How many times are we sitting in a church meeting and hear the lines "I know the church is true" or "I know the Gospel is true"? Growing up it almost becomes something of habit and things we use interchangeably. Luckily as we grow older and pay more attention we learn that although both are still just as accurate as the first time we said them, the phrases mean very different things. Personally as I served a mission in Chile, I had the unforgettable experience of spending two years in the service of my Savior. They were two years where His name didn't leave my lips and anyone I met would hear my testimony of both His restored Gospel and His Church in these latter days. I loved sharing how we can all feel joy and true peace not just occasionally, but rather every day of lives as we follow Him.
Of course as we taught the missionary discussions, we would get the one called "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" and in order to help our investigators remember it with simplicity we would teach the lesson as the five things we need to do. As I served, I came to recognize that the five things, faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, were pretty useless without context and so upon further study of Preach My Gospel, we started teaching not just the five things, but we would preface each lesson with WHY we need the Gospel in our lives. We would talk of spiritual death and sin and how without reconciliation all hope is lost because of the law of justice.
However, what I feel now looking back, is that I should have focused much more on the most important part of all, the only reason those five things have any power at all, the answer to the demands of justice, the reason for hope, our Savior Jesus Christ. After all, it is not just faith that brings miracles and salvation to us, it is faith IN Jesus Christ. It is not just the Gospel or Atonement we need to implement and learn about, it is the Gospel OF Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Too often do I focus too much on the acts and gifts He has given us and not enough on who gave those gifts to us and His power to save us. After all the act of repenting isn't what saves us, and not even close. We do not merit our salvation.
No, rather we rely on the mercies of He who is powerful to save, He whose merits can rescue a sinner such as myself. His is the power. He is the good news of the Gospel.
That is what hit me as I was reading in 3 Nephi 27:13-14. Being an engineering major who switched to Biophysics, I analyze a lot and look for the cut and dry formulas that can be applied across many problems I encounter in my studies. So when I read Christ saying that He is about to explain what the Gospel is, I get excited to look for the five things He has asked us to do to be cleansed of sin. However, in verses 13-14 he doesn't start with that, but rather says that the Gospel is this:
What a gift to know that, and I never want to forget that He is the gift and He is the answer. In all the learning and striving we do, we cannot lose our center who is Christ. As we work to improve constantly we cannot forget the news: that He has come. Let him make so much more of you. I love that He is my Savior and Redeemer and I want to obey because He has that power to save and redeem. So next time life is confusing or contradictory, at least we have a back up that is constant and all powerful, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Of course as we taught the missionary discussions, we would get the one called "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" and in order to help our investigators remember it with simplicity we would teach the lesson as the five things we need to do. As I served, I came to recognize that the five things, faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, were pretty useless without context and so upon further study of Preach My Gospel, we started teaching not just the five things, but we would preface each lesson with WHY we need the Gospel in our lives. We would talk of spiritual death and sin and how without reconciliation all hope is lost because of the law of justice.
However, what I feel now looking back, is that I should have focused much more on the most important part of all, the only reason those five things have any power at all, the answer to the demands of justice, the reason for hope, our Savior Jesus Christ. After all, it is not just faith that brings miracles and salvation to us, it is faith IN Jesus Christ. It is not just the Gospel or Atonement we need to implement and learn about, it is the Gospel OF Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Too often do I focus too much on the acts and gifts He has given us and not enough on who gave those gifts to us and His power to save us. After all the act of repenting isn't what saves us, and not even close. We do not merit our salvation.
No, rather we rely on the mercies of He who is powerful to save, He whose merits can rescue a sinner such as myself. His is the power. He is the good news of the Gospel.
That is what hit me as I was reading in 3 Nephi 27:13-14. Being an engineering major who switched to Biophysics, I analyze a lot and look for the cut and dry formulas that can be applied across many problems I encounter in my studies. So when I read Christ saying that He is about to explain what the Gospel is, I get excited to look for the five things He has asked us to do to be cleansed of sin. However, in verses 13-14 he doesn't start with that, but rather says that the Gospel is this:
13 Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.
14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—
He is the Gospel, which is really the Good News. The doctrine that our Savior was trying to teach in the simplest way possible is that He has come to the world. After millennia of waiting for this promised Savior to bridge the gap and lead us home as the Good Shepherd, after so much time of preaching the joy that comes through following Him, He has come! And why did He come? He came to draw all people unto himself, to lift us upon His shoulders and carry us home. For really we do not earn our salvation, but we work at living the Gospel of Jesus Christ to allow Him to cleanse us from sin and lead us back to our Heavenly home.What a gift to know that, and I never want to forget that He is the gift and He is the answer. In all the learning and striving we do, we cannot lose our center who is Christ. As we work to improve constantly we cannot forget the news: that He has come. Let him make so much more of you. I love that He is my Savior and Redeemer and I want to obey because He has that power to save and redeem. So next time life is confusing or contradictory, at least we have a back up that is constant and all powerful, our Lord Jesus Christ.
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