My daughter had been asked to give a talk in Primary last Sunday. I was pretty excited for her, though this is not her first talk. The theme was “Come unto Christ.” I wrote a blog in the recent past titled, “Come Unto Him.” When I first started to write her talk, I thought maybe I could incorporate some of what I said in my article, but then I thought she’s only five, let’s keep it simple. Then it really clicked, coming unto Christ, is simple.
Some may not agree to its simplicity. But I do believe that because of our basic principles found in the Articles of Faith, it can be quite simple. The Fourth Article of Faith describes the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel. They are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by confirmation. If you have already been baptized, you have two out of four of those basic principles. The other two are entirely up to you.
A simple definition of faith is; believing in something you cannot see. I have never seen Jesus, or our Father in Heaven. They have never visited me. But I do have faith that they are looking out for me. I have faith that they are listening to me when I pray for guidance, and to thank them when I am full of gratitude for something they have helped me with.
When you pray to our Father in Heaven, we need to ask Him in faith for whatever it is you are requesting. When you ask a priesthood holder to give you a blessing for healing or comfort, you must be faithful in believing that the blessing will help you. It won’t take it away right away, but it will help you. That’s how it has been with me at least. I fought through pneumonia every year from fourth grade to my freshman year in college. I was out of school for no less than a week, every time. But I was never hospitalized, and always pulled through with no repercussions.
The second principle is repentance. Repenting is a way to come unto Christ by showing you believe in the atonement. Repenting is acknowledging your mistakes and humbling yourself before our Father and asking Him for His forgiveness. Don’t feel bad that you have something to repent for every week while preparing to partake of the sacrament, or even every night during your nighttime prayers. We are human, we are not perfect.
There has been only one being that was perfect during the entire existence of our world. He is our eldest brother, Jesus Christ. Because He was perfect, and took on the sins of the world, we are striving to be perfect like Him. As long as we are striving to do better every day, the Lord is pleased. Let us remember to want to be like Him though. Don’t think that if you have a habit of judging or bullying, that you can do it, and always get away with it, just because you are repenting of it.
True repentance is expressing sorrow, asking for forgiveness, and striving to never do it again. I know personally that this is hard. It took a while for a few of my past choices to finally and completely stop making those choices. But after lots of trying, praying and focusing, I have completely stopped.
Like the primary song, “I am trying to be like Jesus,” we should try, try to be like Him. Come unto Him, have faith in him and you shall be perfected in Him. Do not deny Him, or yourself His love.
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Yeah, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
Moroni 10:32
