Abide In me

The following is the text of a talk I gave on May 21, 2006


Being One With Christ
(Doctrine and Covenants 50:43.)
43 And the Father and I are one. I am in the Father and the Father in me; and inasmuch as ye have received me, ye are in me and I in you.

It is the Savior’s desire that we be one with him, as He is one with the Father. Being one with Christ brings safety to the soul.

How can we become one with Christ?

Obedience

- Obedience to His commandments is one of the ways we become one with Him.
- Our obedience shows our willingness to follow his will, rather than our own will.
- Christ is ever our great example. Many times during his ministry, he stated that he came not to do his own will, but the will of His Father.
- The ultimate example he set was when he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed:

(Mark 14:36.)
36 . . . Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

Later, in modern times, Christ would say:

(Doctrine and Covenants 19:16-19.)
16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—
19 Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.

The Spirit of God
As we are more obedient to the Lord’s commandments, we will be entitled to a greater portion of the Spirit of God.

With the Sprit of God, we are able to receive more enlightenment and understanding.

The Spirit will move upon us to help us know what part of our lives we need to improve upon next.

As we heed the impressions of the Spirit, we will repent, and the Spirit cleanses and sanctifies us. We become more holy, and more like the Savior.

Doing the Work of the Savior

As we become more obedient, and our lives more in harmony with the will of the Lord, we will find ourselves doing His work.

We will be a better examples and a shining influence to our family, friends and associates. We will become an influence for good.

As we do missionary and temple work, we bring the opportunity of accepting the gospel to many souls.

The work of the Savior is to draw all men unto Him, that they might be able to take advantage of his atoning sacrifice, and come join him in the Kingdom of our Father. As men come unto Christ, the work and glory of the Father is advanced: To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

As we do the work of the Savior, we will become more like him. We will find our hearts filled with charity and love, which is the pure love of Christ.

Partaking of the Sacrament

Each week, as we attend our meetings, we have the sacred opportunity to partake of the sacrament. Partaking of the sacrament is another way that we can become one with Christ.

As mortal beings, each of us is in constant need of repentance. We each make mistakes, and sins throughout the week. As we humbly partake of the sacrament, with repentant hearts, we can be cleansed of our sins and mistakes, and receive the promise of having his Spirit to be with us.

As we repent, and partake of the sacrament, we come unto Christ. We cast our burdens upon him as we repent of our sins.

I know of no better way to develop a personal relationship with the Savior, than through the process of repentance. As we realize how we are dependent upon him to be forgiven, and as we feel the healing of forgiveness come into our lives, we can feel of his love and of his power lift us up.

Members of the church who do not regularly attend church and partake of the sacrament miss out on the cleansing and healing power of the sacrament.

Sins and mistakes tend to accumulate in their lives. Without the cleansing power of the sacrament, it is easy to drift away from the things of the Spirit.

Without the presence of the Sprit in our lives, good and evil becomes less distinguishable. The philosophies of men become more persuasive, and it is easy to lose our way.

Learning Through the Things we Suffer

Part of the Savior’s education was learned in the things he suffered. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
“And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:8–9).

Each of us has trials and tribulations in our lives. They can come in many forms. It could be financial setbacks, a wayward child, or a loss of employment. We also might may have health challenges. These challenges are placed in our path that we may learn and grow from them, just as Christ did from the things which he suffered.

Orson F. Whitney, who said:

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven” (as quoted in “Tragedy or Destiny,” p. 6).

Our Dependence On the Savior

We are dependent upon the Savior for everything.

Sometimes in our pride and arrogance we think that we have done great works on our own.

However, without Christ, we are nothing.

No matter what our accomplishments, no matter what accolades we may receive, no matter how wealthy or famous we may become – without Christ, they are of no avail. Regardless of any earthly success we may achieve, it will all fade away when we leave this life.

If we have not come unto Christ, and covenanted with him, we will find that all our earthly accomplishments will be meaningless. And we will find that we will have missed out on those things that mean the most – those things which bring eternal happiness and joy.

In fact, we are dependent upon Christ each moment of our lives. King Benjamin put it this way:

(Mosiah 2:21.)
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
Without the Savior:

- The world we live in would not exist.
- We would live, and die, but never would rise again from the grave. We would then be subject unto Satan’s power for eternity.
- We would not be have any way to be cleansed from our sins, and could never again return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.
- Eternal families would not be possible.
- The reason for our hope and joy would be lost.
- The Father’s plan of salvation would have been frustrated.

The True Vine

Jesus has been likened in the scriptures to the true vine. For us to grow and flourish in the gospel, we need to be attached to the true vine.

Elder Bernard P. Brockbank said:

"Jesus Christ is the vine and all who sincerely want to become godlike, prepared to live with their Heavenly Father in his kingdom, must receive their strength and power from the Savior. No man cometh unto the Father but by and through Jesus Christ.
The nonproducing branches on the vine, some lost in the darkness and sin of the world, some weak and sick from the blight of evil, some branches fluttering in the winds of worldly pleasure and disrespect for the power to produce godlike fruit through the divine vine, having disrespect for Jesus Christ and for the Father and for their commandments, will be pruned from the vine. They will be cut away from their source of divine nourishment and their chance to become godlike. Pruned away from their divine opportunity, as a child of God, to partake of the light and divine way of life, their chance to live with God was foolishly dissipated away. They failed to feed on the living bread of life.
All of God’s children are branches on the vine; all have the opportunity to partake of the life, example, and commandments of Jesus Christ and to become like him." (Bernard P. Brockbank, “God’s Way to Eternal Life,” Ensign, Jan. 1974, 116)

Abide for our Own Sake, and for our Posterity

Not only is it important to our own salvation to abide in Christ, it is also critical to those who follow. As we live the gospel, we create a legacy for our posterity to follow. Many of them will follow in our footsteps, and receive the full blessings of the gospel, with all of its saving covenants and ordinances.

On the other hand, if we fail to endure to the end, and set a poor example for our posterity, many of them will be deprived of the blessings that could otherwise have been theirs.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland Said:

“He who picks up one end of the stick, picks up the other . . . When we join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we board the Good Ship Zion and sail with her wherever she goes until she comes into that millennial port. We stay in the boat, through squalls and stills, through storms and sunburn, because that is the only way to the promised land. This Church is the Lord’s vehicle for crucial doctrines, ordinances, covenants, and keys that are essential to exaltation, and one cannot be fully faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ without striving to be faithful in the Church, which is its earthly institutional manifestation.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Abide in Me,” Ensign, May 2004, 30)

I hope and pray that we all will maintain our connection to the true vine, which is Jesus Christ, that we may endure to the end, and become one with Him.