Filling our lamps with faith in Jesus

I don't know if I can say that I look forward to speaking in church, but I would much rather have been there today to give this talk that I had prepared than staying at home with stomach cramps. I am so grateful to have a wonderful wife who cheerfully offered to speak in my place so that I could stay home and rest. 

Filling our lamps with faith in Jesus

Brothers and sisters, I would like to talk to you this Easter morning about filling our lamps with faith in our Savior. In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus likened the members of the church to people who had been invited to a wedding. All ten of the women in the story had brought lamps to keep watch for the bridegroom to come. But the bridegroom was delayed and the night grew late. Five of the women had brought enough oil to keep their lamps burning. The other five didn't have enough. As they went off to look for oil to buy, they missed the entrance of the bridegroom and were unable to attend the wedding celebration. Although these women started out with oil in their lamps, just like their sisters, when the time came that they really needed those lamps, they had gone out.

Elder Bednar retold this parable in conference two years ago and likened the lamps to personal testimony and the oil to conversion to the gospel.

A little over a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer, a blood cancer called lymphoma. It was an aggressive disease that had already spread through my lymph nodes, my spleen, and my bone marrow. It later spread to my spinal column.

I have received many blessings during this ordeal, both physical and spiritual. I can testify that God does not leave us alone in our times of need. From the day that I was diagnosed, I have often felt a blanket of comfort surrounding me and my family. We weren't prepared temporally for this trial, but I feel that in many ways we were prepared spiritually. When this trial appeared in our lives, we had oil in our lamps.

I've seen others go through difficult trials in their lives and I've seen that through our choices, these trials can either bring us closer to God or lead us away from Him. And it largely depends on how much oil we have in our lamps. Will we be ready when darkness comes into our lives? Will we have enough oil to light our way? Or light the way for our children and families?

Developing a personal relationship with Jesus

One way we can fill our lamps is to develop a personal relationship with our Savior. After the death of Jesus, Peter was called to lead the church. As the prophet, he wrote an epistle to the saints in Asia minor who were being persecuted. He speaks of the testimony that these saints had, notwithstanding that they hadn't been present to see the Savior. They hadn't witnessed His miracles or heard Him give a sermon.

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9)

These saints not only had faith in Christ, but had a love for him. This is a question I've asked myself many times. Do I love the Savior? I believe in Him, but how can we build a relationship with someone who we don't see, at least not very often :) How do I develop a love for him?

When I was about five years old, my grandfather passed away from colon cancer. My grandparents lived in Ogden Utah, and my family lived in the Tri-Cities. We saw each other once or twice a year. I don't remember what he looked like, but I do have a few memories of being with him before he passed away. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I felt a kinship to him. I wish we could have bonded through something else, maybe a love for woodworking or board games :) But I've been thinking a lot about my grandpa through my own experiences. I've asked my Dad to tell me more about him. I've seen pictures of him when he was younger. He reminds me of one of my brothers. I feel closer to him because I've made an effort to learn more about him and I've felt an empathy for him as I've had to go through some of the things he had to face in his life. Although I barely remember him, I love him.

I think that building a relationship with Jesus requires this same effort, and although we may not see him or hear his voice aloud, we can have a loving relationship with him.

Jesus told his disciples in the gospel of John (14:10), “if ye love me, keep my commandments.” I believe that this adage can be reversed. In other words, if we keep the commandments, we will learn to love the Savior. How? Because when we are obedient, we will be blessed. And when we are blessed, we will feel closer to our Heavenly Father and to his Son.

I've seen this many times in my life. I'm not a perfect home teacher. But I've noticed that when I go, and put effort into preparing a lesson and praying for the families in my care, I invariably feel the spirit after the visit. And one of the fruits of the spirit is love. And I feel more love for the savior when I feel that I'm doing what He would have me do.

One of my favorite movies is “Fiddler on the Roof.” I know, it's a musical. It has people singing and dancing. It has not one but four love stories. There isn't a single car chase or a fight scene or an explosion. But it is such a powerful movie.

The main character is a father named Tevya. The main conflicts in his movie stem from his desire to maintain tradition and faith even while his whole world changes around him. Does that sound familiar? Think about how much our world is changing around us, every day. I really like that throughout the film, Tevya talks through his problems with God. He talks to him as a real person, who really cares about the details of his life. Just like we might talk to our dads.

Heavenly Father is an awesomely powerful being who deserves our reverence and respect. But he is also our literal father who loves us and cares for us. I remember as a teenager, I heard a talk in church that made an impression on me. The speaker taught us the importance of using proper prayer language, using the words thee and thou to show respect for our Heavenly Father. When I served a Spanish-speaking mission, I was surprised to learn that in prayer it was considered proper to use the tu form to address Heavenly Father. The tu form is how you would address family members or friends with whom you are well acquainted. Usted is the form that you would use for someone to whom you want to show respect. As missionaries, we were instructed to use the usted form with everyone as a gesture of respect and to refrain from appearing too familiar with others. And yet, when we prayed, we were taught to use the tu form. It almost seemed a reversal of our practice of using thee and thou in the United States. But it made me realize again that God is our father in heaven, that we should be familiar with him.

In another mission experience, we were having our weekly district meeting. One of the sisters gave the opening prayer and began with an enthusiastic, “buenos dias, padre” or “good morning, father.” A few of us elders gave a little laugh at her nontraditional opening, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that it was appropriate. I think sometimes we lean too far towards treating our God like a visiting dignitary with a lot of propriety and maybe a little bit of pomp when maybe it would be to our benefit to treat him like our father.

Intellectual understanding vs. spiritual understanding of the Atonement

According to Wikipedia, there are 7 billion people on earth today. In 1900, the population was estimated at 1 billion. Demographers estimate 100 billion humans have lived on the earth.

Val Johnson wrote an article last year for the Ensign in which he stated, “The number of planets in our galaxy alone could easily be in the hundreds of billions. Considering that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the visible universe, the number of planets is so large as to be incomprehensible—truly worlds without number (see Moses 1:33–35)”. R. Val Johnson, Worlds without Number, Ensign 2013

We are taught in the scriptures that the atonement is an infinite atonement, and covers all of God's creations. In one of our Sunday School manuals, the Doctrines of the Gospel, we find the statement: “The infinite Atonement affects worlds without number and will save all of God’s children except sons of perdition.”

We know that God's children are as numberless as the sands of the sea. I mention this because these numbers are incomprehensible. And the idea that the death of one man could atone for the wrongs of everybody who ever lived, everybody who ever will live, and even those who may have lived on countless other worlds is difficult to comprehend. It is hard to understand how it would work on an intellectual level.

And not only that, but we believe that Jesus not only suffered for our sins, but that he suffered our pains and sorrows in the garden of Gethsemane so that “he [might] know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Alma 7:12)

The atonement isn't something that we can understand by reading about it. Or by studying it out in our minds. The atonement is an event that we can only understand spiritually through our own experience with it.

Called to witness

On my way home from church last week, I had just been asked to speak today. I thought to myself, I don't feel qualified to speak about the atonement. It is such a big subject, the central subject of the gospel. I'm not a scriptorian. I'm not a spiritual giant. I'm just a regular member of the church who struggles to get his kids ready for church on time, do his home teaching, and read the scriptures as often as I know I should.

But then I started thinking about what really would qualify someone to speak about the atonement. And I realized that there is a much better qualification than knowledge of the atonement, and that is experience with the atonement. And I have experienced the power of the atonement in my life.

I've said this before, but I have a new-found love for the word remission. Every time I go through any test or experience that shows that I am now cancer free, my heart is light and I get a big smile on my face. This is a huge miracle in my life! But someday, I'm still going to die. At least, statistically, that is what happens to the majority of us humans. And I hope that it is many, many years from now.

But there is another meaning of the word remission, and it refers to the cleansing of sins. The Savior testified that He had that power, the power to forgive sins. Most of the people didn't believe Him. It didn't fit in with what they already believed about the world. But he does have that power. I know because I have felt it in my life. And as good as it feels to be in remission from cancer, I know that the real miracle in my life, in all of our lives, is the remission of our sins.

I know that you have felt that power as well. That is why we are here today, to celebrate our Savior and His atonement for us.

The word “gospel” is translated from Greek. Most of you probably already know that it means “good news.” What an understatement! Good news is when you take your car to the mechanic and instead of needing an engine replacement, he tells you that one of your switches is dead. Good news is when you find out your teacher will give you an opportunity for extra credit on your final exam.

The atonement is much more than that! It gives meaning to our lives. It tells us that any suffering that we go through is not in vain, but to our benefit. It teaches us that we are not alone, no matter how dark our lives might be at times, we have a savior who knows us, who loves us, who suffers beside us and will ultimately triumph with us.

I've really enjoyed seeing my friends share their thoughts on the atonement on Facebook and other social media sites. I think that the church’s' Because of Him campaign is a great way to share our feelings with the world during this Easter season.

When we seek out gospel experiences and share them with others, we are filling our lamps with oil. In the parable of the ten virgins, the five who are prepared are not able to share their light with those who are unprepared. And it is true that in the moment of necessity, we won't be able to just give our faith to another. But through sharing our experiences now, we can help others to fill their lamps and build their reserves.

Mary Cook said in a recent conference talk, “decide now to do all you can to fill your lamps, that your strong testimony and example may be woven into the lives of many generations—past, present and future. I testify that your virtuous life will not only save generations, but it will also save your eternal life, for it is the only way to return to our Father in Heaven and find true joy now and throughout eternity.” When you save a girl, you save generations, April 2013 conference

I know that as we fill our lamps with faith in our Lord, we will be prepared when times of darkness and trial inevitably come to our lives. And moreover, when we share our light with others, we can help strengthen them as well. I am grateful for our Savior and for His atonement on our behalf. I hope that we can all remember him and experience His love more fully in our lives.

In Jesus' name, amen.