Learning How to Invite

We are trained to give the Sunday School answers. They are learned, innate, and rote, and we can provide them at the drop of a hat. When asked, "how do we invite the Spirit in our lives?" we invariably respond, "pray, read the scriptures, and attend our church meetings." How many times have you heard that? I reckon countless times...we've known them since Sunday School, for cryin' out loud!

There's a like response that occurs in the face of the Lord's ever-important admonition:

For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
--Moses 1:39

In Stake Conference this weekend we were pleased to have Elder Lowell M. Snow as our visiting General Authority. He spoke to us about many things, but something that impacted me revolved around the above scripture. Assuming that God's work and glory is also our work and glory, we can see that we are to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. Well, with the Resurrection of the Savior we know that all will live again, which means that all we have to do is bring about the eternal life of man, or helping man live like God does.

This is done as we fulfill our purpose, which is the same for everyone, but published in Preach My Gospel:

Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in
Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
enduring to the end. (PMG, p. 1)

When we visit those within our stewardship, is this what we invite them to do? All too often, home and visiting teaching turns into the same rote performance that all 12 year-olds in the Church know how to recite. We share a message from the Ensign, ask if there's anything we can do for them, and when they respond there isn't, we assume that all is well, and that are tally mark is more meaningful. Or, if we are in reactivation efforts, we visit the family, invite them back to church, and when they don't return, chock it up to their agency (which is still true), or that it just "isn't their time yet."

It will always be their time! Although Heavenly Father does not force blessings upon anyone, he is always willing to grant them, as long as we ask for them. And if those we teach have become unfamiliar with this doctrine, it is ever more our responsibility to invite them to come unto Christ.

So how do we invite? In Elder Snow's words, "we stop worrying about doing, and start becoming." I believe that in the hustle and bustle of life, we often neglect the spirit of our service, and turn it into a list that we must check off. Inviting others to come unto to Christ may still take the form of its constituents (e.g., inviting a less-active member to come to church), but it carries more meaning as pound-for-pound there is more Christlike love driving it home. The Lord said, "when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." (Luke 22:32) So, when we invite those within our stewardship to make commitments, we are inviting them to be converted as we are. When we are converted, we keep commitments or covenants not because it is socially desirable to do so, but because we know that blessings will come as we do so. We know that they lead us toward living as God is, even eternal life.

I know that these things are true. I am ever grateful for the knowledge that I have regarding the love that the Savior has for me personally, and pray that we may all feel of this love, even unto the strengthening of our brothers and sisters as we invite them to come unto Christ.

Have a great week!

The Miracle of the Metaphor

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

--Isaiah 12:2-3

Isn't it great that we have metaphors? The purpose of metaphors is to compare a real but often complex concept to another real concept that is more easily understood. In the above scripture, it's safe to say that salvation does not come by physically going to a well and drawing water from it; however, we come to learn through our deductive reasoning that Christ is often represented by "living waters" (e.g., John 4: 7-15; 7:38), and that turning unto him through sincere prayer, repentance, and service is like going to a well, and drawing water out. In my opinion, there is a miracle in using metaphors: it is not the metaphor itself, but the fact that these comparisons can be used in such a way that "pierce[s] them that [do] hear to the center, insomuch that there [is] no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake" (3 Nephi 11: 3)

How is this done? It must needs be through the Spirit itself, which bears witness to our Spirits, that we are children of God (see Romans 8:16). The fact that we are children of God is universal, and is a trait that every inhabitant of the earth can boast. However, in our fallen state we often lose sight of basic, eternal truths that we held dear in the preexistence. Luckily, the Savior left the Spirit to testify and "remind" us of these truths. This is performed through an ethereal interaction not yet understood by modern science, where the Holy Ghost communicates with the spirit inside of each one of us, testifying of eternal truths.

So, it must needs be that the miracle of the metaphor be tied to familiarity, that it might fully pierce our being with tacit meaning.

In Helaman 5: 30 we learn about the voice of the Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead:

And it came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul—

When talking about spiritual metaphors or parables, the miracle has an extra wrinkle: readiness to listen and understand on the part of the recipient. We need to be in touch with the "perfect mildness" by which the Spirit speaks to us. A great scriptural example can be found in the Book of John. Like many Pharisees, Nicodemus was a literal thinker, and didn't easily take to understanding the words of the Savior. Nevertheless, he traveled to Jesus under the cover of nightfall to pay his respects, saying that "no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus was perplexed by what must have seemed like crazy talk. How often in our lives do we hear the counsel of inspired leaders, and treat it as naught? How often do warnings, exhortations, or special instructions come unto us, but because we are not attuned, we do not understand the semantic AND holistic subtleties?

It is my hope that we may seek after the Spirit, that we may come to recognize metaphors for what they mean, counsel for what it weighs, and the Savior for who He truly is. I also hope that we may, through the Spirit, understand our own natures, and that we are meant to be perfect, even as Heavenly Father and his Son are.

Have a great week!