make them ‘perfect in Christ’ [Moroni 10:32–33].”...

His grace is not just a prize for the worthy. It is the “divine assistance” He gives that helps us become worthy. It is not just a reward for the righteous. It is the “endowment of strength” He gives that helps us become righteous.²⁷ We are not just walking toward God and Christ. We are walking with Them....

I promise those blessings and that joy are real and within reach for those who keep all the commandments and “him that seeketh so to do.”²⁹ When you feel like you have failed too many times to keep trying, remember Christ’s Atonement and the grace it makes possible are real.³⁰ “[His] arm of mercy is extended towards you.”³¹ You are loved—today, in 20 years, and forever.

Rebellion Can Be Active or Passive

 

Burying Our Weapons of Rebellion

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

We might ask ourselves what we could do to follow this pattern, to “lay down the weapons of [our] rebellion,” whatever they may be, and become so “converted [to] the Lord” that the stain of sin and the desire for sin are taken from our hearts and we never will fall away.

Rebellion can be active or passive....

Perhaps the more insidious form of rebellion against God, however, is the passive version—ignoring His will in our lives. Many who would never consider active rebellion may still oppose the will and word of God by pursuing their own path without regard to divine direction. I am reminded of the song made famous years ago by singer Frank Sinatra with the climactic line “I did it my way.” Certainly in life there is plenty of room for personal preference and individual choice, but when it comes to matters of salvation and eternal life, our theme song ought to be “I did it God’s way,” because truly there is no other way....

I believe it pleases our Creator when we do our best to care for His wonderful gift of a physical body. It would be a mark of rebellion to deface or defile one’s body, or abuse it, or fail to do what one can to pursue a healthy lifestyle. At the same time, vanity and becoming consumed with one’s physique, appearance, or dress can be a form of rebellion at the other extreme, leading one to worship God’s gift instead of God.

In the end, burying our weapons of rebellion against God simply means yielding to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, putting off the natural man, and becoming “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.” It means putting the first commandment first in our lives. It means letting God prevail. If our love of God and our determination to serve Him with all our might, mind, and strength become the touchstone by which we judge all things and make all our decisions, we will have buried our weapons of rebellion. By the grace of Christ, God will forgive our sins and rebellions of the past and will take away the stain of those sins and rebellions from our hearts. In time, He will even take away any desire for evil, as He did with those Lamanite converts of the past. Thereafter, we too “never [will] fall away.”

Burying our weapons of rebellion leads to a unique joy....

May we bury—very, very deep—any element of rebellion against God in our lives and replace it with a willing heart and a willing mind.

Accept and Even Seek Correction

 

Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of the Slope

By Elder Clark G. Gilbert

Of the Seventy

Elder Godoy stated emotionally: the Lord will “help you more than you can help yourself. [So] involve the Lord in this process.”

Harvard professor Clayton M. Christensen taught that the most successful people are the humblest because they are confident enough to be corrected by and learn from anyone.¹³ Elder D. Todd Christofferson counseled us to “willingly [find ways] to accept and even seek correction.”¹⁴ Even when things appear to be going well, we must seek out opportunities to improve through prayerful petition.

Solution to our Incessantly Quarrelsome Time

 

The Love of God

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Our Heavenly Father loves us profoundly and perfectly....

As we abide in God’s love, we depend less and less on the approval of others to guide us....

Here is the solution for our incessantly quarrelsome times—the love of God.

Belonging

 

The Doctrine of Belonging

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

A sense of belonging is important to our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Yet it is quite possible that at times each of us might feel that we don’t fit in. In discouraging moments, we may feel that we will never measure up to the Lord’s high standards or the expectations of others.⁶ We may unwittingly impose expectations on others—or even ourselves—that are not the Lord’s expectations. We may communicate in subtle ways that the worth of a soul is based on certain achievements or callings, but these are not the measure of our standing in the Lord’s eyes. “The Lord looketh on the heart.”⁷ He cares about our desires and longings and what we are becoming....

Let us leave judgment in the Lord’s hands and those He has commissioned and be content to love and treat each other the best we can....

A second facet of the doctrine of belonging has to do with our own contributions. Although we rarely think about it, much of our belonging comes from our service and the sacrifices we make for others and for the Lord. Excessive focus on our personal needs or our own comfort can frustrate that sense of belonging....

Belonging comes not as we wait for it but as we reach out to help one another....

“… University of Notre Dame sociologist of religion Christian Smith found in his study of adults [ages] 18 to 23 that most of them believe society is nothing more than ‘a collection of autonomous individuals out to enjoy life.’”¹³

By this philosophy, anything that one finds difficult “is a form of oppression.”¹⁴

By contrast, our pioneer forebears derived a deep sense of belonging, unity, and hope in Christ by the sacrifices they made to serve missions, build temples, abandon comfortable homes under duress and begin again, and in a multitude of other ways consecrate themselves and their means to the cause of Zion. They were willing to sacrifice even their lives if necessary. And we are all the beneficiaries of their endurance. The same is true for many today who may lose family and friends, forfeit employment opportunities, or otherwise suffer discrimination or intolerance as a consequence of being baptized. Their reward, however, is a powerful sense of belonging among the covenant people. Any sacrifice we make in the Lord’s cause helps to confirm our place with Him who gave His life a ransom for many.