Our
Responsibility to Rescue
By President Thomas S. Monson,
President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
For Latter-day Saints, the need to rescue our brothers and
sisters who have, for one reason or another, strayed from the path of Church
activity is of eternal significance. Do we know of such people who once
embraced the gospel? If so, what is our responsibility to rescue them?
Consider the lost among the aged, the widowed, and the sick. All
too often they are found in the parched and desolate wilderness of isolation
called loneliness. When youth departs, when health declines, when vigor wanes,
when the light of hope flickers ever so dimly, they can be succored and
sustained by the hand that helps and the heart that knows compassion.
There are, of course, others who need rescue. Some struggle with
sin while others wander in fear or apathy or ignorance. For whatever reason,
they have isolated themselves from activity in the Church. And they will almost
certainly remain lost unless there awakens in us—the active members of the
Church—a desire to rescue and to save.
Someone
to Show the Way
Some time ago I received a letter written by a man who had
strayed from the Church. It typifies too many of our members. After describing
how he had become inactive, he wrote:
“I had so much and now have so little. I am unhappy and feel as
though I am failing in everything. The gospel has never left my heart, even
though it has left my life. I ask for your prayers.
“Please don’t forget those of us who are out here—the lost Latter-day
Saints. I know where the Church is, but sometimes I think I need someone else
to show me the way, encourage me, take away my fear, and bear testimony to me.”
While I was reading this letter, my thoughts turned to a visit I
made to one of the great art galleries of the world—the famed Victoria and
Albert Museum in London, England. There, exquisitely framed, is a masterpiece
painted in 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner. The painting features
heavy-laden black clouds and the fury of a turbulent sea portending danger and
death. A light from a stranded vessel gleams far off. In the foreground, tossed
high by incoming waves of foaming water, is a large lifeboat. The men pull
mightily on the oars as the lifeboat plunges into the tempest. On the shore stand
a wife and two children, wet with rain and whipped by wind. They gaze anxiously
seaward. In my mind I abbreviated the name of the painting. To me it became To the Rescue.1
Amid the storms of life, danger lurks. Men and women, boys and
girls find themselves stranded and facing destruction. Who will guide the
lifeboats, leaving behind the comforts of home and family, and go to the rescue?
Our task is not insurmountable. We are on the Lord’s errand; we
are entitled to His help.
During the Master’s ministry, He called fishermen at Galilee to
leave their nets and follow Him, declaring, “I will make you fishers of men.”2 May we
join the ranks of the fishers of men and women, that we might provide whatever
help we can.
Ours is the duty to reach out to rescue those who have left the
safety of activity, that such might be brought to the table of the Lord to
feast on His word, to enjoy the companionship of His Spirit, and to be “no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God.”3
The
Principle of Love
I have found that two fundamental reasons largely account for a
return to activity and for changes of attitudes, habits, and actions. First,
individuals return because someone has shown them their eternal possibilities
and has helped them decide to achieve them. The less active can’t long rest
content with mediocrity once they see that excellence is within their reach.
Second, others return because loved ones or “fellow citizens
with the saints” have followed the admonition of the Savior, have loved their
neighbors as themselves,4 and have
helped others to bring their dreams to fulfillment and their ambitions to
realization.
The catalyst in this process has been—and will continue to
be—the principle of love.
In a very real sense, those persons stranded in the storm-tossed
sea of Turner’s painting are like many of our less-active members who await
rescue by those who guide the lifeboats. Their hearts yearn for help. Mothers
and fathers pray for their sons and daughters. Wives plead to heaven that their
husbands may be reached. Sometimes children pray for their parents.
It is my prayer that we might have a desire to rescue the less
active and to bring them back to the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that they might partake
with us of all that full fellowship has to offer.
May we reach out to rescue the lost who surround us: the aged,
the widowed, the sick, those with disabilities, the less active, and those who
are not keeping the commandments. May we extend to them the hand that helps and
the heart that knows compassion. By doing so, we will bring joy into their
hearts, and we will experience the rich satisfaction that comes to us when we
help another along the pathway to eternal life.
Teaching
from This Message
Consider asking the people you visit if they know anyone who has
been struggling to attend church. You could choose one person and discuss ways
to show love, such as inviting him or her to participate in a family home evening or to come over for a
meal.
Youth
The
Gift of Jen
By Josi S. Kilpack
The author lives in Utah, USA.
10790_000_004
I made a series of wrong choices my sophomore year of high
school. Those choices led to serious consequences and unhappiness, and I
decided to use my summer break to begin making changes. When school started
again, I ate lunch in a bathroom stall or empty hallway to avoid the bad
relationships waiting to welcome me back.
I had never felt so alone.
Then God gave me a gift: He sent me Jen. She never judged me for
my mistakes but instead encouraged me to keep moving in the right direction.
Knowing she would be at school helped me continue to read my scriptures and
nurture my testimony. By the time graduation came, I had proven to myself that
I was committed to change.
I wonder sometimes where I would be today if Jen hadn’t reached
out to me. Could I have stuck to my principles without her? Luckily, I will
never know because she was there with her whole heart, ready and willing to
help me.
Children
Ways
to Rescue
President Thomas S.
Monson teaches that we should reach out to others, including the elderly,
widowed, sick, less active, and those who need extra help. Look at the pictures
below and circle the ones that show something you could do to help others.
On the lines below, write some ways you can help others. You can
use the pictures for ideas.
Notes
1.
The painting’s full title is Life-Boat and
Manby Apparatus Going Off to a Stranded Vessel Making Signal (Blue Lights) of
Distress.
“The Ability to
Rescue”
(another)
cji
10/1/13
Can we be found worthy/able
stretching forth our
hand in love
not asking anything
for our self
just to be willing to
help another;
There is no heroics
to help another
just the love of
doing oft service
thus having the
ability to rescue
being in the Lord’s
hand today!
Copyright © 2013 –
cji
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