Loyalty

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This means that I get to learn about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, not only from the Holy Bible, but also from The Book of Mormon, and from Modern Day (as in alive right now!) Prophets and Apostles.  Two times a year the Prophet and apostles speak to the world, and their talks are made available on lds.org.  Recently Ryan and I were reading these inspired words and came across an especially fantastic talk, given by the apostle Elder Jeffery R. Holland.  His talk is titled "The First Great Commandment" and below is my favorite part. Enjoy! 

 "My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” And if at such a moment we can stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments,” Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it."

May we show our loyalty to God by serving and loving each other.  Happy Sunday!