Love without service is like faith without works.
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s words from a past general conference: “When we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods. … Indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind” (“The Ministry of Angels,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2008, 30). It is about angels on this side of the veil that I want to talk. The angels that walk among us in our everyday lives are powerful reminders of God’s love for us.
Our part is to love and serve God and to love and serve God’s children. As you do so, God will encircle you with His love, joy, and certain guidance through this life, even under the most serious circumstances, and even beyond.
We receive the Holy Spirit best when we are focused on serving others. That is why we have the priesthood responsibility to serve for the Savior.
True greatness comes not from worldly success but from “thousands of little deeds … of service and sacrifice that constitute the giving, or losing, of one’s life for others and for the Lord.... True greatness is never a result of a chance occurrence or a onetime effort or achievement. Greatness requires the development of character. It requires a multitude of correct decisions in the everyday choices between good and evil that Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke about when he said, “Over the years these little choices will be bundled together and show clearly what we value.” (Ensign, Nov. 1980, p. 21.) Those choices will also show clearly what we are.
Believing, behaving, and serving Saints want desperately to obey Heavenly Father and, in doing so, serve their fellowman. Those with a high tolerance for trials are willing to give and give and give until they have nothing left to give. Such a sacrifice is not helpful to the kingdom. It’s okay to give and give, but please stop short of giving until you have nothing left to give. Save some energy. This way you will remain useful and won’t become a service project yourself.
Shel Silverstein’s book The Giving Tree tells the story of a tree who always says yes. Can I climb your branches? Yes. Can I sell your apples? Yes. Can I cut down your trunk? Yes. The poor tree has nothing left to give at the end of the story. The tree then offers herself as a seat to sit on. She gives and gives until she has nothing left to give. Now, that’s fine and dandy for the boy who sits on the stump, but what about the tree?
Does Heavenly Father want one of his children to sacrifice herself until she becomes a stump, just so another one of his children can see the world? I believe Heavenly Father cares as much about you and your health as he does about the person who may ask you to give beyond your means. You have a responsibility to take good care of you.
The biggest challenge that faces devoted and faithful servants is knowing when to say “when.” Even those who rate the highest on a “tolerance for trials” scale eventually reach their limits. Those who are valiant and true will give their last breath to build up the kingdom of God. However, you undoubtedly don’t want the next breath you take, or your spouse takes, to be the last. Thus it becomes necessary to serve within your means.
Devoted Church leaders, among all people on this earth, must grow comfortable saying no when situations push them beyond their means. You will be asked to serve by folks who are completely unaware of your limitations and may be astounded to discover such limitations exist. Since you’re the only one who knows your own limitations, you are the one responsible for keeping yourself healthy so you have the capacity to continue to serve.
There’s nothing evil about saying no to obligations that may take away the energy needed to serve in another capacity that is either a higher priority or something only you can do.
Some people are embarrassed that they have limitations. They feel guilty that they can’t do all the things that are asked of them. Rather than accepting their limitations and feeling content with themselves, even though they have limitations, they feel they have to apologize for their limitations. Do you find that whenever you have to tell someone “no” you generally include an explanation for your answer? You may say something meek like, “I’d love to but I can’t, because . . .” Notice that when you say, “I can’t” (as if you have no agency), the “I can’t” is usually followed by a reason: “because I have to work/travel/baby-sit/study.” Notice that you find it easier to say no when you have something else to do. It is difficult to simply say no without an excuse, legitimate or lame.
A little-known character in the Book of Mormon teaches us a big lesson about honoring our limitations. In Alma chapter 50, Nephihah, the second chief judge of the Nephites, dies. Verses 37 and 38 teach us two things about Nephihah. One, he filled the judgment seat with perfect uprightness before God. Two, he had refused to take possession of the sacred records. I don’t know why Nephihah refused to take possession of the records, but apparently doing so did not make him a wicked person. He fulfilled the judgment seat with perfect uprightness, even though he refused to keep the sacred records. He gave what he could but also acknowledged his limitations. We learn from Nephihah that we are not evil people simply because we have limitations. We need not be ashamed of our limitations nor deny ourselves the rest we require.
It is a duty which every Saint ought to render to his brethren freely—to always love them, and ever succor them. To be justified before God we must love one another: we must overcome evil; we must visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, and we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world; for such virtues flow from the great fountain of pure religion [see James 1:27].
[A member of the Church] is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all, wherever he finds them.
Let your labors be confin'd mostly to those around you in your own circle.
Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and ablities were used in a way that served others.
Opportunities to serve others in meaningful ways, as we have covenanted to do, rarely come at convenient times. But there is no spiritual power in living by convenience. The power comes as we keep our covenants.
Isn't it interesting that of the many ways in which the Lord might have phrased the object of the "thou shalt" in the second great commandment, He chose the word neighbor—not mankind, not organizations, not people, and not society, but neighbor. In keeping the second great commandment, the most significant and basic service we can regularly render unto others will emerge from our most basic roles—as brothers and sisters, as parents, as neighbors, as disciples. What we do vocationally and professionally matters, of course—and sometimes very much. But those of us who try to escape from, or neglect, our basic roles will find that we have only made the effective keeping of the second great commandment even more difficult. Keeping the commandments and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ are the two most relevant things we can do to assist our fellowman in our time. In addition to keeping the second commandment by direct service to others, what a service we render others when we do not commit adultery or steal, even though these become more and more fashionable!
Let us think of service not only as giving, but also as receiving righteously. Parenthetically, one of the many reasons some of today's children have not learned to give is that some parents do not know how to receive.
Let us in our professional and vocational chores serve with excellence even if others care more and more about pay and less and less about quality in their workmanship.
Evil people exist. The in-betweeners merely survive. But those who have really lived will be those who have lived righteously, because they will have lived righteously and served selflessly in a time of stunning contrasts. They will have managed to keep clean in a dirty world. And being free, they will be happy in otherwise sad times, and all their experiences will be for their good.
We sometimes find ourselves praying for others when we should be doing things for them. Prayers are not to be a substitute for service, but a spur thereto.
As to the questions asked—even by faithful Saints—such as, "If what is going to happen is 'all set,' why pray?," the answer is that God foresees, but He does not compromise our agency. All the outcomes are not, for our purposes, "all set." True, God's foreseeing includes our prayers, our fasting, our faith, and the results that will thereby be achieved. But until our mortal actions occur and our decisions are made, things are not "all set." The Father foresaw the Atonement, but the Atonement was not wrought until the very moment of Christ's death when He gave up His spirit, which He had the power to retain.
In those moments our desires of the day may have to be sacrificed to our needs in our endless tomorrows. A mortal life may need to be "shortened" by twenty years as we might view it—but if so, it may be done in order for special services to be rendered by that individual in the spirit world, services that will benefit thousands of new neighbors with whom that individual will live in all of eternity. Perhaps this reality is yet another reason and reminder why we are urged to pray only for "our daily bread," for disciples must be portable. Our omniloving and omniscient Father will release us when it is best for us to be released. But each such release of a righteous person is also a call to new labors!
Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more valuable.
We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and to serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters. If our sample of humanity seems unglamorous or so very small, we need to remember the parable Jesus gave us in which he reminded us that greatness is not always a matter of size or scale, but of the quality of one’s life. If we do well with our talents and with the opportunities around us, this will not go unnoticed by God. And to those who do well with the opportunities given them, even more will be given!
I have learned when the Lord has an errand to run, He can call on Tommy Monson and I will go.
Our service is to save souls. May I suggest five helpful guidelines: 1. Take time to think 2. Make room for faith. The prophet Isaiah declared that man's ways are not God's ways. (Isaiah 55:8.) 3. Stand firm for truth. Our leaders of youth become the stable force, the port of safety in the storm-tossed seas, the watchman on the tower, even the guide at the crossroads. Youth looks to us. How do we stand? May we answer: 4. Reach out to help 5. Provide place for prayer. Our task is larger than ourselves. We need God's divine help.
Christ obviously had quite a lot to say on this subject. But, as you skim through the above verses, notice what words do not appear: "government," "State," "policy," "law," "tax." He is not merely telling us to submit passively to some third-party administrator who will see to it that all of the tunics are evenly distributed, and all of the banquets diversely attended, and that a certain mandated portion is given to the beggars and the borrowers and the needy. Christ never established or suggests or endorses any State-sponsored system by which these things will be achieved. He makes it much simpler for us. He puts the onus not on politicians or bureaucrats but on someone else entirely: you.
I can't help but note that, so often, the Christians who advocate higher taxes and higher welfare spending are also the Christians who will not be affected by it. They want "the rich" to help the poor, and they imagine that their personal responsibility to give to the poor has been alleviated this way. It hasn't. Regardless of taxes, if you're keeping nearly 100% of your income for yourself while your neighbor goes without, you are disobeying Jesus Christ and rejecting your duty as a Christian. It doesn't matter what Bill Gates is doing. Don't worry about him. His money is none of your concern. You have your own money, don't you? You live comfortably, in relative luxury, while the homeless freeze to death on the streets. Stop blaming "the rich" for this problem and go out and do something about it, you hypocrites.
Now, why does Jesus advocate personal charity rather than government charity? Why does he put the onus on us as individuals instead of the State? I think the reason is this: love. The goal is not to eradicate poverty, like poverty is some kind of disease. The goal is simply to love each other. This is why Christ especially commends the old woman at the temple who gave comparatively little. It was, for her, an act of great love. And that is what Christ wants from us. He wants us to love each other. There is no love in the Welfare System. There is no love in taxation. It is bureaucratic, impersonal, disinterested, dehumanizing. A man is not experiencing the fruits of love when he cashes a monthly check sent to him by some government office. Rather, he is being treated like a number, a statistic, a problem that must be solved. This does not appear to be what Jesus had in mind.
The only life worth living is a life lived for others.
You will discover that you have two hands. One is for helping yourself and the other is for helping others.
By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.
There can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from the home, and every effort made to sanctify and preserve its influence is uplifting to those who toil and sacrifice for its establishment. Men and women often seek to substitute some other life for that of the home; they would make themselves believe that the home means restraint; that the highest liberty is the fullest opportunity to move about at will. There is no happiness without service, and there is no service greater than that which converts the home into a divine institution, and which promotes and preserves family life.
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?
Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for others.
My life is like my shoes--to be worn out in service.
Love without service is like faith without works.
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