The Most Spiritual Don't Always Lead in Spiritual Things

In life we often think that the smartest, or the strongest or the wisest will be the leaders. Sometimes, however, there's reasons for other people to lead or to perform important acts. In the church an example of this is John the Baptist. Surely no one was worthy to baptize the Savior. However, Jesus came to John to receive this necessary ordinance. If anyone didn't need baptism, it was Jesus who never sinned. However, it's a commandment and we need to be obedient. Also, it's interesting that John performed the baptism. While a great person, surely Jesus was many times more impressive than John, but somebody had to do the baptism, and John was chosen. Here's the account from Matthew 3:

13¶Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

In serving, sometimes we're the "somebody" and sometimes others are the "somebody". That's just fine. We just need to do our best and serve when we should.

Place to Learn Service

When my brother and sisters and I would fight while growing up, Dad would always read us this scripture from Mosiah 4:

14And ye will not suffer your ^achildren that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye ^bsuffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and ^cquarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the ^devil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.

15But ye will ^ateach them to ^bwalk in the ways of truth and^csoberness; ye will teach them to ^dlove one another, and to serve one another.

We were certainly aware God didn't want us to fight, although we didn't always follow this scripture. I do think it's important to realize that the home is the place to learn service and love. I have not thought about helping my kids serve one another until reading this verse. Somehow parents should incorporate service in the family into daily living.

I believe it will play great dividends.

Humanitarian Work - Something We Care About

My sister's father-in-law joined the church because he was invited by a guy named Don Clarke to church while the two were getting MBAs at Washington State University. Don Clarke has been the area president of the church in Guatemala (and the rest of Central America) the last couple years. I served my mission there from 2003 to 2005.

I just read an article in the church news about a humanitarian project being done there. A humanitarian missionary helped the community get running water into a town of 2,000 (the church bought the supplies but got the town to volunteer almost all of the labor) and also build a school there as well as other projects. It was great to hear what was accomplished as well as the approach the church used to get the entire community involved so that the project could be larger but also have greater long-term effects.

I love being in this church and look forward to seeing more and more of these projects get done as a greater number of senior couple missionaries serve in the church. We look forward to being missionaries ourselves.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700150533/LDS-Church-helps-as-Guatemalans-bring-water-education-to-their-village.html?pg=1

Who does God use and How does he use them?

I came across a terrific verse this morning.

D.C. 39:11

11And if thou do this, I have prepared thee for a greater work. Thou shalt preach the ^afulness of my gospel, which I have sent forth in these last days, the ^bcovenant which I have sent forth to^crecover my people, which are of the house of Israel.

This verse is talking about James Covill. He had been a Baptist minister for 40 years when he found the church. "If thou do this" refers to verse 10 in which he is instructed to repent and be baptized. Then the rest of the chapter talks about how great a missionary he'll be and that he'll do so immediately. It's a great lesson about how God uses us. James is incredibly knowledgeable about the scriptures and the gospel and would have been a terrific preacher/teacher if he joined the church. Not very many members were called to preach immediately like he is in this verse (consider Hyrum Smith for instance - told to "treasure up my word" in D.C. 11).

God uses all of our past experiences for good in this life and in his work. That's why we need people from every sort of background; all of their experiences can be used for good.

Perhaps the best known example of this is Ammon and his brothers. Nephites had tried to convert Lamanites for centuries (literally centuries - see Enos 1:20 below)

20And I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek diligently to ^arestore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God. But our^blabors were vain; their ^chatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a^dblood-thirsty people, full of ^eidolatry and ^ffilthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in ^gtents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven; and their skill was in the ^hbow, and in the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat; and they were continually seeking to destroy us.

So why were Ammon and his brothers successful? I think it's because of what they'd been through. They knew that it was an incredible blessing that they had been snatched from their awful fate. Therefore, they were willing to do whatever was necessary to help the Lamanites escape their awful fate. That's why Ammon said, "I'll stay here as long as I want." Oftentimes we say that service is how Ammon opened the hearts of the Lamanites. That's not completely accurate. Service was simply the result of the willingness he had to help them for as long as possible. Also, I think they were impressed by the circumstances he found himself in and the attitude he had. Ammon wasn't just serving: he was serving among strangers with no friends and family. He was in a tough situation and living very well. Why was he willing to do that? Because of his past experiences that made him say, "I will do whatever it takes to help these people."

God uses all of our past experiences for good if we let him.

Being close to God

I really enjoyed this verse that I read yesterday in D.C. 36:2.

2And I will lay my hand upon you by the hand of my servant Sidney Rigdon, and you shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you the peaceable things of the kingdom;

Clearly it's great for Edward Partridge (the first Bishop in the church; the one being spoken to here) to have the Lord place his hands upon Edward's head. That's definitely a blessing to have the Lord close. However, I'd like to focus on Sidney. He gets to act as proxy for the Lord and is clearly close to the Lord in this example as well. I believe that this verse teaches that the way to guarantee a close proximity to the Lord is by doing his work. Visit someone. Do your home and visiting teaching. Invite someone to church. Help someone have a better day. Teach your kids the gospel, etc. Learn the names of everyone in the ward and talk to them sometime over the next year (all of them); obviously there's lots of possibilties (so many - brings to mind another verse - D.C. 58:28 - inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward - just do something good and you'll be fine in life; no need to do everything perfectly; besides everyone can help build the kingdom in very different ways - sorry, sidetracked again), but finding ways to be involved in God's work is the surest way to ensure we're close to Him, which is the best feeling in life.

A few other verses that show this: D.C. 84:19,20 - "in the ordinances of the priesthood the power of godliness is made manifest." My translation - you get to experience godliness in some sense when you participate in ordinances (similar to the above verse).

Also, think about Lehi's dream. In 1 Nephi 8:30 its says,

30But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.

How do you partake of fruit after having fallen down? Probably because someone handed it to you. That's our jobs, to hand the fruit.

Perhaps one last verse to illustrate this concept. Isaiah 61 is a great chapter in which Isaiah speaks Messianically (this means he speaks as if he were the Savior - Jesus - speaking). The first two verses are very meaningful speaking about his mission. Then verse 3 says the folowing,

3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

It says that as a result of Jesus' efforts, the ashes of life will become beautiful (i.e., he'll make tough experiences turn into beautiful/useful ones - for example, the hardest area on my mission was also the one in which I had the most spiritual experience of my life), joy for mourning, and praise to replace "heaviness". Why? So that we might become "trees of righteousness". Since we know that Christ can be represented by the tree of life, this is interesting that we also should become trees of righteousness that give off our own fruit (some 30, some 60, and some 100 as told in the parable of the sower - Matthew 13:8). We are to become like him, producers of fruit and givers of love. We can become like Him by practicing the things He does, like serving, or in Sidney Rigdon's case, giving the gift of the Holy Ghost to Edward Partridge (and this principle applies to women as easily as it does to men).

A little long again. Sorry. Have a great day!