Knowing God
John 17:3 reads And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent.
As
I have prepared for my mission, I have studied the “Preach my Gospel”
manual. There are 5 lessons contained in
the handbook that outline the basic knowledge of the gospel needed to join the
church. All of the principles taught are important and give us a better
understanding of who we are and why we are here, but one reflects the purpose
of eternal life as state by John in the verse I just read. The whole purpose of life eternal is to KNOW
the only true god. So who is this one
and true god and what is he like? In the
first lesson given to investigators, the first truth that is taught helps us
learn just that.
God is our Heavenly Father. We are His
children. He has a body of flesh and bone that is glorified and perfected. He
loves us. He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is
right.
First
things first. God is our Heavenly Father.
This alone can be a difficult concept for some to wrap their minds
around. Many people believe that he is
merely our creator and us his creations.
The reality of the situation is much more mind-boggling and
significant. God is literally the father
of our spirits. Not only is god our
father, but he is a perfect and loving father.
Many people think that simply believing in God is enough to bring
salvation, but Bruce R MacConkie counseled differently in a 1971 talk titled
how to worship. He said.
“A
knowledge of the truth is essential to true worship. We must learn that God is
our Father and that he is an exalted and perfected personage in whose image we
are created”
He
goes on to tell us that if we worship the true and living God, in spirit and in
truth, then God Almighty will pour out his spirit upon us. In order to obtain salvation we have to
understand who our father is so we can properly acknowledge and worship him.
Realizing
that God is our father spiritually brings us to the next part of this principle. We are his children. Why is this realization so important? As a
child of God, we have divine potential that cannot be denied. Our Father in Heaven wants to bless us with
all that he has. And we should desire to
receive it. My dad explained this to me
with these words. “As a father there is
nothing you want more then to give your children all that you can so you can
see them succeed.” This applies to our
Father in Heaven as well. God wants to
pour out his blessing upon us and give us all that is his, including the
kingdom of heaven.
The
next part of the lesson says. He has a body of flesh and bone that is glorified
and perfected. God is the father of our
spirits, but before we came to earth, there was no way that we could be like
God, because we did not have bodies to call our own. God gave us all the opportunity to come to
earth to obtain a physical body like the one he has. This life is a time for us to grow in our
knowledge of him so that after we dies, our bodies may become glorified and perfected
just like God’s body. In order to do
that, we must grow as close to him as we can in this life. That means obeying his commandments, gaining
a testimony of the truth, and helping others learn of their own divine
potential.
In Alma 34:32, alma teaches us the purpose of this life.
For behold, this life is the time for
men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men
to perform their labors.
I haven’t yet been to university, but I like to think of
this life as a celestial college. We’ve
all worked our way into this college to further our spiritual and eternal
development. Graduating in this college
means being able to take the next step so that we can live with God again. We all chose to be here of our own free will,
and we have been given different talents and abilities to help us “graduate” in
this life. God, as our father, wants to
help us get through college and succeed.
In order to receive his assistance, however, we must ask for it. I don’t know about you or your parents, but I
know that my parents probably wouldn’t be all too happy with paying my way in
college if I was just screwing around!
Heavenly Father is no different.
He needs to know that we seriously desire to graduate. If we aren’t trying at all, then we aren’t
able to receive all the blessings that he is willing to pour out on us. If, on the other hand, we decide to work
hard, then he is willing to bless us immensely.
This does not mean that we won’t get the occasional sub-par grade, or
take an extremely challenging course, but it does mean that we are still able
to pass in this life. There is no
flunking out in this college of life. We
are here to stay, for better or for worse, until the end. If we want to be rewarded in the next life we
have to work hard. If we decide to mess
around or slack off, there will be consequences in the future.
By
this point you have probably forgotten where and how this talk started, so I
would like to remind you of the statement in Preach my Gospel, which reads
God is our Heavenly Father. We are His
children. He has a body of flesh and bone that is glorified and perfected. He
loves us. He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is
right.
I’ve
talked about the first half but the second half of this is equally important in
understanding the nature of God. God loves us. He weeps with us when we suffer
and rejoices when we do what is right. I
used to have an extremely difficult time comprehending the extent of this love
that god has for us. The more that I
grow in the gospel and the more time I spend near my savior, the more I feel of
His love for me. I know that as a mere
18-year-old child, I really can’t even begin to understand the depth of love
God feels for us. I can, however have an
idea of what God is willing to do for us.
My love for my family is the most compelling love I have ever felt, and
I don’t think there is anything I wouldn’t do for them. If that is the depth of my mortal and flawed
love, what must be the depth of my Father in Heaven’s love for me in his
immortal and perfect state.
I
came to this realization rather recently.
He cares so much for us that it causes him to suffer when we suffer and
rejoice when we succeed. I had no idea
what weeping at our suffering truly meant until very recently. I know it is a cliché thing to do, but I
looked up the definition of weeping.
Weeping is to express grief, sorrow, or any overwhelming emotion by shedding tears. True weeping is something that doesn’t happen
that often. There is a difference in
being emotional and tearing up, and weeping.
I didn’t know that! I always
thought that when God wept for us when we suffered it meant he was crying with
us in our frustration. The truth is much
more astonishing.
When
my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I got a taste of what it means to truly
weep. Before my father was diagnosed, he
had been in a lot of back pain due to some fractured vertebrae. He, being the macho man he is, had decided
that his broken back was only some pulled muscles and he suffered in silence
until my mom finally managed to convince him to go to the doctor. They discovered his condition and told Sawyer
and I that night. I have NEVER been so
devastated in my life. As some of you
may know, I am a very sentimental and emotional person. My dad has always been a strong and solid
rock in my life and suddenly that had changed.
My future no longer seemed certain and I felt lost. For the first time in my life, I wept. There was a depth of sorrow and grief that I
didn’t even know existed until that point.
I wanted to take my dad’s pain away from him. I felt powerless and insignificant. There is no way to express the feelings that
I felt at seeing my father in pain. I’ve
heard that there is no greater love then the love of a parent for their child,
yet I felt this inexpicable grief at my dad’s situation and it made me
think. If I could care for my father
this much, he must care for me even more!
God
is the father of all of our spirits, he loves us to an extent that none of us
can comprehend. He hates to see us
suffer. The grief and anguish he feels
when we do suffer causes him to weep. I
wish that I had the power to comfort, heal, or help my father in his time of
need, but I did not. God has the power
to comfort and heal us in our trials and he has the love for us to help. Many of my friends have asked me why I want
to serve a mission. Now that I have a
true testimony of Gods love for us all, how could I not serve a mission? Once you have felt the love that our Father
in Heaven has for us, the first thing you want is for others to feel it. The first time I really and truly felt of
Gods love for me, I was overwhelmed with a warmth and joy that I had never felt
before.
My
dad explained missionary work to my brother and sister in this way. He told them that our purpose as missionaries
was not to get people to convert to the LDS faith, but rather our purpose is to
bring others unto Christ. For the next
two years I will have the privilege of serving the Chilean people in the
Santiago South mission. Ever since I
received my call, I have had this feeling that I belong there. There are people in Santiago that need me to
go there and teach them the truth and it’s my responsibility to be there to
teach them. I know that the gospel
blesses lives and that it is the goal of my mission to bless lives. I cannot imagine a life without the knowledge
of our Father in Heaven that I have been given. I have a testimony that He is a
living and loving God and that we matter to Him. I have a testimony about His son Jesus Christ
who is our Savior and Redeemer. I know
that we can be forgiven through the power of the Atonement and that same power
can comfort us and heal us in times of suffering and hardship. I am so grateful for my Savior.
