On one occasion, Jesus came upon a group arguing
vehemently with His disciples.
When the Savior inquired as to the cause of this contention,
the father of an afflicted child stepped forward, saying
he had approached Jesus's disciples for a blessing for
his son, but they were not able to provide it.
With the boy still gnashing his teeth, foaming from the
mouth, and thrashing on the ground in front of them, the
father appealed to Jesus with what must have been
last-resort desperation in his voice.
"If thou canst do any thing," he said, "have compassion on
us, and help us.
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are
possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said
with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." This
man's initial conviction, by his own admission, is limited.
But he has an urgent, emphatic desire on
behalf of his only child.
We are told that is good enough for a beginning.
"Even if [you]
can no more than desire to believe," Alma declares, "let
this desire work in you, even until [you]
believe." With no other hope remaining, this father asserts
what faith he has and pleads with the Savior of the world,
"If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, ...
help us."
I can hardly read those words without weeping.
The plural pronoun us is obviously used intentionally.
This man is saying in effect: "Our whole family is pleading.
Our struggle never ceases.
We are exhausted.
Our son falls into the water.
He falls into the fire.
He is continually in danger, and we are continually afraid.
We don't know where else to turn.
Can you help us?
We will be grateful for anything--a partial blessing,
a glimmer of hope, some small lifting of the burden carried
by this boy's mother every day of her life."
"If thou canst do any thing" spoken by the father comes
back to him "If thou canst believe,"
spoken by the Master.
And straightway, "straightway," the scripture
says--not slowly nor skeptically nor cynically, but
"straightway"--the father cries out in his unvarnished
parental pain, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief."
Now, in response to new and still partial faith, Jesus
heals this boy, almost literally raising him from the
dead, as Mark describes the incident.
Now, with this tender scriptural record as a
backdrop, I wish to speak directly to the young people
of the Church--young in years of age or young in years of
membership or young in years of faith.
One way or another that should include just about all of us.
Observation number one regarding this account is that
when facing the challenge of faith, the father asserts his
strength first, and only then acknowledges his limitation.
His initial declaration is affirmative and without
hesitation: "Lord, I believe." I would say to all who wish
for more faith, remember this man!
In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the
ground you have already won, even if
that ground is limited.
In the growth we all have to experience in mortality,
the spiritual equivalent of this boy's affliction or this
parent's desperation is going to come to all of us.
When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution
of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what
you already know and stand strong until additional
knowledge comes.
It was of this very incident, this specific miracle, that
Jesus said, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye
shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place;
and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible
unto you.'" The size of your faith or the degree of your
knowledge is not the issue--it is the integrity you
demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you
already know.
The second observation is a variation of the first.
When problems come and questions arise, do not start
your quest for faith by saying how much you do not have,
leading as it were with your "unbelief." That's like trying
to stuff a turkey through the beak!
Let me be clear.
Let me be clear on this point: I am not asking you to pretend
to faith you do not have.
I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have.
Sometimes we act as if an honest declaration of doubt is
a higher manifestation of moral courage than is an
honest declaration of faith.
It is not!
So let's all remember the clear message of this
scriptural account.
Be as candid about your questions as you need to be.
Life is full of them on one subject or another.
But if you and your family want to be healed, don't let
those questions stand in the way of
faith working its miracle.
Furthermore, you have more faith that you think you do
because of what the Book of Mormon calls "the greatness of
the evidence." "[You]
shall know them by their fruits," Jesus said, and the
fruit of living the gospel is evident in the lives of
Latter-day Saints everywhere.
As Peter and John said once to the Pharisees, I say today:
"We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and
heard,"
and what we have seen and heard is that "a notable
miracle hath been done" in the lives of millions of members
of this Church.
That cannot be denied.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in
process with the manifestations and blessings
of it abounding in every direction.
So please do not hyperventilate if from time to
time issues arise that need to be examined,
understood, and resolved.
They do, and they will.
In this Church, what we know will always trump
what we do not know.
And remember, in this world everyone is to walk by faith.
So be kind regarding human frailty--your own as well as
those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer,
mortal men and women.
Except in the case of His only perfect, Begotten Son,
imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with.
That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He
deals with it.
So should we.
And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation
is not in the divinity of the work.
As one gifted writer has suggested: When the infinite
fullness is poured forth, it's not the oil's fault if there's
some loss because finite vessels can't
quite contain it all.
Those finite vessels include you and me.
So be patient and kind and forgiving.
Last observation.
When doubt or difficulty come, do not be
afraid to ask for help.
If we want it as humbly and honestly as this father did,
we can get it.
The scriptures phrase such earnest desire as being
pursued "with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and
no deception before God." In response to that kind of
importuning, I testify God will send help from both sides
of the veil to strengthen our belief.
I said I was speaking to the young.
I still am.
A 14-year-old boy recently said to me, a little
hesitantly, "Brother Holland, I can't say yet that I know
the Church is true.
But I believe it is." I hugged that boy until
his eyes bulged out.
I told him with all the fervor of my soul that belief is a
precious word, an even more precious act, and he need
never apologized for (quote) "only
believing" (close quote).
I told him that Christ Himself said, "Be not afraid, only
believe," a phrase which, by the way, carried young Gordon
B. Hinckley into the mission field.
I told this boy that belief was always the first step
toward conviction and that the definitive articles of our
collective faith each begin with the phrase "We believe."
I told him how very proud I was of him for the
honesty of his quest.
Now, with the advantage that nearly 60 years give me since
I was a newly believing 14-year-old, I declare some
things I now know.
I know that God is at all times and in all ways and in
all circumstances our loving, forgiving Father in Heaven.
I know Jesus was His only perfect child, whose life was
given lovingly by the will of both the Father and the Son
for the redemption of all the rest of
us who are not perfect.
I know He rose from that death to live again, and because He
did, you and I will also.
I know that Joseph Smith, who acknowledged that he wasn't
perfect, was nevertheless the chosen instrument in God's
hand to restore the everlasting
gospel to the earth.
I also know that in doing so--particularly through
translating the Book of Mormon--he has taught me more
of God's love, of Christ's divinity, and of priesthood
power in this world than any other prophet of whom I have
ever read, known, or heard in a lifetime of seeking.
I know that President Thomas S. Monson, who moves devotedly
and buoyantly toward the 50th anniversary of his ordination
as an Apostle, is the rightful successor to that prophetic
mantle today.
We have seen that mantle on him again in this conference.
I know that 14 other men whom you sustain as prophets,
seers, and revelators sustain him with their hands, their
hearts, and their own apostolic keys.
These things I declare to you with the conviction Peter
called "the more sure word of prophecy." What was once a
tiny seed of belief for me has grown into the tree of life,
so if your faith is a little tested in this or any season,
I invite you to lean on mine.
I know this work is God's very truth.
And I know that at our peril would we allow doubt or devils
to sway us from its path.
Hope on.
Journey on.
Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns,
but first and forever, fan the flame of your faith, because
all things are possible to them that believe.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.