When children in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reach the year they’ll turn 8, they get a special gift. You know the one. It’s that special ring with the green shield and three letters emblazoned across it.
The famous CTR ring. Of course, CTR stands for Choose the Right. And choosing the right, AKA, choosing to keep the commandments, is a pretty important thing in this life. But on this week’s episode of Sharing the Light, I want to talk about another choice that’s far more important and one that ideally comes first in our gospel journey.
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What’s your personal motive for keeping commandments? You may have many actually and they may vary with seasons of your life. The Savior gave us the ideal reason and His words are recorded in John 14:15: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
At the heart of that verse is the principle we’ll talk about today. Because the most important choice you’ll make in this life isn’t a what or a when or a how, it’s a Who.
In the famous “Choose you this day” verse recorded in Joshua 24:15, Joshua didn’t talk about how we choose to serve or when we choose or even why we serve, he talked about who we serve. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”
As you study the scriptures this year, particularly the Book of Mormon as our Come, Follow Me focus, you’ll find this simple idea taught again and again. Here’s a sampling:
2 Nephi 2:27: “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.”
Alma 3:26 tells us that our “eternal happiness or eternal misery” is determined by the spirit which we list to obey, whether it be a good spirit (Christ) or a bad one (the adversary).
And the next verse, Alma 3:27 adds: “For every man receiveth wages of him whom he listeth to obey.”
Alma 40:13 teaches a similar idea. So does Helaman 3:35, which tells us that our Gospel journey of coming unto Christ and being sanctified begins with “yielding [our] hearts unto God.”
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Why is this one single choice so important? Elder Neal A. Maxwell summed it up nicely: “If, in the end, you have not chosen Jesus Christ, it will not matter what you have chosen.”
Those words are true. If we don’t choose Christ, we can choose anything else, good or bad, and in the end, it won’t be enough, it won’t be right, and it won’t bring lasting joy or happiness to ourselves or anyone else.
If Christ isn’t in the picture, if he’s not the center of the picture, the picture is and will always be incomplete.
1 John 4:19 beautifully teaches of the Savior: “We love him, because he first loved us.”
Let me tell a simple truth. As I do, I pray the Holy Ghost will witness this truth to your soul. Here it is: Jesus Christ loves you.
And if you feel that love or desire to feel that love, choose to love Him. Choose to believe in Christ. Choose to believe in His sinless life, His atoning grace and His hopeful words: “I am able to make you holy” (D&C 60:7).
If you choose to accept Him and to love Him who first loved you, then that important choice will make it far easier to make daily choices that show you are choosing Christ. And you’ll find yourself making those choices for the right reason: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”