Years ago, while I was serving as a seminary teacher,
I heard one of my coworkers ask his students
to reflect on the following question:
If you had lived in the Savior's day,
why do you think that you would have followed Him
as one of His disciples?
They reached the conclusion that those
who follow the Savior in the present day
and strive to be His disciples would probably also
have done so back then.
Since then I have reflected on that question
and their conclusion.
I often wonder how I would have felt
hearing the Savior Himself when He said the following
in the Sermon on the Mount:
"Ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto
all that are in the house.
"Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
Can you imagine how you would have felt
hearing the Savior's voice?
In fact, we do not have to imagine.
It has become a constant experience for us
to hear the voice of the Lord, because when
we hear the voice of His servants, it is the same.
In 1838, similar to the message given
in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord
declared the following through the Prophet Joseph Smith:
"For thus shall my church be called
in the last days, even The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth,
that thy light may be a standard for the nations."
Our days are so extraordinary that they were even
shown in a vision to the prophet Isaiah.
He too saw and prophesied of this day of the Restoration
of the Church of Jesus Christ and of its purpose, saying,
"And he shall set up an ensign for the nations,
and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel,
and gather together the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth."
In a scriptural context, an ensign, or a standard,
is a flag around which people would
gather in a unity of purpose.
In ancient times a standard served as a rallying point
for soldiers in battle.
Symbolically speaking, the Book of Mormon
and the restored Church of Jesus Christ
are standards to all nations.
Without a doubt, one of the great standards
of these latter days is this magnificent general conference,
where the great work and plan of our Heavenly Father
to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life
of man" is continually proclaimed.
The continuous holding of general conference
is one of the greatest testimonies to the fact
that we as Latter-day Saints "believe all
that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal,
and we believe that He will yet reveal
many great and important things pertaining
to the Kingdom of God."
What, then, has the Lord revealed through President
Monson that we need to continue doing so our light can
be a standard for the nations?
What are some of the important things
to be done in this brilliant moment of building up Zion
and of gathering Israel?
The Lord has always revealed his will
to us "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little
and there a little."
Therefore we should not be surprised
by what may seem like "small things" because
of their simple and repetitive nature, for the Lord has
already counseled us, telling us that "blessed are those who
hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel,
for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that
receiveth I will give more."
I testify that by "line upon line, precept upon precept,
here a little and there a little"
and by hearkening to our leaders' counsel,
we will have oil for our lamps that
will enable us to give light unto others
as the Lord commanded us.
While there are many things we can
do to be a light and an ensign to others,
I would like to focus on the following three:
observing the Sabbath day, hastening the work of salvation
on both sides of the veil, and teaching in the Savior's way.
The light we are talking about comes from the devotion
that we give to Sabbath day observance, in the Church
as well as in the home.
It is the light that grows as we keep ourselves
unspotted from the world.
It is the light that comes from offering up our sacraments
on His holy day and from paying our devotions to the Most
High, all of which enables us to always have His Spirit with us.
It is that light that grows and becomes visible when we return
home with the feeling of forgiveness
that President Henry B. Eyring spoke
about in this past October general conference
when he said: "Of all the blessings we can count,
the greatest by far is the feeling of forgiveness
that comes as we partake of the sacrament.
We will feel greater love and appreciation
for the Savior, whose infinite sacrifice made possible
our being cleansed from sin."
As we keep the Sabbath day holy and partake of the sacrament,
we are not only cleansed, but our light also grows brighter.
Our light also grows as we dedicate and consecrate
time to finding the names of our ancestors,
taking their names to the temple,
and teaching our family and others to do the same.
This sacred temple and family history work
that we share with the Saints on both sides of the veil
is moving forward more than ever as the Lord's temples are being
built. Now that the temples have special schedules for family
groups who come with their own family name cards, my wife
and I have had delightful experiences as we have served
in the temple together with our children and our grandchildren,
too.
When we find and take names to the temple
and teach others how to as well, together
we shine as an ensign or standard.
Learning to teach as the Savior taught
is another way we can rise and shine.
I rejoice along with everyone who
is learning how to teach in the Savior's way.
Allow me to read from the cover of the new teaching manual:
"The goal of every gospel teacher--every parent,
every formally called teacher, every home teacher and visiting
teacher, and every follower of Christ--is to teach the pure
doctrine of the gospel, by the Spirit, ...
to help God's children build their faith in the Savior
and become more like Him."
Right now thousands of our faithful teachers
hold up a light as they learn how
to teach in the Savior's way.
In this context, the new teacher council meeting
is a way to rise and shine as the students meet around
the standard of the doctrine of Christ,
for "the key to teaching as the Savior taught
is to live as the Savior lived."
As we all teach and learn in His way and become more like Him,
our light shines brighter and cannot be hid and becomes
a standard to those who are looking for the Savior's light.
My dear brothers and sisters, we should not
and must not hide our light.
Our Savior commanded us to let our light shine
like a city on a hill or like a light from a candlestick.
As we do so, we will glorify our Father in Heaven.
The Savior's gospel and His restored Church
give us many opportunities for our light
to be a part of the great standard for the nations.
I testify that Jesus Christ is the light that we must reflect.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.