Come Unto Me
President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency
We take His name upon us as we enter His Kingdom. He is God, the Creator, and perfect. We are mortals subject to death and sin. Yet, in His love for us and our families, He invites us to be close to Him. Here are His words:
“Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
At this Easter Season we are reminded of why we love Him and of the promise He makes to His faithful disciples to become His beloved friends. The Savior made that promise and told us how, in our service to Him, He comes to us. One example is in a revelation to Oliver Cowdery as he served the Lord with the Prophet Joseph Smith in the translation of the Book of Mormon:
“Behold, thou art Oliver, and I have spoken unto thee because of thy desires; therefore treasure up these words in thy heart. Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love.”[1]
I experienced the joy of coming closer to the Savior and of His coming closer to me through simple acts of obedience to the commandments.
You have had such experiences. It may have been when you chose to attend a sacrament meeting. It was for me on a Sabbath when I was very young. In those days we received the sacrament during an evening meeting. The memory of one day more than sixty-five years ago, when I kept the commandment to gather with my family and with the Saints, still draws me closer to the Savior.
I felt the Savior’s love and closeness that evening. And I felt the comfort of the Holy Ghost.
I wanted to rekindle once again the feelings of the love of the Savior and His closeness I felt during that sacrament meeting in my youth. So, I kept another commandment. I searched in the scriptures. In them, I knew I could go back again to have the Holy Ghost let me feel what the disciples of the risen Lord had felt when He had answered their invitation to come into their home and to abide with them.
I read of the third day after His crucifixion and burial. Faithful women and others came with them and found the stone rolled away from the tomb and that His body was not there. They had come out of love for Him to anoint His body.
The apostles and disciples had gathered in Jerusalem. As we might have been, they were afraid and wondered as they spoke together about what death and reports of His being resurrected meant for them.
Two of the disciples walked that evening from Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus. The resurrected Christ appeared in the dusk on the road and walked with them. The resurrected Lord had come to them.
The Book of Luke allows us to walk with them that evening: (Quotes (Luke 24:15-18))
… “And they drew nigh unto the village, wither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
“But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.”[1]
The Savior accepted that night the invitation to enter the house of His disciples near the village of Emmaus.
He sat at meat with them. He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened so that they knew Him. Then, He vanished out of their sight. Luke recorded for us the feelings of those blessed disciples:
“And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”[1]
At that same hour the two disciples rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the eleven Apostles what had happened to them. In that moment the Savior appeared again. He reviewed the prophecies of His mission to atone for the sins of all His Father’s children and to break the bands of death.
“And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
“And ye are witnesses of these things.”[1]
The Savior’s words are true as well for us as they were for His disciples then. We are witnesses of these things.
We are under covenant both to lift up those in need and to be witnesses of the Savior as long as we live.
Many of you have loved ones who are wandering off the path to eternal life. You wonder what more you can do to bring them back. You can depend on the Lord to draw closer to them as you serve Him in faith.
Like Alma and King Mosiah some of you faithful servants who have served the Lord so long and so well have had children who wandered despite their parent’s sacrifice for the Lord. Like you, they did all they could, even with help from other loving and faithful people.
Alma and the saints prayed for his son and the sons of King Mosiah, and an angel came. Your prayers and the prayers of those who exercise their faith will bring the Lord’s servants to help your family members. They will help them choose the way home to God, even when they are attacked by Satan and his followers, whose purpose it is to destroy families in this life and in eternity. You remember the words spoken by the angel to Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah in their rebellion:
“And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.”[1]
My promise to you who pray and serve the Lord cannot be that you will have every blessing you may wish for yourself and your family. But I can promise you that the Savior will draw close to you and bless you and your family with what is best. You will have the comfort of His love and feel the answer of His drawing closer as you reach out your arms in giving service to others.
There is a glorious homecoming prepared for us. We will then see the fulfilled promise of the Lord we have loved. It is He who welcomes us into eternal life with Him and our Heavenly Father.
By His words and His example Christ has shown us how to draw closer to Him. Every child of Heavenly Father who has chosen to enter through the gate of baptism into His Church will have the opportunity to be taught His gospel and to hear from His called servants His invitation to “Come Unto Me.”
All images used with permission. 2013 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bob PowelsonApril 8, 2013
How I love President Eyring gentle and loving soul that he is.