Fourth Sunday Lesson Follow-Up

The First Great Commandment – by Elder Jeffrey Holland – Follow-up notes to lesson on 02/24/13

In his October 2012 General Conference talk, Elder Holland gives a passionate and urgent message to all, pleading with us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, might, and strength that we might do His work on the earth.  Without that complete focus, it is easy to drift.  I highly recommend that we all listen to and/or watch it anew, even if we have read the text.

Using the great Apostle Peter’s experiences with the Lord, Elder Holland presents the Lord’s deep desires for us to know Him, to love Him, to understand His message, and then especially to recognize our responsibility in letting our light shine among our Heavenly Father’s children, members, selective members, and non-members alike.    In His wisdom in teaching us how to love, Our Heavenly Father has commanded us to love Him with everything we have, and, as we do, we will learn to love as He loves. What better example can there be, or what better tutor?  Through the scenarios mentioned between the Jesus and His apostles, we learn several principles in how to obey the First, Great Commandment:

1.       We need to ask for help to understand the gospel and how to live it.

2.       The Lord teaches through repetition, building our understanding a bit at a time, according to our readiness.  

3.       If we repent, the Lord will continue give us opportunities to learn and to show our love for Him.

4.       The Lord needs each and every one of us.

5.       Love means loyalty and both demand action.

Can you tell in which parts of the talk these principles are found?

The following suggestions were made as sisters shared their own ideas of how we can show the Lord we love Him:  sharing the gospel directly, sharing the gospel through our loving words and actions, treating all people as our neighbors as the Lord has described them, teaching and showing gospel concepts at home, strengthening our children’s self-esteem and moral convictions in positive ways, being honest in the simple financial transactions we take part in when we shop. 

One sister shared how she recently took a failing grade in a college class rather than accept her teacher’s requirement of watching objectionable films for that class.  Another sister described how important she and her husband felt it was to honor commitments by not defaulting on mortgage payments simply because they legally could.  A third sister went through several steps involving her time and energy to protest her local library’s impending change of policy to now mix adult literature, regardless of content, with children’s and youth’s books.   

All of these wonderful examples and the many not mentioned reflect our love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through what Elder Holland described as “fixed faithfulness.”  While we may at times be called upon to stand up publicly for the gospel’s teachings, and that is likely to occur more and more in these last days, most of our loyalty will be in the quiet, daily living of the gospel with our families and friends and is no less important.    As we discussed last month, our standing up for gospel principles in a loving manner can encourage those who are ready to want to reach up for standards that will bless their lives.  (see this month’s resource section in a few days for Elder Christofferson’s related comments).

Elder Holland concludes his talk like a cheerleader, urging us onward.  It is worth taking to heart!