Sister Walter gave a wonderful lesson last Sunday The Great Commandment-Love the Lord from the teachings of the church, President Ezra Taft Benson. President Benson was a great man, there are some wonderful stories about his life before he became the prophet, as well as the wonderful relationship he had with his wife. You can read more about it here.
From the Life of Ezra Taft Benson
President Ezra Taft Benson’s life reflected his love for the Lord and his steadfast commitment to living the gospel. An extended family member once said, “To Ezra and his family religion is a complete way of life—something to be lived seven days a week. It takes first place in his consideration when the time comes for making decisions.”1
1
The first and great commandment is to love the Lord.
The great test of life is obedience to God. “We will prove them herewith,” said the Lord, “to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25).
The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
The great commandment of life is to love the Lord.
2
We show our love for God when we put Him first in our lives.
Why did God put the first commandment first? Because He knew that if we truly loved Him we would want to keep all of His other commandments. “For this is the love of God,” says John, “that we keep his commandments” (1 John 5:3; see also 2 John 1:6).
We must put God in the forefront of everything else in our lives. He must come first, just as He declares in the first of His Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).
3
When we choose to put God first in our lives, His blessings come in abundance.
Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life.9
I testify to you that God’s pay is the best pay that this world or any other world knows anything about. And it comes in full abundance only to those who love the Lord and put Him first.
The great test of life is obedience to God.
The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
The great commandment of life is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30).
When we put the Lord first in our lives we are granted peace and comfort when dealing with life's challenges. When our priorities are in the right place we can expect blessings. Sister Walter showed a video about the widow of Zarapah. Luke 4:25-26. We all agreed there are very few people we would feed before we would feed our starving children. But the widow had great faith and she was blessed for feeding the prophet Elijah. You can watch this video clip here.
Sister Welsh challenged each of us for one week to truly put the Lord first in our lives. We can expect to feel great love from the Savior, and see blessings.
No comments:
Post a Comment