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Teaching Message: The Savior’s Call to Serve
President Thomas
S. Monson
All who have studied mathematics know what a common denominator
is. For Latter-day Saints, there is a common denominator that binds us
together. That common denominator is the individual call each of us receives to
fill assignments in God’s kingdom here upon the earth.
Are you ever guilty of murmuring when a calling comes to you? Or
do you accept with thanksgiving each opportunity to serve your brothers and
sisters, knowing that our Heavenly Father will bless those whom He calls?
I would hope that we would not lose the real objective of our
cherished opportunities to serve. That objective, that eternal goal, is the
same spoken of by the Lord and found in the Pearl of Great Price: “For behold,
this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal life of man.”1
May we ever remember that the mantle of membership in The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints is not a cloak of comfort but rather a robe of responsibility. Our duty,
in addition to saving ourselves, is to guide others to the celestial kingdom of
God.
By willingly walking the path of service to God, we will never
be in the position of Shakespeare’s Cardinal Wolsey. Stripped of his power
after a life of service to his king, he sadly lamented:
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, He would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.2
What kind of service does heaven require? “The Lord requireth
the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good
of the land of Zion in these last days.”3
I pause when I think of the words of President John Taylor
(1808–87): “If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible
for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty.”4
Like a glowing searchlight of goodness is the life of Jesus as
He ministered among men. “I am among you as he that serveth,”5 Jesus
declared as He brought strength to the limbs of the cripple, sight to the eyes
of the blind, hearing to the ears of the deaf, and life to the body of the
dead.
With the parable of the good Samaritan, the Master taught us to
love our neighbors as ourselves.6 With His
answer to the rich young ruler, He taught us to shed our selfishness.7 With the
feeding of the 5,000, He taught us to see to the needs of others.8 And with
the Sermon on the Mount, He taught us to seek first the kingdom of God.9
In the New World, the resurrected Lord declared, “Ye know the
things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do
that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye
do.”10
We bless others as we serve in the shadow of “Jesus of Nazareth
… who went about doing good.”11 God bless
us to find joy in serving our Father in Heaven as we serve His children on
earth.
Teaching
from This Message
“[The Lord] will not permit us to fail if we do our part. He
will magnify us even beyond our own talents and abilities. … It is one of the
sweetest experiences that can come to a human being” (Ezra Taft Benson, in Teaching, No Greater Call [1999], 20). Consider sharing
an experience when you or someone you know has felt the Lord magnify his or her
talents and abilities. Invite the family
to share some of their own positive experiences as they have responded to “the
Savior’s call to serve.”
Youth
Serving
in the Temple
When I turned 17, I started thinking seriously about my future,
and I prayed to Heavenly Father about what I could do to prepare to go on a
mission and receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. I felt that I ought to go to
the temple more often because it is the house of the Lord and would be the
place where I could feel closest to my Heavenly Father.
So I set a goal to do 1,000 baptisms in a year. I truly felt the
need to set this goal; I fasted to know if this was what I ought to do. Our
Heavenly Father answered me, and I began to go to the Tampico Mexico Temple
every Saturday.
After I had done 500 baptisms, I set a goal to do family
history research on my ancestors, and I liked doing the research so much that I
could not sleep because I was looking for names. I found 50 names and eight
generations of my family history; I helped do the temple work for all of them.
I ended up doing over 1,300 baptisms, and I graduated from
seminary, received the Melchizedek Priesthood, and am now serving as a
full-time missionary, which was one of my biggest goals in life.
Children
I
Can Do Something for Others
Each of us can do something to help others. President Monson
taught that we should love everyone and learn to see how we can help them.
Look at the boy sitting by the tree. Can you see others around
him he could help?
When you have dinner with your family,
suggest that each family member share one thing he or she did to serve someone
that day. Write your own service experiences in your journal each day.
“Thy Servant Find Me”
cji
8/1/12
Prayers ascending
into the heavens
pleadings and
thankfulness of love
wonder and amazement
of His hearing
humbled by such
pondering of faith
knowledge as wisdom
given so pure
they servant find my
Father so sure
leave me not vacant,
alone or wraith
let me feel the
refining fires searing
let my prayers flee
heavenly above
as truly the Balm of
Gilead leavens!
Copyright © 2012 – cji
Visiting
Teaching Message: Taking Action in Time of Need
As visiting teachers, one of our purposes is to help strengthen
families and homes. The sisters we visit should be able to say, “If I have
problems, I know my visiting teachers will help without waiting to be asked.”
In order to serve, we have a responsibility to be conscious of the needs of the
sisters we visit. When we seek inspiration, we will know how to respond to the
spiritual and temporal needs of each sister we are assigned to visit. Then,
using our time, skills, talents, prayers of faith, and spiritual and emotional
support, we can help give compassionate service during times of illness, death,
and other special circumstances.1
Through the help of reports from visiting teachers, the Relief
Society presidency identifies those who have special needs because of physical
or emotional illness, emergencies, births, deaths, disability, loneliness, or
other challenges. The Relief Society president then reports her findings to the
bishop. Under his direction, she coordinates assistance.2
As visiting teachers we can have “great reason … to rejoice”
because of “the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been
made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work” (Alma 26:1, 3).
From
the Scriptures
From
Our History
In the early years of the Church, membership was small and centralized.
Members could respond quickly when someone was in need. Today our membership is
over 14 million and is spread throughout the world. Visiting teaching is part
of the Lord’s plan to provide help for all His children.
“The only system which could provide succor and comfort across a
church so large in a world so varied would be through individual servants near
the people in need,” said President Henry B. Eyring,
First Counselor in the First Presidency.
“… Every bishop and every branch president has a Relief Society
president to depend upon,” he continued. “She has visiting teachers, who know
the trials and the needs of every sister. She can, through them, know the
hearts of individuals and families. She can meet needs and help the bishop in
his call to nurture individuals and families.”3
What
Can I Do?
1.
Am I using my gifts and talents to bless others?
2.
Do the sisters I watch over know that I am willing to help them
when they have a need?
“The Action Taker”
cji
8/1/12
Seeking to be found
active
stepping in sure and
true
hearing the prompting
soft
another has a need of
me
the action taker they
see
without any
hesitation oft
knowing and doing too
in thy service
proactive!
Copyright © 2012 – cji
