This theme of consecration is a most important topic of discussion when it comes to returning from a mission. One of my good friends put the main challenge of coming home best when
he said that it's easy to get lost because there are so many distractions in the world. Now,
initially when a person comes home from their mission, there are certain
difficulties associated with assimilating back into society and resuming
activities that we didn't do on our missions such as dating and normal
recreational activities. Sometimes it
feels like all those things we did before are just kind of....lame compared to
what we did as missionaries. Sometimes
we feel a little lost without missionary things to focus on, so we try to fill
our lives with worthwhile activities and try to find things to put our hearts
into. At first, getting distracted by
the things of the world may even be more difficult for us than banging down
someone's door to teach them about the Restoration. Over time, however, especially as our
lives become occupied with things that we really do need to do, like going to
school or working, our closeness to the Savior can slip away without us even
realizing it.
The scriptures tell of a man who had kept the
commandments "from [his] youth up," that one day approached the
Savior and asked the penetrating question:
"What lack I yet?"
Because we know the outcome of the story it's easy for us
to be a bit judgmental of him and to see him almost as a less-active member of
Christ's day. In reality, though, aren't
each one of us members that have kept the commandments "from [our] youth
up?" Or at least for the last two
years? Have you ever prayed to God to
ask Him what you could do better? I
have. I think that the man in the
scriptural story in question must have been far more than quasi-committed to
have the desire and wherewithal to ask the Savior that kind of question. It's a question that I feel like has special
pertinence after the mission field. If
you're anything like me, you worry about losing the spirituality you had on your
mission, and you understand that the only way of guaranteeing that is by
constantly moving forward.
I feel like when it comes to personal weaknesses, we fall
into two groups: people who see their
weaknesses more easily than they do their strengths and thus tend to
underestimate themselves and be impatient with their progress, and people who
see their strengths more clearly than their weaknesses, who oftentimes aren't
sure what they should be focusing on improving.
The people in the first group tend to ask, "I've been struggling
with this weakness for so long. What
effort lack I yet so I can overcome it?"
While those from the second group ask "I know I'm not perfect. Even though I can't see any weaknesses in
particular that I should be improving at the moment, I know that there are
still vitally important improvements to be made. What lack
I yet?" Christ's answer was direct, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me."
Why did Jesus ask that of
him? He doesn't ask us to sell
everything that we own and give it to charity, at least not at this point in
our discipleship. The Joseph Smith
Translation of Luke 18:27 reads: It is
impossible for them who trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God; but
he who forsaketh the things which are of this world, it is possible with God,
that he should enter in." The command to sell all
his belongings was a personal prescription for the diagnosed condition of a personal trust in
riches. For us, that might be translated
into putting our heart into our recreation, our careers, our social lives, or
even our education instead of putting it into God and His work and Glory.
As a missionary, the
purpose of our lives was to help people to receive the Restored Gospel. That should still be our purpose. Nothing else will have any lasting
significance. Of course, as returned
missionaries, we will spend a lot of our time on our recreation, our careers,
our social lives, and our education, but that is different than putting our
heart into those things. As a
missionary, when we were truly living our purpose, we bent everything we said
or did in any situation towards that purpose.
That can still be true. We can
choose to bend the choices we make in the worldly aspects of our lives so that
they gain divine purpose.
For example, is the purpose of our social life
just to have fun, get girls, and blow off steam, or is it to build up those
people the Lord has entrusted to us so that we can help them return to His
presence? If the answer is the latter,
all the fun, the girls, and the blowing off of steam will still happen, but it
will no longer be the focus behind your interactions with others. Are your career goals focused on what you
like to spend time doing, on having a stable financial future, or
on doing the greatest amount of good in the world? Only you can respond to that question. The answer is different for everybody.
In essence, the only
things that keep us from progressing as well, if not better, than we did on the
mission are those parts of our heart that we no longer have placed on the
sacrificial alter. Many times the Lord
does not ask us directly for those things like He did from time to time on the
mission. He wants the decision to be our
own. I have decided that He doesn't have
to ask me for those sacrifices that I know He wants; I will give it to Him
anyways, pray for help so to do, and continue to seek out ways to consecrate
more for Him. It is a very personal
decision. Only you can make it. But if you do, it will change the rest of
your life. I promise you that, as one
who has covenanted to represent the Lord's teachings to the best of my ability
in every circumstance until the end of my mission in mortality. In fact, you
covenanted to do the same, if you think about it.
True discipleship is
difficult. It was not lightly that Jesus
said "few there be" that find that
narrow road. But those who love Him
always, always, do. The following is adapted
from Elder Holland's talk "The First Great Commandment," interpreted by
my own additions so that it applies to missionary work. My words are not italicized to differentiate them from the words of the original talk. The original talk can be found here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng
In effect, you, the returned
missionary said to your associates:
“Brethren, it has been a glorious two
years. None of us could have imagined such a few short months ago the miracles
we have seen and the divinity we have enjoyed. We have...labored with the very Son of God Himself...On the night all our investigators dropped us, no one wept more bitterly than I. But that is over. We have finished our work in the mission field,
and He has delivered us home safely...‘What
do we do now?’ I don’t know more to tell you than to return to your former
life, rejoicing. I intend to ‘go back to doing the same things I did
before.'...
...Looking at your battered little list of personal ambitions Jesus says..., “Elder,
do you love me more than you love all this?” You say, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”10
The Savior responds to that reply
but continues to look into your
eyes and says again, “Elder, do you love me?” Undoubtedly confused a
bit by the repetition of the question, the great fisher of men answers a second time, “Yea, Lord; thou
knowest that I love thee.”11
The Savior again gives a brief
response, but with relentless scrutiny He asks for the third time, “Elder, do you love me?” By now surely you are feeling truly uncomfortable...Perhaps
you are searching your heart, seeking honest confirmation of the
answer you have given so readily,
almost automatically...You say for the third time, “Lord, … thou knowest
that I love thee.”12
To which Jesus responds.. “Then Elder, why are you here? Why are we back in the same routine, doing the same things as before the
mission, having this same conversation?
Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want you to
achieve the things you wanted before the mission, I can give you those things with almost no effort on my part? What I need, Elder, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my
sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my
faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our
Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is
not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be
consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is
to change the world. So, Elder, for
the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and
to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they
will do to you exactly what they did to me.”
May we ever live with
the decision burning in our hearts that we will never abandon He who has never
abandoned us. May we exclaim with Elder
Holland every minute of our lives, "'Yea, Lord, we do love thee.'
And having set our 'hand to the plough,' we will never look back until this
work is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world."
That we may do so is both my prayer and
daily battle cry.
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