Posted by: Chris King
Link to the lesson in the manual:
Link to a download Sister King's thoughts so you can print it and read it.
Doing Our Part to Share the Gospel
#13 in Teachings of the Presidents
of the church: George Albert Smith
In spite of
his great love of missionary work, President George Albert Smith had times where
that work wasn’t easy. One of those times was when he was called as
the President of the European Mission shortly after the end of World War I.
“Because of the war, the number of
missionaries in the mission had been drastically reduced, and efforts to
increase that number were hindered because missionaries were being denied
visas. In addition, enemies of the Church were spreading false stories about
Latter-day Saints, creating prejudices that were difficult to overcome.”
I was struck
at how similar the difficulty is to our circumstances today, in spite of the
difference in reasons. There is a great deal being said about our church, some
of it honest of heart and pretty accurate,
and some of is false-- but often
as much misrepresentation as out and out falsehood. Some is taking things out
of context or even presenting them in an erroneous or twisted context.
As people in
general hear more and more about the church, and make more particular and more
detailed attacks, can we stand strong and even defend our beliefs-- or not?
For many
years we’ve been taught that it is not enough to live on borrowed light; that a
nodding acquaintance with a testimony is insufficient. We have been encouraged to
study, ponder and pray about principles and teachings to gain a personal testimony
thought the witness of the Holy Ghost. We have also been warned that we will
need that personal strength. We’ve been taught that knowing truth, and having
faith that all will be answered in time – especially as we continue to
prayerfully and humbly study – will allow us to come to a fullness of the
knowledge available to us in this lifetime.
These events will happen to us
whether we are well prepared or unprepared, and whether we’re a good example or
a poor example of the teachings of Jesus Christ. And as the lesson points out,
we have a responsibility to prepare for missionary work, not only for some
large future opportunity, but for the here and now. We need to be prepared at
any moment in our lives for someone calling the truthfulness of the principles
of the gospel into question, or just needing them in their lives.
As we have been commanded, “Be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you with meekness and fear” (1Peter 3:15). And also instructed that “Ye
are the alight of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither
do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it
giveth light unto all that are in the house.
“Let your alight so shine before men,
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:14-16)
Not that we
should veer into contention, which drives away the spirit. But we do need to prepare
to explain as guided by the Spirit; helping
to creating room in the minds and lives of those we touch for faith and belief
to find a home.
Picking up the story from the manual again,
Notwithstanding these limitations [the prejudices and lack of
enough missionaries], President Smith was confident that the work would move
forward because of the examples set by faithful Latter-day Saints [emphasis added]. He noted that as the
Church becomes more well known, “its members are esteemed for their virtues,”
and critics “are quickly divested of their unjustified prejudices, by coming in
direct contact with the Latter-day Saints in their daily lives. … They then
judge us by our fruits, from personal observation, and such information, as
they impart it, can have but one effect, and that most favorable to us.”
Later he
wrote to the members,
“With full confidence that the Lord will incline the
hearts of all worthy people to the gospel when they understand it, let us
unitedly avail ourselves of the opportunity to labor while there is yet time.
Let us disseminate the teachings of the Master for the salvation, both temporal
and spiritual, of the good people [in the mission].”
Still later he said of their efforts,
“The prejudice that
has existed against us in the past has in large measure been dissipated and
hundreds and thousands of men and women have been made aware of the labor we
are performing.”
As I studied this lesson, the salient point of the section
from the life of President Smith seemed to me to be sharing the gospel through
our example; it cropped up again and again and reminded me of another quote I
sometimes ponder
“Much
of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come
because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often such an
inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This
will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness
and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the
Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the
world.”
“…Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be
a significant force in both the numerical and the spiritual growth of the
Church in the last days.” (President Spencer W. Kimball, October 1979, Women’s
fireside held September 15 in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.)
Each of us wishes to be unique. We are so driven because we are intrinsically unique and desire to
express that. But for us it is not enough to be different, we must be distinct
in happy ways, in righteous ways, if we are to do our part in building up God’s
kingdom on the earth.
So, let us ask ourselves, “In what way am I distinct and
different in happy ways from the women of the world?”, “How do I appear to
others?”, “In what way would my influence encourage others to act?” and
finally, “Would other’s glorify God because of my life?”
This process can be a struggle because no one wants to be
fully defined or smothered by their culture. This is a natural and not an
unrighteous desire, but neither are our methods in this automatically
righteous. The Spirit will help us be
our best, He will help us be our true selves, and that is automatically helping
us be distinct from the world as well as helping us become more and more
righteous.
Green Jell-O Salad
I learned
something through green Jell-O salad that helps me in not assuming my ideas and
culture will be strange to others, in teaching me that there are intrinsic bridges
between us and most others. It is true that many things we do are out of the
common way, but perhaps not inexplicable. You might not have taken the same
lesson from the simple experience, but this is what I learned.
Years ago we
moved to New York, and I began a friendship with a neighbor. As our children
played, this woman and I would talk. At first we spent a lot of time comparing
notes on our lives. I told her that Mormons really didn’t have a separate
culture (I don’t really think we do except for our religious practice), so
there was little I could tell her about general differences except, as I
thought, for some very odd foods, like green Jell-O with carrots.
It turned
out to my surprise that Amy had grown up assuming this recipe was indigenous to
the Evangelical community in Minnesota until her family moved to San Diego,
California and she found it there as well. To further emphasize this lesson, I
later met a man from the south of the United States who told me that church and
community groups there thought of it as a southern
staple.
Now, I dislike Jell-O, so I never eat
the stuff when I don’t have to, and I’ve never made green Jell-O salad. Imagine
how relieved I was to find that this was not Mormon culture. But the bigger lesson for me was that we sometimes
put artificial barriers between ourselves and others, seeing differences that
are not there, fearing that we are so odd that others can not relate.
And in the final analysis, we needn’t
fear at all. Heavenly Father is in charge and he watches over us, especially as
we seek to obey his commandments and to help his other children. We can be
assured that as we are doing our part to stay close to Him, we will have the
Spirit and we will be alright. In fact, we will often be much more than all
right-- we will shine in distinct ways and we will be different than those who
live their lives without the truths we have been given.
In summation, I have taken away from the preparation of this
lesson that we should
-
Know the gospel
-
Work continually to increase our knowledge and testimonies
-
Embrace the current opportunities to share and clarify the gospel
-
Let our light shine that others may see our good works and glorify our Father
who is in Heaven
-
Seek to share the joys of the fullness of the gospel now as well as in future
possibilities
-
Not put up false walls and gulfs between ourselves and others
I hope we can apply the principles
taught in this lesson that we might be blessed, and that we might bless the
lives of many around us. I firmly believe, and it has been verified to me again
and again, that as we try we will be blessed to succeed.
We won’t always see that success.
Sometimes the person we touch will never tell us, but will be telling a
missionary someday, “Well, the first Mormon I ever knew just seemed so happy…”
or maybe creative, uplifting, together, or spiritual. Whatever our gifts, we
can use them to glorify God and he will always, always magnify our efforts as
we strive to help others to know and understand the gospel.
Have a great week!
