In
ancient times, Heavenly Father commanded his covenant people to offer
sacrifices. This was to symbolize the sacrifice of the Savior and showed their
faith and devotion to God. The Savior’s Atonement, which was an infinite and
eternal sacrifice, was the end to all animal sacrifice. Christ introduced the
new sacrifice when he visited the Nephites after His resurrection. 3 Nephi
9:19-20 says, “19 And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood;
yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will
accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings. 20 And ye shall offer
for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh
unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire
and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at
the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost,
and they knew it not.” It may sound very simple to come unto Christ with a
broken heart and a contrite spirit and live the gospel. But we, as members of
the church, know that this is sometimes easier said than done. It can be
challenging to live the gospel, but that’s why it’s a sacrifice. It’s not
supposed to be easy. But because of the Savior’s sacrifice, we have the
opportunity to gain eternal life and exaltation. This is obtained through our
faithfulness and obedience in living the gospel. And I can promise you that the
blessings of eternal life and exaltation are definitely worth the hard work
that we put forth in this life.
To
have a broken heart and a contrite spirit means to be humble and receptive to
the will of God and His counsel. To do this we must sacrifice our pride, our
wants and our desires. The greatest example of this kind of sacrifice is of our
Savior. Christ had the power to save himself from suffering during the
Atonement. He even asked His Father in Heaven to make it stop. In Luke 22:42 he
said, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.” But Christ knew
what Heavenly Father’s plan was for him, and for all of us. He knew that
without His Atoning sacrifice, none of us could attain eternal life and
exaltation. And then Christ said, “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be
done.” Christ showed us that the will of God is always greater than our will.
It may be difficult or not what we wanted to do. But He is our Eternal Father,
and He knows what is best for all of us. We just need to trust in His plan and
follow with faith and obedience.
I
decided to serve a mission when the mission age was lowered. My testimony grew
very weak in the months leading up to General Conference. I was also trying to make
big life decisions, like where to go to college, what to major in, and what to
do with my life. I tried figuring this out all on my own, but I was
unsuccessful. After a few months of my failed efforts I realized that I
couldn’t do it without Heavenly Father’s help and I had to trust in His plan. I
decided that I needed to humble myself and ask Him for help. I prayed and asked
Heavenly Father to help me. I said that I would do whatever He needed me to do,
but I needed Him to tell me. My answer was to serve a mission and I knew that
it was the right thing to do.
At
that point in my life, I had no desire to serve a mission. I thought why would
Heavenly Father ask someone with basically no testimony to go and preach the
gospel? I still don’t exactly know why Heavenly Father needs me to serve a
mission. I just know that I need to, and that is enough for me. Throughout the
past almost two years since the age change, I have gained a strong testimony as
I’ve been preparing to serve a mission. But there were a few times during that
time where I started to let my fear overpower my faith. I started thinking
about how difficult a mission would be, whether or not I would be a good
missionary, and all the worldly things I would have to sacrifice when I left. I
was most worried that I wasn’t qualified to serve a mission because of my lack
of testimony. As I started to doubt, a quote kept running through my head, and
it was “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” This brought
so much peace to me. Anytime I started to doubt I remembered Heavenly Father’s
love for me and the things he had blessed me with, especially the answer to my
prayer. I thought that the least I could do to show my love for and devotion to
Heavenly Father was to do His will and serve a mission. I knew that as long as
I was faithful and obedient, Heavenly Father would magnify my efforts and make
me an instrument in His hands. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said it perfectly, “God
does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability,
and if we prove our dependability, he will increase our capability.” As we
sacrifice our time to the building up of the kingdom of God, He will improve
our abilities and bestow the blessings of Heaven upon us. I have recognized the
Lord’s hand in my life as I have prepared to serve. I have gained a strong
testimony, the desire to serve, and a love for the people I will be teaching
and serving with. Heavenly Father has blessed my family and me so much and I
know that this is only a preview for things to come.
I
can’t speak from experience, yet, but I know that serving a mission will be one
of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and that it will also be one of the most
rewarding experiences of my life. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “You will
come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be
the greatest investment that you will ever make.” I had the opportunity to
spend the day with the sister missionaries this past week. Most of the day was
very hard and frustrating. Almost all of the people we visited weren’t home and
it we were super hot and tired. But we had an appointment at the end of the day
with someone who was very seriously investigating the church. We taught the
first missionary discussion, which is The Restoration. This was my first time
teaching so I was really nervous. But the Spirit was so strong that night. Our
investigator prayed for the very first time to ask Heavenly Father if The Book
of Mormon was true. It was such a powerful and heartfelt prayer. I realized
that that one lesson made the whole day worth it. We were able to bring someone
closer to Christ, and it was such a great feeling. I felt the joy that’s spoken
of in D&C 18:15: “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in
crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how
great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!” I was able to
glimpse at how difficult and wonderful missionary work is. Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland said, “I am convinced that missionary work is not easy, because
salvation is not a cheap experience.” As missionaries, we sacrifice lots of our
time, energy, wants and other worldly things, because The Gospel of Jesus
Christ is the most important thing that there is.
Brothers
and sisters, I realize that not all of you have or will serve full-time
missions. But there are simple sacrifices that we can make to help build up the
kingdom of God, like paying tithing, serving in callings, going to the temple,
etc. When I was younger, all of these things seemed like big sacrifices.
President Spencer W. Kimball said, “As we give, we find that ‘sacrifice brings
forth the blessings of Heaven.’ And in the end we learn it was no sacrifice at
all.” As I’ve done these things over the past few years, I have learned to find
joy in them. And as President Kimball said, they don’t feel like sacrifices
anymore, because I know that what I’m doing is for a greater purpose. I know
that as we make sacrifices towards building up the kingdom of God, our efforts
will be magnified and they will truly bring forth the blessings of Heaven.
