“Conversion means consecrating your life to
caring for and serving others who need your help and sharing your gits and
blessings….Every unselfish act of kindness and service increases your
spirituality.
“God would use you to bless others. Your
continued spiritual growth and eternal progress are very much wrapped up in
your relationships – in how you treat others…… The person who does only those
things in the Church that concern himself alone will never reach the goal of
perfection. Service to others is what the Gospel and exalted life are all
about.” (Elder Robert J. Whetten, Strengthen
Thy Brethren, in CR April 2005, p 96, Ensign May 2005, p 91)
There was a king in the Book of Mormon who lived in ancient Americas by the
name of King Benjamin who delivered a powerful sermon about service to his
people. The premise of his sermon has several elements:
1.
His
first reasoning is simple gratitude for the life that God has granted us to
live and his preservation of us from day to day (Mosiah 2:20,21,23);
2.
God
asks service of us in return for the debt we owe for our lives so he can bless
us (Mosiah 2:24);
3.
Through
serving one another we come to know God (Mosiah 5:13);
4.
By
going above and beyond to serve those we do not deem worthy, we overcome the
human inclination to judge and we grow in humility recognizing that we are all
beggars before God, that all we have has been granted us by Him and not our own
ability (Mosiah 4:19);
5.
All
that we have belongs to God, therefore none of our possessions are ours to keep
hence we have an obligation to impart of our substance to the needy among us (Mosiah
4:22);
6.
We
measure the state of our hearts by our willingness to serve and help others.
Even when we cannot help, the desire to do so should be in our hearts. It is
the desires of our hearts that will one day be judged as much as our acts
(Mosiah 4:24);
7.
By
giving of ourselves and our substance we break our attachment to the things of
the world. All that we are attached to in this life will one day perish when we
leave, nothing is ours to keep (Mosiah 4:23);
These seven elements are sound reasoning for
our obligation to care for each other. But besides all these reasons, the
greatest reason is this…..by serving our fellowmen, we become like the greatest
servant of all. King Benjamin assured his people that if they are ‘steadfast
and immovable, and always abounding in good works’, that they will be called by
the ‘name of Christ’ (Mosiah 5:9). In fact he mentions the importance of this
10 times in his sermon (Mosiah 5:7-12).
Why is this important? Because it guarantees that
we shall in the end be found on the right hand of God (Mosiah 5:9). To be found
in such a prestigious place for eternity means that we have to become like the
man whose name we bear…..the Greatest Servant of all, the Christ. We can only
become like Him, if we act like Him and do the works that He did. We are
nothing without His example and His power to enable us to reach such heights.
I have always thought I would be on the giving
side of service. I considered the giving part ‘noble’ but the receiving part ‘weak’…..until
two years ago. I have an aversion to feeling weak but God thought He would show
me otherwise. Since I have been sick and have become more and more dependent on
others, I have realized one thing. Service cannot be noble in any way, if there
is no one to receive. And if there is no one to receive, the givers miss out on
becoming like the Greatest Servant.
Now when someone helps me achieve the smallest
task I cannot do myself, I cry…..when strangers at the supermarket assist me
with my groceries, I cry…..when someone makes me feel good about myself despite
my incapacities, I cry….I cry all the time these days, from gratitude. I cry
because of the givers.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
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