We Look to Christ

 We live in uncertain times. We do not know what the future holds for us. But with faith we look to the future knowing that God is with us. I cannot comprehend a life without such an assurance. 

President Gordon B. Hinckley said, 

      "For some, there will be great accomplishment. For others, disappointment. For some, much of rejoicing and gladness, good health, and gracious living. For others, perhaps sickness and a measure of sorrow. We do not know. But one thing we do know. Like the polar star in the heavens, regardless of what the future holds, there stands the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, certain and sure as the anchor of our immortal lives. He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith.

      "In sunshine and in shadow we look to Him, and He is there to assure and smile upon us.

We Look to Christ."

Come Unto Me

Among the most moving lamentations of the Lord was to those who did hear his teachings and yet would not believe. 

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"  Matthew 23:37

On another occasion, the Savior expressed gratitude for the humble people who did hear his teachings and did believe. With reassurance to these new believers and concern for those not choosing to follow him, Christ issued a profound invitation in what Elder James E. Talmage has appropriately called “one of the grandest outpourings of spiritual emotion known to man.” (Jesus the Christ, 3d ed., Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1916, p. 258.) These are the words of the Master used in making this appeal:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  Matthew 11:23-24

Of this invitation, Howard W. Hunter, a former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints shared this insight,

"This invitation and promise is one of the most oft-quoted of all scripture and has been of untold comfort and reassurance to millions. Yet there were those among his hearers that day whose vision was so limited that they could see only a carpenter’s son speaking of a wooden yoke. A yoke which, from time to time, he had undoubtedly hewn and shaped from heavy wooden timbers for the oxen of these same men who were listening.

"Elder Talmage added: “He invited them from drudgery to pleasant service; from the well-nigh unbearable burdens of ecclesiastical exactions and traditional formalism, to the liberty of truly spiritual worship; from slavery to freedom; but they would not.” (Jesus the Christ, p. 259.)

"Here was a prophetic appeal and magnificent promise to a troubled people facing great peril, but they could not understand it. He knew what lay ahead for them even if they did not, and he was inviting them to come unto him to find rest and safety for their troubled souls. Had he not already shown them that he could give rest to those who labored with profound illness and disease? Had he not already relieved the burden of those who were heavily laden with sin and the cares of the world? Had he not already raised one from the dead, proving that he possessed the divine power to relieve even that greatest of all universal burdens? And yet most would still not “come unto [him].”

"Unfortunately, a refusal to accept his miracles and his glorious invitation is still seen today. This marvelous offer of assistance extended by the Son of God himself was not restricted to the Galileans of his day. This call to shoulder his easy yoke and accept his light burden is not limited to bygone generations. It was and is a universal appeal to all people, to all cities and nations, to every man, woman, and child everywhere.

"In our own great times of need we must not leave unrecognized this unfailing answer to the cares and worries of our world. Here is the promise of personal peace and protection. Here is the power to remit sin in all periods of time. We, too, must believe that Jesus Christ possesses the power to ease our burdens and lighten our loads. We, too, must come unto him and there receive rest from our labors.

"Of course, obligations go with such promises. 'Take my yoke upon you' he pleads. In biblical times the yoke was a device of great assistance to those who tilled the field. It allowed the strength of a second animal to be linked and coupled with the effort of a single animal, sharing and reducing the heavy labor of the plow or wagon. A burden that was overwhelming or perhaps impossible for one to bear could be equitably and comfortably borne by two bound together with a common yoke. His yoke requires a great and earnest effort, but for those who truly are converted, the yoke is easy and the burden becomes light.

"Why face life’s burdens alone, Christ asks, or why face them with temporal support that will quickly falter? To the heavy laden it is Christ’s yoke, it is the power and peace of standing side by side with a God that will provide the support, balance, and the strength to meet our challenges and endure our tasks here in the hardpan field of mortality.

"Obviously, the personal burdens of life vary from person to person, but every one of us has them. Furthermore, each trial in life is tailored to the individual’s capacities and needs as known by a loving Father in Heaven. Of course, some sorrows are brought on by the sins of a world not following the counsel of that Father in Heaven. Whatever the reason, none of us seems to be completely free from life’s challenges. To one and all, Christ said, in effect: As long as we all must bear some burden and shoulder some yoke, why not let it be mine? My promise to you is that my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Peace Through Prayer

Elder Richard L. Evans said,

There is terrible suffering in our world today. Tragic things happen to good people. God does not cause them, nor does He always prevent them. He does, however, strengthen us and bless us with His peace, through earnest prayer.

“It is not the usual purpose of prayer to serve us like Aladdin’s lamp, to bring us ease without effort,” Elder Richard L. Evans wrote. “Prayer is not a matter of asking only. It should not be always as the beggar’s upturned hand. Often the purpose of prayer is to give us strength to do what needs to be done, wisdom to see the way to solve our own problems, and ability to do our best in our tasks.

“We need to pray … for strength to endure, for faith and fortitude to face what sometimes must be faced.” (The Man and the Message, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1973, p. 289.)

It was the Lord himself who taught us by His own example how to find peace when the answers we receive are not what we asked for. On the eve of His crucifixion, with “soul … exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,” Jesus knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed to the Father, saying, “O my Father, if it be possible [and he acknowledged ‘all things are possible unto thee’], let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

If we, like the Savior, have the faith to put our trust in our Father in Heaven, to submit to His will, the true spirit of peace will come as a witness and strength that He has heard and answered our prayers.

His Arms of Mercy and Love are Outstretched Still

Our Savior Jesus Christ is the very personification of truth and light, of life and love, of all that is beautiful and good. He is beyond description; but if there is one word that best captures the essence of his message, ministry and mission, it would be love. He did nothing but what it was done out of love. The terrible agony in Gethsemane and later upon the cross was borne out of his perfect love for all His Father's children. He suffered for you and for me because he loves us. He calls us to come unto him, knowing that in doing so we will learn of the Father who sent him. In Nephi’s words, “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him” (Book of Mormon, 2 Ne. 26:24). The gift of his life extends to all, for he “inviteth … all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; … and all are alike unto God” (2 Ne. 26:33).

The Savior’s perfect and infinite arms of love give us the strength to endure heartache and hardship, the power to resist temptation, and the courage to keep the commandments even as we are being mocked and scorned by those in the “great and spacious building” (1 Nephi 11:36). From his own personal experiences, Paul clearly understood the strengthening power of the Lord’s arms of love. He testified:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 38–39).

Each of us is mortal. We are all, as King Benjamin described us, “natural,” fallen men and women, “enem[ies] to God” (Mosiah 3:19). No matter how strong we believe we may be, or how diligent, or how productive we think we are— these, alone, can never save us in the celestial kingdom of God. It is only through the Atonement of Christ that we can be saved. He not only can save us but also can strengthen us. That is what we call grace.

Grace is an enabling power. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught,

“The enabling power of the Atonement of Christ strengthens us to do things we could never do on our own.”

 

Consider this important principle is found in Matthew chapter 14. As the disciples watched the Savior walk on the Sea of Galilee toward their boat, they thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus assured them that it was He and that they need not be afraid. Peter declared, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water” (verse 28). Jesus said, “Come.” Matthew then records, “And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus” (see Matthew 14:24–29).

What followed is significant. I can’t relate to walking on water, but I can relate to what Peter experienced next:

“But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

“And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

“Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God” (Matthew 14:30–33.)

All of us have had, are having, or will yet have a Peter-like “sinking” experience in some way and will at some time (probably many times) cry out, “Lord, save me.” Peter could not save himself. He needed the rescuing arms of Christ, and so do we. Can you imagine Peter—choking, flailing his arms while struggling to keep his head above water—saying as the Savior extends His arms: “You're very kind [gasp] but no, thank you. I'll just swim to shore. I sank myself [gasp], so I must save myself. Oh, which way to shore?”? Of course not. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it. The truth is we sometimes do just that.

We may recognize in our heads that we are deficient—in fact, utterly incapable of rescuing or redeeming ourselves—but we sometimes resist, even recoil from, the outstretched arms of the Savior's love. Sometimes we spiritually drown ourselves because we won’t reach up and take his hand. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve eloquently stated:

“May I be bold enough to suggest that it is impossible for anyone who really knows God to doubt his willingness to receive us with open arms in a divine embrace if we will but ‘come unto Him.’ …

“I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands.”

President George Q. Cannon (1827–1901) declared:

“No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, He will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.” (George Q. Cannon, in Collected Discourses Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, His Two Counselors, the Twelve Apostles, and Others (1988), 2:185.)

I am grateful for the Lord’s arms of love and mercy. I am grateful that He has rescued me, not only from physical death and sin but also from myself—my fears, my discouragement, my doubts, and my feelings of inadequacy. Reach up in faith to him. His arms of mercy and love are outstretched still.

On Feeling Forsaken

I have been deeply moved by doctrine regarding life and living from one of my favorite speakers, Elder a Neal A. Maxwell who served for many years until his death in 2004 as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I would like to share with you some of what I have learned from my recent study which I believe will help each of us place our challenges in life into their proper perspective. These principles I know to be true.

Christ on the cross gave out the soul cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" So real and exquisite was His suffering that even the Son of God cried out — not in doubt of His Father's reality, but wondering "why" at that moment of agony — for He felt so alone. James Talmage advises us in his book Jesus the Christ, that in ways we cannot understand, God somehow withdrew his immediate presence from the Son so that Jesus Christ's triumph might be truly complete. There are lessons here for all of us. We, too, at times may wonder if we have been forgotten and forsaken. Hopefully, we will do as the Master did and acknowledge that God is still there and never doubt that sublime reality even though we may wish to avoid or be delivered from some of life's experiences. If we are not careful, we may even attempt to pray away pain that appears to be an impending tragedy but which is, in reality, an opportunity. We must do as Jesus did and humbly preface our prayers by saying, "If it be possible," let the trial pass from us but then in humble submission resolutely declare, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt," and bow in a sense of serenity to our Father in Heaven's wisdom, because at times God will not be able to let us pass by a trial or a challenge. 

Elder Neal A. Maxwell wisely observed, "If we were allowed to bypass certain trials, everything that had gone on up to that moment in our lives would be wiped out. It is because he loves us that at times he will not intercede as we may wish him to. That, too, we learn from Gethsemane and from Calvary.”

Consider this reality, God loves us and because He loves us he has placed us here on earth to cope with challenges that He will place before us. I don't believe we fully comprehend the implications of such divine love because His love will call us at times to do things we may wonder about and pass through circumstances that we would rather not face. I do believe that because God knows us intimately that there will be some particularized challenges that will be delivered to each of us in order to teach us things we need to know. These experiences will be what we need but not always what we like. God knows even now what the future holds for each of us. The future "you" is before him now. He knows what He wishes to bring about in your life and the kind of remodeling in your life and mine which is necessary to produce those results.

There are some of you who are reading this message that feel pervasively the weight and press of life's burdens and hardships. Please do not despair. God loves you more than you know and He is aware and His beloved Son Jesus Christ knows intimately your suffering and knows how to ease your burden if you will come unto Him. 

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “Isn't it marvelous that Jesus Christ, who did not have to endure that kind of suffering because he was sin-free, nevertheless took upon himself the sins of all of us and experienced an agony so exquisite we cannot comprehend it? I don't know how many people have lived on the earth for sure, but demographers say between 30 and 67 billion. If you were to collect the agony for your own sins and I for mine, and multiply it by that number, we can only shudder at what the sensitive, divine soul of Jesus must have experienced in taking upon himself the awful arithmetic of the sins of all of us--an act which he did selflessly and voluntarily. If it is also true (in some way we don't understand) that the cavity which suffering carves into our souls will one day also be the receptacle of joy, how infinitely greater Jesus' capacity for joy, when he said, after his resurrection, 'Behold, my joy is full.' How very, very full, indeed, his joy must have been!” (But For a Small Moment, BYU Speeches, September 1, 1974.)

On Becoming

I believe that it is a part of discipleship for us to be prepared for the kind of rigors that Jesus always leveled his disciples. He said, "My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom" (D&C 136:31).”

Elder Neal A Maxwell of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once observed,

“If God chooses to teach us the things we most need to learn because he loves us, and if he seeks to tame our souls and gentle us in the way we most need to be tamed and most need to be gentled, it follows that he will customize the challenges he gives us and individualize them so that we will be prepared for life in a better world by his refusal to take us out of this world, even though we are not of it. In the eternal ecology of things we must pray, therefore, not that things be taken from us, but that God's will be accomplished through us. What, therefore, may seem now to be mere unconnected pieces of tile will someday, when we look back, take form and pattern, and we will realize that God was making a mosaic. For there is in each of our lives this kind of divine design, this pattern, this purpose that is in the process of becoming, which is continually before the Lord but which for us, looking forward, is sometimes perplexing.” (But For a Small Moment, Neal A. Maxwell was an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this fireside address was given at Brigham Young University on 1 September 1974.)

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Happiness Versus Pleasure

We sometimes confuse pleasure with happiness but they are not the same. The poet Robert Burns (1759–96) wrote an excellent definition of pleasure in these lines:

But pleasures are like poppies spread:
You seize the flow’r, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white—then melts for ever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow’s lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm.
(“Tam o’ Shanter,” in The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns [1897], 91, lines 59–66)

Pleasure, unlike happiness, is that which pleases us or gives us gratification and generally endures for only a short time. As Elder David O. McKay (1873–1970), then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, once said:

“You may get that transitory pleasure, yes, but you cannot find joy, you cannot find happiness. Happiness is found only along that well beaten track, narrow as it is, though straight, which leads to life eternal” (in Conference Report, October 1919, 180).

While studying from Elder Jame E. Talmage's book Jesus the Christ, I came upon this excerpt from an old issue of the Improvement Era,

Pleasure Versus Happiness.

"The present is an age of pleasure-seeking, and men are losing their sanity in the mad rush for sensations that do but excite and disappoint. In this day of counterfeits, adulterations, and base imitations, the devil is busier than he has ever been in the course of human history, in the manufacture of pleasures, both old and new; and these he offers for sale in most attractive fashion, falsely labeled, Happiness. In this soul-destroying craft he is without a peer; he has had centuries of experience and practice, and by his skill he controls the market. He has learned the tricks of the trade, and knows well how to catch the eye and arouse the desire of his customers. He puts up the stuff in bright-colored packages, tied with tinsel string and tassel; and crowds flock to his bargain counters, hustling and crushing one another in their frenzy to buy.

"Follow one of the purchasers as he goes off gloatingly with his gaudy packet, and watch him as he opens it. What finds he inside the gilded wrapping? He has expected fragrant happiness, but uncovers only an inferior brand of pleasure, the stench of which is nauseating.

"Happiness includes all that is really desirable and of true worth in pleasure, and much besides. Happiness is genuine gold, pleasure but gilded brass, which corrodes in the hand, and is soon converted into poisonous verdigris. Happiness is as the genuine diamond, which, rough or polished, shines with its own inimitable luster; pleasure is as the paste imitation that glows only when artificially embellished. Happiness is as the ruby, red as the heart's blood, hard and enduring; pleasure, as stained glass, soft, brittle, and of but transitory beauty.

"Happiness is true food, wholesome, nutritious and sweet; it builds up the body and generates energy for action, physical, mental and spiritual; pleasure is but a deceiving stimulant which, like spiritous drink, makes one think he is strong when in reality enfeebled; makes him fancy he is well when in fact stricken with deadly malady.

"Happiness leaves no bad after-taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction; it calls for no repentance, brings no regret, entails no remorse; pleasure too often makes necessary repentance, contrition, and suffering; and, if indulged to the extreme, it brings degradation and destruction.
"True happiness is lived over and over again in memory, always with a renewal of the original good; a moment of unholy pleasure may leave a barbed sting, which, like a thorn in the flesh, is an ever-present source of anguish.

"Happiness is not akin with levity, nor is it one with light-minded mirth. It springs from the deeper fountains of the soul, and is not infrequently accompanied by tears. Have you never been so happy that you have had to weep? I have." (Article by the author, Improvement Era, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 172-73.)

Happiness of this kind has a price, as President Spencer W. Kimball, former President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (1895–1985) said:

“‘What is the price of happiness?’ One might be surprised at the simplicity of the answer. The treasure house of happiness is unlocked to those who live the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity and simplicity. Like a mariner without stars, like a traveler without a compass, is the person who moves along through life without a plan. The assurance of supreme happiness, the certainty of a successful life here and of exaltation and eternal life hereafter, come to those who plan to live their lives in complete harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ—and then consistently follow the course they have set” (The Miracle of Forgiveness [1969], 259).

 President James E. Faust said,

"The golden pathway to happiness is the selfless giving of love—the kind of love that has concern and interest and some measure of charity for every living soul. Love is the direct route to the happiness that would enrich and bless our lives and the lives of others. It means that you show love even to your enemies, “bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you” (Matt. 5:44). In so doing you will be fulfilling the greater commandment to love God Himself and to enjoy His love. You will soar above the ill winds that blow, above the sordid, the self-defeating, and the bitter. You have the promise that “your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things” (D&C 88:67).

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