This past Sunday, the women’s group at church will be studying a talk entitled “Sir, We Would Like to See Jesus” by Elder Robert M. Daines, given in the October, 2023 General Conference. I serve in the children’s ministry, so I will not be able to participate in the discussion. However, I have learned much from my study of the principles taught by this humble servant of God and wish to share what insights God has blessed me with.
He began his thoughts telling two stories. Each story talked about different ways people can fail to identify people who are lovingly walking beside them. As I read these stories my mind wandered to stories in the scriptures – friends walking down a road discussing uplifting lessons they had learned from their mentor, yet failing to see that He walked with them and continued to share insight, a grieving woman begging a gardener to return her beloved master failing to see that it was He who stood beside her, the children of Israel who saw the commandments as a check list and missed the face of Jehovah in rituals and daily living. I began to wonder, am I guilt of failing to see the Savior in my daily life?
Many see the commandments as restrictions keeping them from finding happiness or as a buffet that they can pick and choose which ones God really meant for the good of His people and which ones are there to trick them. Some have lost sight of God’s purpose, “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39) and that “men are that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). Many struggle to see the hand of God in their lives daily. Many miss the quiet, tender mercies, the evidence that God hears them and knows them.
Robert Daines pointed out that “You may struggle to God as a loving Father. You may look heavenward and see not the ace of love and mercy but a thicket of rules through which you must wend your way… and you secretly wonder whether He loves you.”
I paused. Could this be like a rain cloud that constantly follows you around, keeping you from seeing the Son? My mind wandered to the mists of darkness in Lehi’s dream. In his dream, Lehi saw many people wandering in the mist, a mist that choked them and kept them from seeing and feeling the Light. Lehi’s dream began to take on a deeper meaning.
There is hope! Light can and does break through the clouds! President Russell M. Nelson reminds us, Jesus is the answer to all things!
“… we want to see Jesus for who He is and to feel His love. This should be the reason for all that we do…”
Love… oh the many song lyrics that flooded my brain… “Love, love will keep us together…” (thanks Carpenters), “all we need is love…” (classic Beetles), “Where is the love?” (even the Black-eyed Peas). It seems like “where is the love?” is the anthem for times.
I am distracted. Back to the talk.
“… His followers ‘saw Jesus standing, and knew not that is was Jesus.’ They had to learn to recognize Him, and so do we.” So how do we go about learning to recognize Jesus?
Step 1: Ask.
Recognizing and feeling God’s love is “something we all have to learn.” I think is starts with prayer, and I am confident that this is prayer that is always answered, though it may take time to feel the answer. Mormon counsels us to pray “with all the energy of heart” to be filled love. I am confident that this a prayer that God will always answer. Will we listen?
God’s love is unconditional love. Unconditional love empowers one with physical, emotional, and spiritual strength. It quickens the mind. It increases creative thought. Unconditional love gives us courage and strength to move forward through the midst of darkness. It gives us the ability to thoroughly understand another soul and the light that shines within them. Unconditional love is the power to let go and to forgive others and our selves, allowing the Savior to do what He does without interference. Unconditional love is a gift. We are commanded to seek spiritual gifts and this commandment includes seeking charity or unconditional love. I know that this prayer is always answered and that it builds with time.
Step 2: Study the Life of Christ.
Elder Daines recommends reading and rereading and rereading the four Gospels “to see who He is and what He loves.” I pause. I think we could all use more time studying Christ’s life. I wish we had more. It would be cool to see what He said and did between 2 and 12 and between 12 and the start of His ministry in His 30s. I think we are also blessed to be able to read about His person visits to the Nephites and even His personal instruction to the prophet Joseph. I is clear when you spend time studying His life and His words that He came “to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.” This is love in action! He is LOVE personified. All that He does is motivated by LOVE – caring for people who suffer spiritually, physically, and socially, touching people who are thought to be unclean and unworthy, feeding the hungry, embracing people who are in the margins and lack hope.
Step 3: Seek
I think seeking is another instruction with promise. Seek and you will find. Elder Daines reminds us that, “Prophets invite us to seek His face.” Does this mean looking to see Him in everything and in everyone? Yes. Does this mean seeing Him in this life? Yes! I love this gentle reminder, “we’re not finished until we see Jesus as the face of our Father’s love.” Commandments and covenants are not rules that earn His love. His love is perfect. Seeking His face helps us to “understand and shape our life to that love.”
Step 4: Serve
I have learned that the best way to understand Jesus is to serve. Losing myself in service helps me to feel His love because He allows me to love whom I am serving as He loves them. Elder Daines states that serving is “to stand in the river of God’s love for His children.”
He wants us to float in the river that is His love. He doesn’t want us to just stand alongside the bank of the river getting splashed every so often. He wants us to jump in, be fully immersed, letting the current carry us downstream. What am I waiting for? Jump in!
I often find myself feeling disconnected from His love for me. It’s not that I don’t know He loves me, because I do, but it slips from my conscious awareness when the mists of darkness move in like a slow moving fog. It’s as I get focused on tasks and figuring things out, that His smile fades from my mind because I forgot to focus on the Light. I lose the sense that He is there loving me. And there are times when I don’t really seem to believe it at all – because I can’t sense the Light piercing through the clouds. I find I need to keep returning to the scripture passages that explicitly state God’s love because they are like water to my parched soul.
Times like these call for me to take a minute to imagine I am immersed in God’s compassion and mercy, His goodness and grace. I can close my eyes and float in the river that is His love.
Jump into the river and let Him carry you. His love is more real than we imagine. And with an awareness that we are dearly loved by Jesus, and a heart that loves Him deeply, we are ready to serve. Jump into the river of His love and learn of Jesus – who walks on water. Jump into the river and seek His smiling face. Jump into the river and ask for a taste of His love for you. Take the leap of faith and jump all in. I promise, He hears us. He loves us. He controls the water. He is there to keep the water calm. We will see Jesus!
Resigning as the General Manager of the Universe 