Discipleship: Following in the Savior's Footsteps

What does membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the LDS Church) mean for the disciple of Christ? Is it possible to be a disciple without membership? The most basic answer to the second question is yes of course. Anyone who realizes how important Jesus Christ is to them can begin a new life as His disciple. Emulating Jesus Christ is the best goal for anyone in this world. In fact, it is the primary purpose of our time on earth.

As we’ve discussed many times, discipleship is a growth process that allows us to be a little bit more like the Savior every day. The disciple of Christ truly desires to follow Christ, to carry His name, and serve those around him in the best ways he can. That process starts from wherever we find ourselves.

But, there is another factor involved in becoming a disciple. The disciple of Christ carries the Spirit of Christ within his heart and nature. It whispers guidance, assurance, peace, and understanding. It testifies of Jesus Christ and the eternal truths He taught. The disciple of Christ recognizes and embraces truth.

Because you are reading this blog, I know that you have had some dealings with the LDS Church. That may mean you are a life-time member or someone making a casual inquiry. Either way, the first question each of us found in this place, at this time, is: What do I believe about Jesus Christ? Then, after we’ve looked inside of ourselves and pondered our answers to this basic question we can move forward.

A belief in Jesus Christ is a foundation in good. It is the best place to build up a lasting part of ourselves. What we accomplish on this foundation carries the greatest value both here and in heaven. When we have established where we stand in our beliefs and love for Christ, we can move on to the next valuable question: What am I willing to do in His name? How can I best be His disciple? Again, these answers are individual.

The one thing that every disciple needs to keep in mind, both with their own dealings with their fellow man and in the way they view an organized religion of any type is: everything in the Church of Jesus Christ is about pleasing the Lord. Everything. Not politics, not station, not money, not prestige, not anything else.

Because of the light within me, because of my own desires to be a dedicated disciple, I recognize the truth that permeates The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but more importantly I recognize its focus. Everything in the LDS Church is about pleasing the Lord. That’s why this disciple chooses membership in a “peculiar” religion.

I have friends in many different religions. I hear their heartbreak as they watch members of their own congregations forget the most basic principles of discipleship. I do not pretend that there are no problems within our congregations. We are still human, but I think there is a very basic difference in how we operate and how many others do. We take our discipleship very seriously. We make covenants associated with our belief in Jesus Christ. We willingly enter into binding promises with our God to serve and honor Him. If something is happening that is contrary to the basic mission of pleasing God and supporting His doctrines it can, should, and will be corrected.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a source of truth but most of all it is a source of commitment. I came because of Jesus Christ; I continue because of Jesus Christ, I try to please the Lord. If you’re ready to take your discipleship to the next level, let your heart look more closely at the truths that can be found here. It gives every member/disciple a chance to actively move closer to Christ in every way. It’s the best home I’ve found for the disciple of Christ.

Everything in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is about Jesus Christ.

How many of us have a clear purpose in life? How many of us can say we have a vision of who we are and what we were meant to be in this world? Some of us may have more knowledge than others.

Within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a little more knowledge about such things than the general population. What is it we know? We know we are literal sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father that loves us and wants the best for us. We know that we lived with Him before we were born into this world. We know that we were sent here to learn, to grow, to obtain a body, and to experience trials that would test our dedication to our Heavenly Father’s teachings.

We know that Heavenly Father does not leave us completely alone during our mortal stay. We know that He understood that mistakes would be made that would take us further away from Him. We know that the Savior was sent to be our example and Redeemer. He provides each of us with a firm set of parameters for our behavior and choices. He makes forgiveness and eternal life possible through His atonement and resurrection. We know that the best way to return to live with our Heavenly Father when we die is to become disciples of Jesus Christ.

We know a few other things. Members of the LDS church often enjoy a measure of testimony that is founded in God’s knowledge and care for them on a very personal level. He knows, understands, and loves each of us, better than we know ourselves. As part of this, He also understands just exactly what experiences we will need here on earth to reach our greatest potential as His child. In fact, there are many of us who may have specific goals they need to reach or tasks they need to complete. Here comes the tough part. Not all of us have an easy time figuring out what tasks we have been assigned or what roads we need to travel to become who Heavenly Father sees within us. Aside from understanding that Jesus Christ is our guide and Savior, we may feel lost when it comes to finding our own special place in God’s plan. I’ve talked before about the many good choices we each face every day. This is where those choices really matter.

It’s the little choices, sometimes things like rushing to get in a grocery line before someone else. It’s the big choices, like whom we should marry. It’s the sum of our lives and where we want to be when it comes to an end.

When I was a little girl I was essentially going to take over the world. I was determined to grow up to be a great scholar, an inspiring gospel teacher, a chef, a veterinarian, a linguist, a best-selling author, a concert pianist, an artist, a model mother and a model, and a few other things I now can’t remember. Though all of these are good and worthy goals, I’m not meant to be all of them and quite possibly not any of them. That’s up to God and me.

It’s important to remember that though we may lack a full vision and purpose for our lives that God does not have the same restrictions of mortality that we do. He does know us. He does know our mistakes, hurts, joys and aspirations. He does know exactly what it takes to have the sum of our lives equal unfathomable happiness. The disciple of Christ uses this tool as well as the others we gain from Christ’s example in order to keep his feet pointed in the right direction. We know that it within our privileges to ask God what our goals and aspirations should be. We know that no matter how difficult the road is, there is something worth the work waiting for us.

That’s the important part about making choices and living our every day lives. Each day adds another page to our story, another brick to our eternal mansion. Nothing we do goes without a consequence. There are specific laws of cause and effect that govern this life. No matter how we labor it is leading to some outcome.

All our labors are for the purpose of becoming something. What? Hopefully it’s exactly what God wants us to become. For some this process takes longer than for others, we can’t understand anyone’s journey but our own. But the real question is what do we want to become? Have we approached Heavenly Father with this question? Have we looked at our lives and willingly placed our hand in His? Then, have we become distracted and pulled away from the one person who knew the road we were to take.

Every day with every choice we are becoming something. Is it more like the Savior and more true to our own divine nature, or not?

I was cleaning off my desk this morning and ran across an interesting quote by Abraham Lincoln.

“I feel the hand of God on me, leading me down better roads than I would take alone.” (Abraham Lincoln)

Interestingly enough, the scriptures say almost the same thing.

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and they right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:10

I for one am grateful that this influential man recognized the hand of God in his life and valued God’s guidance. What might our nation’s history have been like without those who were willing to listen to promptings and follow a higher path than their own? More personally, what is my life like when I do the same thing? What is it like when I don’t.?

We are definitely a blessed generation. There are so many avenues open to us that the people of President Lincoln’s time never even thought of. It’s a time of great potential for goodness, as well as of great potential for evil. Much of the world has become comfortable, lackadaisical, or even contemptuous about spiritual matters. The majority of the United States is educated and purpose driven. It just depends on what the purpose is.

What does the hand of God feel like as it leads His disciples? I once heard it said that if a choice leads you to goodness, to peace and happiness, to serve and love others, then it is of God. All other avenues are of the devil. The first duty of a disciple is to make those very conscious choices to turn away from evil. We need to decide before we ever begin the journey that we will not travel a road that God can not hold our hand on. For some that’s easy, for some – not so much.

Considering the path in terms of our come paints a pretty clear picture, but sadly that leaves far too many paths open to someone like me. I’m an eager, if somewhat scatter-brained, disciple of Christ. I try very hard to choose those routes that lead me on good roads. The problem is there are so very many of them. There are just as many positive roads that we could follow as there are negative ones.

Another wise person once said: It’s too bad we’re not trying to choose between robbing a bank and paying our tithing! Ah, for the simplicity of it. Wouldn’t it be nice if all our choices were that black and white, that clear on which path lead to sorrow and which to God? After making those initial decisions of staying away from the blackest paths, I’ve yet to come across a branch in the road that was as clearly defined. Often, my choices are more like: reading my scriptures or reading to my children, providing entertainment for them in church meetings so that others (and myself) can pay attention or taking those away and trying to get the children to pay attention, talking on the phone to someone who needs a listening ear or getting to my meetings on time. What if my choice were paying my tithing or buying groceries?

Would Abraham Lincoln have robbed a bank instead of uniting a nation if he had not been paying attention to the hand of God? Well, probably not. He probably would have done amazing things with his life on any number of paths he could have chosen from. Thankfully, he chose the one the Lord wanted for him and we all were benefited by it. It might be much the same for many of us. As disciples we look for the good, we want to follow our Savior. We, at least I, seem to latch on to every good thing and feel we must accomplish them all because they are good. We either wear ourselves out trying to do “good” that when the end of a road is reached, the reward of peace and happiness that we were reaching for has fled before our distressed spirit. Or, we simplify our lives saying we do not have time for this or the other thing and find ourselves just as miserable because the things we chose to keep aren’t what were best for us to keep.

We see all the good roads; we can not see their entire end from the beginning. For that we need the hand of God. Remember, Abraham Lincoln didn’t say the hand of God kept him from evil paths, he said that the hand of God had lead him to better places than he could have gone by Himself.

There are also seasons to our lives and learning here on earth. The road that we were following five years ago may not be the same one we need to be on now. If we stop seeking and acknowledging His hand we might miss the turn off He had planned for us. We seek the hand of God through scripture, prayer and quiet times of pondering. We watch and ponder those things that seem to fill us with the greatest measure of His spirit. We try to make our choices between the many good things according to where the Lord needs us to end up. We look for His hand to hold ours on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. If we can remember to do this, each of us will be able to look back on our lives and say: “The hand of God led my on better roads than I would take alone.”

Many of us have heard the analogy of the thread and the tapestry. In this example you learn about the relation of small things to their ability to form something large and beautiful. It can be the members of a family working together, or an even larger group. It can also be the pattern of our individual lives.

I think sometimes we focus on the big things. We try to see the whole picture and ponder and pray about the big decisions in our lives. We see these as the things that define who we are and what our tapestry will look like.

But in reality, the one who know the whole picture is the weaver and He works with individual threads not chunks of yarn or puzzle pieces. Yes, we all have big decisions to make that can change the course of our lives, but how often do we think about the little things? There are a million little things that get woven into our tapestry every day. Perhaps what our life is like or how it might change during those big decisions is actually a result of the pattern we’ve laid with all the little things along the way.

Every day we make a dozen small decisions that will affect our final tapestry. As we choose, the Master weaves. When we realize we’ve made a mistake, He takes it out and renews the area to the beauty of the entire peace. If we do not realize, or choose not to correct, our failings and mistakes remain. When you look at the final piece these glitches might be noticeable, or they might not, but they still define who we are and who we will become.

If we are discussing the pattern and whether a mistake is visible to the eye our first argument is then revisited. Wouldn’t tiny mistakes from every day living be overlooked more easily than a large wrong choice? I think the problem is that mistakes all start out small. Every mistake starts with one wrong stitch. It’s those tiny decisions that dictate what our actions will be when the large choices come along.

Consider these examples:

If we find ourselves faced with the temptation to be unfaithful to our spouse, how will that decision be affected by our previous smaller choices? If we have made tiny mistakes such as looking at inappropriate images in the media, then we add the tiny mistake of dwelling on the images, then we add the tiny mistake of dwelling on the difficulties in our marriage instead of the love, then we add the tiny mistake of thinking about what it might be like to have chosen a different path or different partner – how then will our decision for a larger temptation be weighed? If on the other hand we have tried a little bit each day to love and value our partner, to avoid images that plant inappropriate thoughts in our minds, or avoid being alone with those of the opposite sex where temptations might be fed- how is that decision weighed?

If our mother provided us with music lessons, how are our future choices founded by our immediate decisions about whether or not to practice or find enjoyment in the learning?

If we casually disregard the speed limit, do we then forget other rules of the road that keep us safe?

While it is true that every decision is still up to us, we choose the path our feet will follow with each step not each mile. As we stray it becomes harder to find our way back the further we go.

May we pay a little more attention to the little things in life.
May we notice God’s small blessings.
May we smile at a stranger, or drop our spare change in the donation buck instead of our wallet.
May we hold our tongue just a little longer when frustrations build.
May we choose with each step to follow Christ even if the step seems too small to matter.

If we can do these types of things the tapestry the Lord weaves from our lives will be beautiful – one thread at a time.