Good afternoon brothers
and sisters. It is my privilege to speak to you today about The First Great
Commandment. I pray that the Spirit will be with me to guide me and calm my
nerves.
I found three great talks
by three great men about the First Great Commandment. President Ezra Taft
Benson and Elders Joseph B Wirthlin and Jeffery R. Holland. I'll be quoting all
three of them today.
President Benson said:
"The great test of
life is obedience to God. “We will prove them herewith,” said the Lord,
“to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command
them” (Abr. 3:25).
The great task of
life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
The great
commandment of life is to love the Lord.
“Come unto Christ,”
exhorts Moroni
This, then, is the first
and great commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30; see also Matt. 22:37; Deut. 6:5; Luke 10:27; Moro. 10:32; D&C 59:5).
It is the pure love of
Christ, called charity, that the Book of Mormon testifies is the
greatest of all—that never faileth, that endureth forever, that all men should
have, and that without which they are nothing (see Moro. 7:44–47; 2 Ne. 26:30).
“Wherefore, my beloved
brethren,” pleads Moroni, “pray unto the Father with all the energy of [your]
heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all
who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons
of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him” (Moro. 7:48).
In the closing accounts of
both the Jaredites and the Nephites, Moroni records that except men shall have
this pure love of Christ, called charity, they cannot inherit that place which
Christ has prepared in the mansions of His Father nor can they be saved in the
kingdom of God (see Ether 12:34; Moro. 10:21).
The fruit that Lehi
partook of in his vision and that filled his soul with exceeding great joy and
that was most desirable above all things was the love of God.
To love God with all your
heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no
lukewarm endeavor. It is total commitment of our very being—physically,
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—to a love of the Lord." Close quote
That may seem hard. How do
you love someone that you have no memory of ever meeting? How do you love
someone so much and so hard, when you cannot see them?
It sounds difficult. So
why then? Why should we love God with all that energy?
President Benson states:
"Why did God put the
first commandment first? Because He knew that if we truly loved Him we would
want to keep all of His other commandments. “For this is the love of God,” says
John, “that we keep his commandments” (1 Jn. 5:3; see also 2 Jn. 1:6).
When we put God first, all
other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of
the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the
interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.
We should put God ahead
of everyone else in our lives.
God our Father, Jesus, our
Elder Brother and our Redeemer, and the Holy
Ghost, the Testator, are perfect. They know us best and love us most
and will not leave one thing undone for our eternal welfare. Should we not love
them for it and honor them first?" close quote
That's why. When we put
God first, everything will fall into place. Life won't seem so hard, because we
will be yoked to the Lord. We will be baring some of His burdens, so ours will
be lightened.
We live in a world today
that isn't so much different from a time when the ancient church was first
established. Christ had just died and the church was in disarray. Now, I'm not
saying that the church, today, is in disarray, but that the world is and is
leaking into church members thoughts and opinions of how things should be. The
Apostle Paul had some things to say about that. Elder Wirthlin explains:
"In the first
century A.D., members of the growing Church in Corinth
But the Saints at Corinth
When Paul heard this,
feeling a sense of frustration, he wrote them a letter, pleading with them to
become more unified. He answered many of the questions they had been arguing
about. Then, toward the end, he told them that he wanted to show them “a more
excellent way.”1
“Though I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity,” he told them, “I am become
as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”2
Paul’s message to this new
body of Saints was simple and direct: Nothing you do makes much of a difference
if you do not have charity. You can speak with tongues, have the gift of
prophecy, understand all mysteries, and possess all knowledge; even if you have
the faith to move mountains, without charity it won’t profit you at all.3" close quote
Without the Pure love of
Christ - Charity, or the First Great Commandment, we are nothing. And all that
we do is for not. Loving God is everything. It's what makes sense in the world.
To love someone that Loves you no matter what. No matter what you do, have
done, or will do, only makes you want to love Him more. And with everything
that you have in you.
Elder Wirthlin continues:
“Charity is the pure love
of Christ.”4 The Savior exemplified that love and
taught it even as He was tormented by those who despised and hated Him.
On one occasion the
Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking Him a seemingly impossible question:
“Master,” they asked, “which is the great
commandment in the law?”5
But when the Pharisees
heard His answer, they must have been troubled, for it pointed to their great
weakness. He replied:
“Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
“This is the first and
great commandment.
“And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
“On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.”7
The scriptures tell us
that “if any man love God, the same is known of him.”8 What a wonderful promise—to be known
of Him. It makes the spirit soar to think that the Creator of heaven and earth
could know us and love us with a pure, eternal love.
In 1840 the Prophet Joseph
sent an epistle to the Twelve wherein he taught that “love is one of the chief
characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be
the sons of God. A man filled with the love of God, is not content with
blessing his family alone,
but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”9
Both commandments are
necessary, for as we bear one another’s burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ.11
Love is the beginning, the
middle, and the end of the pathway of discipleship. It comforts, counsels,
cures, and consoles. It leads us through valleys of darkness and through the
veil of death. In the end love leads us to the glory and grandeur of eternal
life." close quote
There are many times in my
life, that I have forgotten this first commandment. Where I haven't loved God
with all that I have. I had shifted my focus onto myself. And you know what?
Life wasn't that fun. It was hard. I didn't much care for my family, my kids,
myself. And I wondered why nobody wanted to be my friend, or wanted to serve
me. Woe is me.
But, then I was pregnant.
For me, getting pregnant is one way to help me get back on track. Why? Because
I am doing something amazing that only God has ever done. Anyway, I found
myself with child and seeing all that was wrong with our life, with my life. I
was so low on those steps up, that it looked like it would take forever to be
up where I knew that Heavenly Father wanted and needed me to be at. So I
started doing the "little things" (starting and ending my day with
prayers, reading my scriptures, focusing my love on Christ and Heavenly Father,
drawing nearer to them, and trying to find ways to server my neighbors and ward
members. The best thing I heard at that time, was in the Marriage and Family
class we were taking at the time.
Imagine a triangle. At the
top point is God. And on the bottom two points are you and your spouse. When
you draw nearer to God, you and your spouse draw nearer together.
That blew my mind.
And it has stuck. And that
road to where I knew I should be, took a while to get there. There were a lot
of two steps forward and one step back. But I stuck with it. I improved upon
myself, sought after the will of the Lord's, and prayed to know what He would
have me be. I let His love shape me into something you have today. :)
I'm not prefect, and I
always feel like I could be closer to Christ and Heavenly Father. My goal for
this year was to draw nearer to them and truly learn more about Them and to
love Them even more. And it's working. I see that I am not that person I was
all those years ago. I'm better. And I have way more love to give and share
because I love the Lord all that much more.
Elder Holland
"My beloved brothers
and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day,
but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does
not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will
want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish
grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the
first and greatest commandment of them all—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with
all thy mind.”13 And if at such a moment we can
stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” then He may remind us
that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty.
“If ye love me, keep my
commandments,”14 Jesus said. So we have neighbors to
bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We
have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a
life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We
can’t quit and we can’t go back" close quote
We can't quit and we can't
go back. I don't know about you, brothers and sisters, but I have tasted of
that good fruit that Lehi had in his dream. And it was sooo good!! I don't want
to go back to where I was before. Why would I? Why should you? If we truly love
the Lord God with all our heart, we would do whatever it is He wants us to do.
And hasn't He told us what that is?
Elder Wirthlin tells us
what those acts can and should be:
" Sometimes the
greatest love is not found in the dramatic scenes that poets and writers
immortalize. Often, the greatest manifestations of love are the simple acts of
kindness and caring we extend to those we meet along the path of life.
True love lasts forever.
It is eternally patient and forgiving. It believes, hopes, and endures all
things. That is the love our Heavenly Father bears for us.
Do you love the Lord?
Spend time with Him.
Meditate on His words. Take His yoke upon you. Seek to understand and obey,
because “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.”16 When we love the Lord, obedience
ceases to be a burden. Obedience becomes a delight. When we love the Lord, we
seek less for things that benefit us and turn our hearts toward things that
will bless and uplift others.
As our love for the Lord
deepens, our minds and hearts become purified. We experience a “mighty change
in … our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good
continually.”
Love is the greatest of
all the commandments—all others hang upon it. It is our focus as followers of
the living Christ. It is the one trait that, if developed, will most improve
our lives." close quote
I can bare solemn
testimony to that. For my love of Christ and Heavenly Father has changed my
life. It has made it better. It has made my burden as a mother easier and more
enjoyable. I have joy now where once, I did not. I have a great appreciation
for my life and my families life that I want others to know what I have. To
enjoy what I have.
In closing, I would like
to share the rather long quote by President Benson. It sums up everything that
I want to say. He says:
God loves us; the devil
hates us. God wants us to have a fulness of joy as He has. The devil wants us
to be miserable as he is. God gives us commandments to bless us. The devil
would have us break these commandments to curse us.
Daily, constantly, we
choose by our desires, our thoughts, and our actions whether we want to be
blessed or cursed, happy or miserable. One of the trials of life is that we do
not usually receive immediately the full blessing for righteousness or the full
cursing for wickedness. That it will come is certain, but ofttimes there is a
waiting period that occurs, as was the case with Job and Joseph.
In the meantime the wicked
think they are getting away with something. The Book of Mormon teaches that the
wicked “have joy in their works for a season, [but] by and by the end cometh,
and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return”
(3 Ne. 27:11).
During this testing time
the righteous must continue to love God, trust in His promises, be patient, and
be assured, as the poet said, that—
Who does God’s work will get God’s pay,
However long may seem the day,
However weary be the way.
No mortal hand, God’s hand can stay,
He may not pay as others pay,
In gold, or lands, or raiments gay,
In goods that perish and decay;
But God’s high wisdom knows a way,
And this is sure, let come what may—
Who does God’s work will get God’s pay.
I testify to you that
God’s pay is the best pay that this world or any other world knows anything
about. And it comes in full abundance only to those who love the Lord and put
Him first.
The great test of
life is obedience to God.
The great task of
life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
The great commandment of
life is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30)." close quote
I like to add my faith and
testimony to that and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. amen
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