When I asked the Bishop what it was he wanted me to talk about he told me to think of something. So I looked through my preach my gospel and found the chapter on Christ like attributes. It lists Faith, Hope, Charity, Love, Virtue, Knowledge, Patience, Humility, Diligence, and Obedience. I can’t really talk about all those things in one talk so I decided to briefly speak about 3. I chose Faith, Humility, and Obedience.
I’d like to talk first on Faith. What is faith? In Alma 32:21 it states “And now as I said concerning faith- faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true”. Faith is the belief that even though we’ve never seen God or the celestial kingdom and that we can’t see the full eternal perspective we know these things are real and true. To me faith is the most important Christ like attribute because without it none of us would be here at church. We wouldn’t live the commandments given to us by the Lord. Being a member of this church isn’t convenient and it’s sometimes very hard with all the worldly pressures and temptations. The only reason we don’t give in to pressure and do what seems more convenient is because we have faith that this church is true and that Christ lived and died for use so we might make it back to live with him some day. If we didn’t believe this then why would we follow the teachings of this church?
How do we obtain faith? In 2 Nephi 25: 29 we read: “And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out”. The way to obtain faith is to worship the Lord with all your might mind and strength and with your whole soul. This not only means to worship the Lord spiritually but also physically. By our actions we prove our faith in Christ. In James 2:20 it says: But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Once we have faith we need to exercise it so it grows strong and stays strong. Several months ago, my Dad severed the tendon in his arm while at work. Those from our Ward may have noticed him walking around with his bionic arm for quite a long time. Because his arm needed to be immobilized to mend, he was unable to use his injured arm while it was healing and consequently his muscles in that arm atrophied. He lost nearly all strength in his arm. Like my dads arm if we immobilize our faith it will begin to loose its strength and shrink.
If we exercise our faith and strive to follow the Lord in all things we will be blessed. Charles W. Penrose said “Blessed is the man of faith, blessed is the woman of faith! For by faith they can see into things that cannot be discerned by the natural eyes. They can reach out to the regions of immortality, grasp eternal realities and lay hold upon the things of God!” This is so because through faith, our natural gifts and powers of achievement are increasingly enhanced.
Faith intensifies and magnifies our gifts and abilities. There is no greater source of knowledge than the inspiration that comes from the Godhead, who have all understanding and knowledge of that which has been, is now, and will be in the future.
Faith is a very powerful tool in our lives and if we nurture our faith and help it grow I know that we will understand God’s eternal plan and our eyes will be opened. I know that through faith God can work miracles in our lives and I pray that we will all grow in faith and understanding.
We must remember that it is only after we exercise or express our faith that we will realize the blessings and promises. It was only after an outward expression of their faith, that of stepping into the river Jordan, that the Children of Israel were able to cross over on dry ground into their promised land. It was by asking in faith that the brother of Jared saw the finger of the Lord. It was through the act of making the effort to look upon the brass serpent that Israel was healed. It was by a humble act of kneeling down and praying for help in a small grove trees that the boy Joseph saw God our heavenly father and his son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not receive the blessings of the priesthood until we use it in righteousness. We do not receive the blessings of tithing until we pay it. We do not receive the blessings of the Temple until we go. We do not receive blessings for anything in the gospel until we exercise our faith and do something first.
The next attribute I’d like to speak on is humility. In preach my gospel it says that humility is the willingness to submit to the will of the Lord and to give the Lord the honor for what is accomplished. In Alma 26:12 Ammon gives a great example of humility. “Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever”. This is after Ammon and his brothers bring many of the Lamanites to the gospel and show them the light. Ammon was so humble that he gave himself zero credit for this great achievement.
When we are humble like Ammon we are blessed by the Lord. In Ether 12:27 it reads “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them”. Everyone has there weak areas. We all have things we’re not very good at. But if we humble ourselves the Lord will strengthen those areas of our lives. D&C 112:10: “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers”. When we humble ourselves and recognize that all things come from Heavenly Father then our prayers will be answered and we will be enlightened.
Christ is the ultimate example of humility. In John 5:30 it says; “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me”. Christ, who preformed all those miracles and did such great things and even bled and died for each and everyone of us, knew that he would be nothing without the power of God.
Pride has always been a weak point in my life. A few months during the first part of my senior year I wasn’t living like I should. I wasn’t breaking any commandments but I wasn’t moving forward at all. I had stopped saying my prayers, I never studied or read the Book of Mormon, and I was just at a stand still which in the eyes of God is moving backwards. But then I received the most humbling call of my life. The Stake President called me to be the Aaronic Priesthood Training Camp President and just like that I realized I was nothing. I was supposed to look through a list of fellow classmates and pick my councilors by the spirit. This wasn’t easy for me because I hadn’t actually felt the spirit for quite some time. I had to humble myself and pray to God for the spirit to guide me. And through the spirit I was able to know who would help me the best with this camp. I picked 5 spiritual giants to help me. With the help of those counselors, Brother and Sister Elwood and all the other great people that helped put on the camp we were able to bless the lives of everyone involved. If it weren’t for the Lord extending that call to me I don’t think I’d be going on a mission at all. I’d be sitting at home moving no where, making no progression. I’m so thankful for the Lords’ hand in my life. I’m grateful for the chance I had to be APTC President so I could learn and grow from that.
Like my call to be APTC president humbled me, so did my call to serve a mission. To leave my home and loved ones for two years to teach people I don’t know is a very scary thought to me. I know I won’t be able to teach without the Lord helping me.
We all need to recognize pride in our life and humble ourselves so we can grow closer to God and have our weak things be made strong through him. A general authority once said “If you think you have it, you don’t”. In Proverb 13:10 It states: “ Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom”. I ask all of you to remove pride from you’re life and by doing so your relationships will grow stronger and your day to day life will be much more pleasant.
The last Christ like attribute I’d like to speak on is obedience. Obedience is a word I’ve heard a lot of in the last 2 months. Reading through all the requirements for my mission I kept saying things like “oh I don’t need to buy that” or “I don’t need to do that exactly”. I kept trying to bend the rules to make them fit my personal desires. One day I was complaining about the type of bag I need to bring with me and my dad had enough of my rule bending. He told me that I needed complete obedience if I was going to have the spirit there to help me on my mission and that through obedience I would be an effective missionary.
The first law in heaven was obedience. Obedience and Faith go hand in hand. When you have faith in Christ you obey his words knowing they will lead you in the right path.
When God sent us to this earth he set down laws and commandments for our health and safety. We must obey these commands to exactness for them to have full effect in our lives. We may not understand why we have those rules but we know they come from God. And we know that God knows all things and that he loves us. Would Heavenly Father, who loves us so much, ever give us a commandment that would harm us? Would he give us a commandment that doesn’t provide us with safety? Heavenly Father gave us these rules for our benefit. Some people say that they’re pointless restrictions and that we have no freedoms. But can those with addictions say they have freedom? There addiction rules there life and there choices revolve around that. Once we start disobeying the laws of God we loose our freedom. Not the other way around.
Elder L. Tom Perry said “The discipline contained in daily obedience and clean living and wholesome lives builds an armor around you of protection and safety from the temptations that beset you as you proceed through mortality.” If we are not obedient in our daily lives we lose that armor and it makes it that much easier for sin to take over our lives. Bad habits that can form from occasionally disobeying are very hard and painful to get rid of and can lead to other more serious addictions.
As a missionary I will need to be perfectly obedient or else I won’t be entitled to the spirit and if the spirit is not with me I can’t teach. I could speak words at investigators but without the spirit those words won’t reach their hearts.
I’ve always been quick to question my parents’ decisions. And sometimes I’d go against those decisions. But I know that my parents are wise and they only want what’s best for me if it wasn’t for my parents telling me what I didn’t want to hear but what was the right thing to do all these years I’d be in real trouble by now. I might not even be here. Who knows. But I’m so thankful for my parents. I love them very much.
I challenge all of you to put on the armor of obedience and live your life in exactness with the laws of heaven. If we constantly have this armor on we will be protected from sin and we will be blessed more than we can possibly know.
