Sharing the Gospel Protects Us from Temptation

 

Hold Up Your Light

By Elder Marcus B. Nash

Of the Seventy

Choosing to not hold up the gospel light moves us to the shadows, where we are susceptible to temptation. Importantly, the converse is true: choosing to hold up the gospel light brings us more fully into that light and the protection it provides against temptation. What a tremendous blessing in today’s world!...

Our Latter-day Saints in Liberia helped 507 friends enter the waters of baptism during the 10 months there were no full-time missionaries serving in their country. When one of our wonderful stake presidents there heard that the full-time missionaries may be returning, he remarked, “Oh good, now they can help us with our work.”

Humility, Courage, Forgiveness, and Sacrifice

 

To Be a Follower of Christ

By Elder Alfred Kyungu

Of the Seventy

Let us live in humility because it brings peace (see Doctrine and Covenants 19:23). Humility precedes glory, and it brings God’s favor upon us: “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). Humility brings gentle answers. It is the source of a righteous character....

Let us have the courage to do what is right even when it is unpopular—the courage to defend our faith and to act by faith. Let us have the courage to repent daily, the courage to accept God’s will and obey His commandments. Let us have the courage to live righteously and to do what is expected of us in our various responsibilities and positions....

“Through His infinite Atonement, you can forgive those who have hurt you and who may never accept responsibility for their cruelty to you.

“It is usually easy to forgive one who sincerely and humbly seeks your forgiveness. But the Savior will grant you the ability to forgive anyone who has mistreated you in any way” (“Four Gifts That Jesus Christ Offers to You” [First Presidency Christmas devotional, Dec. 2, 2018], broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

Let us sincerely forgive each other to obtain the forgiveness of the Father. Forgiveness sets us free and makes us worthy to partake of the sacrament every Sunday. Forgiveness is required for us to be truly disciples of Jesus Christ....

We can sacrifice our time to perform ministering, to serve others, to do good, to do family history work, and to magnify our Church calling.

We can give of our financial means by paying tithing, fast offerings, and other donations to build the kingdom of God on earth. We need sacrifice to keep the covenants we have made with the Savior.

My prayer is that by following Jesus Christ and drawing upon the blessings of His Atonement, we become more and more humble, we are more courageous, we forgive more and more, and we sacrifice more for His kingdom.

Sleeping in a Garage Doesn't Make You a Car

 

“Ye Are My Friends”

By Elder David L. Buckner

Of the Seventy

My father often reminded me that simply sitting in a pew on Sunday doesn’t make you a good Christian any more than sleeping in a garage makes you a car.

We must live our life so that the world does not see us but sees Him through us. This does not take place only on Sundays. It takes place at the grocery store, the gas pump, the school meeting, the neighborhood gathering—all places where baptized and unbaptized members of our family work and live.

There is a Difference Between Attending and Worshipping

 

Welcome to the Church of Joy

By Elder Patrick Kearon

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Because of the loving plan of our Heavenly Father for each of His children, and because of the redeeming life and mission of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, we can—and should—be the most joyful people on earth! Even as the storms of life in an often-troubled world pound upon us, we can cultivate a growing and abiding sense of joy and inner peace because of our hope in Christ and our understanding of our own place in the beautiful plan of happiness....

We do not gather on the Sabbath simply to attend sacrament meeting and check it off the list. We come together to worship. There is a significant difference between the two. To attend means to be present at. But to worship is to intentionally praise and adore our God in a way that transforms us!...

We may have been conditioned to suppose that the purpose of the sacrament is to sit in the pew thinking only about all the ways we messed up during the week before. But let’s turn that practice on its head. In the stillness, we can ponder the many ways we have seen the Lord relentlessly pursue us with His wonderful love that week! We can reflect on what it means to “discover the joy of daily repentance.” We can give thanks for the times the Saviour entered into our struggles and our triumphs and the occasions when we felt His grace, forgiveness, and power giving us strength to overcome our hardships and bear our burdens with patience and even good cheer.

Yes, we ponder the sufferings and injustices inflicted upon our Redeemer for our sin, and that does cause sober reflection. But we sometimes get stuck there—in the garden, at the cross, inside the tomb. We fail to move upward to the joy of the tomb bursting open, the defeat of death, and Christ’s victory over all that might prevent us from gaining peace and returning to our heavenly home. Whether we shed tears of sorrow or tears of gratitude during the sacrament, let it be in awesome wonder at the good news of the Father’s gift of His Son!

 

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.

To Feast Means to Savor

 

Deepening Our Conversion to Jesus Christ

By Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela

Of the Seventy

President Russell M. Nelson said:

“If we ‘press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, … [we] shall have eternal life’ [2 Nephi 31:20].

“To feast means more than to taste. To feast means to savor. We savor the scriptures by studying them in a spirit of delightful discovery and faithful obedience. When we feast upon the words of Christ, they are embedded ‘in fleshy tables of the heart’ [2 Corinthians 3:3]. They become an integral part of our nature” (“Living by Scriptural Guidance,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 17; Liahona, Jan. 2001, 21)....

I invite you to have a permanent plan to study the scriptures. Come, Follow Me is a great resource that we have for teaching and learning the gospel, deepening our conversion to Jesus Christ, and helping us to become like Him. When we study the gospel, we are not simply seeking new information; rather, we are seeking to become “a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The Savior Will Be There As Many Times As We Need

 

His Hand Ready to Help Us

By Elder Juan Pablo Villar

Of the Seventy

If we think celestial, we will realize that our Savior will be there as many times as necessary to provide help if we want to learn, change, overcome, cope, or succeed in whatever will bring true and everlasting happiness to our lives.

#don'tgossip