A GIFT

 

 

I wrote yesterday about Oliver Cowdery’s ‘Gift of Aaron’ (D&C 8:6-9). As I progressed to Section 11 of Doctrine and Covenants, I came across another man with another gift:

“The Lord declared that Hyrum Smith had a gift. The great gift which he possessed was that of a tender, sympathetic heart; a merciful spirit…..This great gift was manifest in his jealous watch care over [his brother], the Prophet Joseph Smith, lest some harm come to him.”  (President Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and modern Revelation, 1:57)

Hyrum followed his brother to his death in his attempt to watch over him. This makes him just as much of a martyr as Joseph. To be willing to die for another is the ultimate gift. Does it remind you of someone?

This is what intrigued me the most: Hyrum’s gift was promised to come only after he exercised faith in Jesus Christ (D&C 11:10). This identifies his gift as a ‘gift of the spirit’, of which there are many (D&C 46:11-33; 1 Corinthians 12:1-12; Moroni 10:8-18). There are two reasons why the gifts of the spirit are given.

Firstly, they are given to those who have the gift of the Holy Ghost, through the Holy Ghost, for the benefit of the Church so all can be edified and unified. I know I keep harping about becoming a Zion people but I see no better way of becoming one than when we share our gifts with the congregation of faith.

In 1831 the saints were commanded by revelation in general conference to be one and esteem each other as brethren: “teach one another according to the office wherewith I have appointed you; and let every man esteem his brother as himself…..I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one, ye are not mine.” (D&C 38:23,24,27)

Secondly, exercising our gifts makes us Christ-like. Hyrum was promised his gift would come only after he exercised faith in Jesus Christ because gifts come by the spirit of Christ (D&C 11:10; Moroni 10:17). This says to me that through our faith in the Saviour, we come to Him for recognition of the gift He is willing to give us. We cannot exercise a gift we do not know we possess and we can possess many by seeking them. Paul told the Corinthians they should ‘covet earnestly the best gifts (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1)

Can you think of any gift of the spirit that the Saviour would not possess??? There is none. When we are gifted with one of His gifts and exercise it for the benefit of others, we become in part like Him. The more gifts we obtain, the more like Him we become. He is the pattern and the giver of it.

There is no one like our God. Who else has sacrificed Himself for us, provided the way of godliness for us to follow, and endowed us with gifts to become like Him in order to prepare ourselves for the best resurrection whereby we can live with God the Father forever? You will not find this God in any other religion….

 

You have fed me from the banquet of your love;

Your arms have cradled me

in the eye of the heaviest storm;

You have led me to reach the heights of faith

to me unknown.

You are my Sovereign,

My wings of protection from the cold,

My eagle in flight

To pilot me home.

-  CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Lamb of God by Greg Olsen)