First Presidency Message: “Learn of Me”
In
The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day
Saints, we are all teachers and we are all learners. To all comes this gentle
invitation from our Lord: “Learn of me … and ye shall find rest unto your
souls.”1
I invite all Latter-day
Saints to ponder their efforts to teach and to learn and to look to the Savior
as our Guide in doing so. We know that this “teacher come from God”2 was more than a mere teacher. He who
taught us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our souls, all our
strength, and all our minds, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, is the
Master Teacher and the Exemplar of the perfect life.
He it was who declared:
“Come, follow me.”3 “I have set an example for you.”4
Except Ye Be
Converted
Jesus
taught a simple yet profound truth as recorded in Matthew. After He and His
disciples had descended from the Mount of Transfiguration, they paused at
Galilee and then went to Capernaum. There the disciples came unto Jesus,
asking:
“Who
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
“And
Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
“And said, Verily I say
unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”5
In
the Church, the goal of gospel teaching is not to pour information into the
minds of God’s children, whether at home, in the classroom, or in the mission
field. It is not to show how much the parent, teacher, or missionary knows. Nor
is it merely to increase knowledge about the Savior and His Church.
The basic goal of teaching
is to help the sons and daughters of Heavenly Father return to His presence and
enjoy eternal life with Him. To do this, gospel teaching must encourage them
along the path of daily discipleship and sacred covenants. The aim is to
inspire individuals to think about, feel about, and then do something about
living gospel principles. The objective is to develop faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ and to become converted to His gospel.
Teaching
which blesses and converts and saves is teaching which emulates the Savior’s
example. Teachers who emulate the Savior’s example love and serve those they
teach. They inspire their listeners with eternal lessons of divine truth. They
live lives worth emulating.
Love and Serve
The
Savior’s entire ministry exemplified love of neighbor. Indeed, His love and
service were often His lesson. In like manner, the teachers I remember best are
the teachers who knew, loved, and cared about their students. They sought the
lost sheep. They taught life lessons which I shall always remember.
One
such teacher was Lucy Gertsch. She knew each of her students. She unfailingly
called on those who missed a Sunday or who just didn’t come. We knew she cared
about us. None of us has ever forgotten her or the lessons she taught.
Many
years later, when Lucy was nearing the end of her life, I visited with her. We
reminisced concerning those days so long before when she had been our teacher.
We spoke of each member of our class and discussed what each one was now doing.
Her love and caring spanned a lifetime.
“I
give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of
the kingdom.
“Teach ye diligently and my
grace shall attend you.”6
Lucy
Gertsch taught diligently because she loved untiringly.
Offer Hope and Truth
The Apostle Peter
counseled, “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a
reason of the hope that is in you.”7
Perhaps
the greatest hope a teacher can offer is the hope found in the truths of the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
“And what is it that ye
shall hope for?” Mormon asked. “Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope
through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection,
to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him.”8
Teachers, lift up your
voices and testify to the true nature of the Godhead. Declare your witness
concerning the Book
of Mormon. Convey the glorious and beautiful truths contained in the
plan of salvation. Use Church-approved materials, especially the scriptures, to
teach the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in their purity and
simplicity. Remember the Savior’s injunction to “search the scriptures; for in
them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”9
Help
God’s children understand what is genuine and important in this life. Help them
develop the strength to choose paths that will keep them safely on the way to
eternal life.
Teach truth, and the Holy
Ghost will attend your
efforts.
“Learn of Me”
Because Jesus Christ was
perfectly obedient and submissive to His Father, He “increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favour with God and man.”10 Do we have the determination to do
likewise? Just as Jesus “received grace for grace,”11 we must patiently and persistently seek
light and knowledge from God in our efforts to learn the gospel.
Listening is an essential
element of learning. When preparing to be taught, we prayerfully seek
inspiration and confirmation from the Holy Ghost. We ponder, we pray, we apply
gospel lessons, and we seek the Father’s will for us.12
Jesus “taught … many
things by parables,”13 which require ears to hear, eyes to
see, and hearts to understand. As we live worthily, we can better hear the
whisperings of the Holy Ghost, which can “teach [us] all things, and bring all
things to [our] remembrance.”14
When
we respond to the Lord’s gentle invitation, “Learn of me,” we become partakers
of His divine power. Let us, therefore, go forward in the spirit of obedience,
following our Exemplar by teaching as He would have us teach and learning as He
would have us learn.
Teaching from this
message
President Monson invites us
to “ponder [our] efforts to teach and to learn and to look to the Savior as our
Guide in doing so.” You might consider searching the scriptures with those you
visit to find insights into the ways that Jesus
Christ taught and
learned. You could start with some of the scriptures President Monson
referenced, such as Matthew 11:29, John 5:30, and Mark 4:2. You could discuss how what you have learned
about Christ can help you “become partakers of His divine power.”
Children
Learning about Jesus
Illustration
by Katie McDee
The Holy
Ghost gives us
peaceful feelings to help us know that Jesus is real and loves us. Write or
draw something that you have learned about Jesus.
“Discerning
Our Savior”
cji
3/1/16
Read and
ponder the Scriptures
within
them is who our Savior is
and what
we are required to know
difficult
it is to love another
unknown
and a stranger to each
thus
unhidden is who He is really
and each
responsible for knowing
to
discern all about Him today
able
then to keep Commandments
reading
and pondering His life!
Copyright © 2016 – cji
