I swear, if someone were to look into the daily life of your average
missionary, they may say, "Well, I'm impressed by all the work these guys do,
but that doesn't mean I'm going to join your church." However, let's say they
were to just experience the spiritual experiences of the week for a missionary,
They would come away saying; "When can I be baptized?"
True story.
Why?
Miracles. Every single day. Last night we were going around handing out
invitations for the new temple open house (it's a really REALLY big deal around
here and we've been doing an awful lot to make sure people get the opportunity),
and we stopped by one of our potential investigators. We knock on their door and
she is really kind and curious about the temple. Then she says, "So, when can
you come back so we can talk about your religion?"
What is this madness?
"How's Thursday night around 6 sound?"
"Sounds great, could you call on Tuesday and remind me?"
....
All we needed to do was show up.
I just want to talk about that simple principle. There are many things we
do in the gospel that just require us to show our faces. Church; we just need to
be there. Temple; we just need to be there. Prayer; we just need to be mentally
present. Study; we just need to BE THERE.
WHY is that so important?
Think about it for just a moment; How does just showing up to a single day
of church change your life?
I'm going to tell you a story. Once upon a time on my mission, we were told
that a few people in the ward had stopped attending church because someone had
offended them. So, we went by and testified that if they would just go to church
one more time, they would see that the Lord needed them, no matter what anyone
else said. They cried and committed. They came. And now they have fixed things
with the individual and have been attending ever since. How will this act
strengthen their faith? They will be able to cleansed every week from the filth
that burdens us every day of our lives. They will be able to experience
life-altering spiritual experiences because they were there. They will get to go
to the celestial kingdom (no, you may not go to the celestial kingdom if you
aren't willing to keep the covenants you made at baptism: keeping the sabbath
day holy) because they are coming.
When you simply choose to show up, you prove to God that He can trust you
to with the lives of those He will put in your path. That means the lives of
your children (His children) your friends (His children) and the guy you sit
next to on the bus (His child). When you just simply show your faith by showing
up, you prove to God that you are willing to live.
Sorry, whenever I email home I just feel like I rant, and I'm sorry for
that. I want you to know that I love you so much, and I just want you to know
that this Gospel is not hard. God has created a path for you that is simple and
will lead you to be able to overcome ALL things.
This Church is true. When you live the Gospel, life is comparably easy.
When you don't, life is much harder.
I love you so so so so so much.
"It's a long way to the top, if you want to rock & roll."
No comments:
Post a Comment