I was asked to speak today on the
hymn, I Believe in Christ (#134 if you want to look it up). Sometimes when we are singing the hymns, I
feel like we are so used to them that we end up just reading words rather than
understanding the importance of the song.
I want to start out by reading the first verse of I Believe in Christ.
I believe in Christ; He is my King!
With all my
heart to him I’ll sing;
I’ll raise
my voice in praise and joy,
in grand
amens my tongue employ.
I believe
in Christ; he is God’s son.
On earth to
dwell his soul did come.
He healed
the sick; the dead he raised.
Good works
were his; his name be praised.
The part that really stands out to me is the line, “I’ll
raise my voice.” We can believe in
Christ – believe he once lived on earth, believe he died for us, believe he
still watches over us, believe he loves us, believe he is our Savior – we can
believe in all of this because it’s true!
I have felt the Spirit testifying to me the truthfulness of all these
things. But, belief is just a starting
point. Once we establish a belief in
Christ for ourselves, we need to act on it – we need to raise our voices!
As many of
you know, I play lacrosse here at UW. I
picked it up because my friend loved it and wanted me to try. Obviously, it took a while for me to become
good enough to actually play in a game, but once I did, I fell in love with the
sport. And I understood what my friend
had felt when convincing me to play. I
get so excited even just talking about lacrosse and have literally tried to
convince every single one of my friends to play! It just makes me so happy. Anyways… I know this is such a silly example
and I’m pretty sure that you all know where I’m going with it… but I’m going to
say it anyways!
Like lacrosse, the gospel makes me
so HAPPY. Christ brings light and
strength and peace and comfort and forgiveness and encouragement and love and
happiness and all these and more wonderful blessings. And don’t we want our friends and our family
to be able to understand and receive these blessings as well?? It is our job to
bring them the gospel. And it is hard. Oh, I know it is so hard. But we ought to at least TRY. In his book, The Power of the Everyday Missionary (which is a great book, by the
way. I encourage you all to read it.),
Clayton M. Christensen says, “We succeed when we invite.” I love this quote. Christ has asked us to invite others to learn
about his gospel and come unto him. Our
job is to invite. We can’t make
decisions for them, so if they don’t choose to accept the gospel, that is their
own choice. And yes, it’s so
disappointing when you know how much the gospel would bless them and how they
would love it, if they just gave it a chance.
BUT, you did exactly what Christ asked of you—you invited them to learn
more. And we succeed when we
invite. In last October’s General
Conference, Elder M. Russell Ballard extended a challenge to us all that I
would like to re-extend. He said,
“It is impossible for us to fail
when we do our best when we are on the Lord’s errand. While the outcome is a result of the exercise
of one’s agency, sharing the gospel is our responsibility… We are not asking
everyone to do everything. We are simply
asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will
reach out to just “one” between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a
wonderful gift to the Savior.”
Yes, what a wonderful gift to the Savior this would be! Now, I think this is definitely do-able. That gives each of us almost 7 months to
reach out to one person. Can each
of us accept that challenge? Start today
by praying to God for guidance on how and who you can reach out to and He will
give you opportunities to “raise your voice.”
I think
verses two and three work really well together, so I am going to read them
both.
I believe
in Christ; oh blessed name!
As Mary’s
son he came to reign
‘Mid mortal men, his earthly kin,
To save them from the woes of sin
I believe in Christ, who marked the
path,
Who did gain all his Father hath,
who said to men: “Come follow me,
That ye, my friends, with God may
be.
I believe in Christ—my Lord, my
God!
My feet he plants on gospel sod.
I’ll worship him with all my might;
He is the source of truth and
light.
I believe in Christ; he ransoms me.
From Satan’s grasp he sets me free,
And I shall live with joy and love
In eternal courts above.
There is so much that these verses cover that one talk, let
alone one part of a talk, could never cover it all, so I want to specifically
focus on one thing—Christ’s personal relationship with us. Let me read again the last line of verse
two. “[He] said to men: “Come follow me,
that ye, my friends, with God may be.””
He called us his friends. We’re not just members of his church. We’re not just his students. We’re not just little humans on this big
earth trying to get by. Jesus Christ—the
Savior of the world, the one who set the perfect example, the one who performs
miracle after miracle, who bled from every pore and suffered for all the sins
and all the pain and all the loss and all the sorrow of the world, the one who
died for us and the one who lived again—HE called YOU his friend. Everything he does is because he loves
YOU—each and every one of you. It does
not matter where your life has taken you or what choices you have made, his love
for you will NEVER change. He is always
mindful of you and of your circumstances.
And he ever so desperately wants for you to return to him and to be able
to live forever with him and our Heavenly Father in the celestial kingdom. He wants you to experience that happiness so
much that he gave the ultimate sacrifice—his life—so that despite our faults,
we will be able to live again. Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland said, “Always, may we stand by Jesus Christ, “at all times
and in all things and in all places that we in, even unto death,” for surely
that is how He stood by us when it WAS unto death and when He had to stand
entirely and utterly alone.” We are not
alone. We do not have to feel
alone. Jesus Christ is your friend and
your Savior and He will ALWAYS be by your side.
Which leads me to the final verse…
I believe in Christ; he stands
supreme!
From him
I’ll gain my fondest dream;
And while I strive through grief
and pain
His voice is heard: “Ye shall
obtain.”
I believe in Christ; so come what
may,
With him I’ll stand in that great
day
When on this earth he comes again
To rule among the sons of men.
This verse
focuses on the strength, encouragement, and comfort that Christ brings to us in
times of difficulty and heartache. I am
just about to finish up my first year here at UW and I have absolutely loved
Seattle, but I’m not going to lie, moving away from home and living on my own
for the first time was HARD. I am sure
everyone has experienced this at some point when you first started living on
your own. Leaving my very best friends
was hard. Moving out of my house and
leaving my family broke my heart.
Leaving the people I spent every second of my days with and coming to a
place where I knew absolutely no one was, yes, exciting, but also very
frightening. I knew I would be
lonely. I knew my friends back home
would continue on normally while I started over. I knew that Seattle would be VERY different
than good ol’ Holladay, Utah. But in the
midst of it all, among the tears and the heartache and the loneliness, over and
over I saw God’s hand in my life and I saw Christ’s Atonement working and
comforting me and smoothing out the rough places.
I knew I
was not alone. Christ was very
aware of me and he knew exactly what I needed.
He gave me so many little blessings to show me that he was aware. For example, I met people who became instant
friends. I had always hoped my first
calling would either be to lead the music in sacrament or to play the piano in
Relief Society—and look, I got both! The
first day I stepped into church, I was immediately introduced to people and
others asked me to come sit by them – I told my mom that day, “I’m definitely
the baby of the ward, but everyone is so nice and so welcoming, it doesn’t even
matter!” My next-door neighbor happened
to become my best friend. My dad always
called at the exact time I needed to talk to him. The list goes on. I was having a hard time that first quarter
and Christ knew exactly what I was feeling.
I just want
to end with one last thought. My
favorite line of the whole song, and what I think is the most powerful is in
the last verse. It says, “I believe in
Christ; so come what may, with him I’ll stand in that great day.” So come what
may because with Christ’s love, comfort, friendship, and Atonement, you are stronger that your trials. So come what may, because Christ knows YOU,
he knows what you are going through. He
knows what you are going through. He
knows what you need.
Act on your
belief. Remember that He knows you. Strengthen your personal relationship with
Him. Rely on Christ’s Atonement. I want to bear my testimony that these things
are true. And I say this, in the name of
Jesus Christ, Amen.
