Daily Service

I've had a really hard time figuring out what to write about today.  However, I've decided to write about something I've been thinking a lot about lately.  Last year, I took a class about the New Testament.  As I studied the New Testament, I realized that as Christ went about his life, he always stopped to help those in need, no matter where he was going or who he was going to see.

In Matthew (22:36-39) we read of a time when Christ was asked what the greatest commandment is, I believe that this passage gives great insight into how he conducted his life and how we should conduct our lives, it reads:

“36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

These verses teach us that the first great commandment is to love God and the second, to love our neighbors as ourselves.  The question then is if we are commanded to love, how does love show itself?  What are the fruits of love?  I believe one of the greatest, if not the greatest fruits of love, is service.  It is easy to think of specific ways to give service to those around us, but it becomes a little more tricky to think of specific ways to actually serve the most powerful being in the universe.  So, how do we do it?

It is written in Mosiah (2:17) that King Benjamin told his people, “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”  It is when we serve those around us, God's children, that we really are giving service to Him.  This doctrine makes sense to me because as I think of parents, it is hard to think of a greater service to them than having someone help their child have a great day when they are incapable or cannot be there to do so themselves.  God wants us to take care of each other, our siblings, His children.

God loves us and He wants us to succeed.  We are here to help each other succeed.  Mortal life is not like a typical race where there are individual runners and only one wins.  It is a race where everyone can win and everyone is meant to win, we lose nothing in helping others win, but we gain so much joy by seeing them succeed with us.

I love the quote by President Monson, “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.”  Those words have been ringing in my ears all week and I'm grateful for God's gentle reminder to me.  May we ever treat those around us with kindness and always, always heed those subtle promptings, even when we don't know why.  I'm grateful for God's patience with me and all of us and the joy and love that He sends to us, even when we don't feel deserving of it.  The Church is true and God lives.