A New Years Day Talk on Service

A New Years Day Talk on Service

Today is the first day of a new year. Some of us have made our traditional resolutions in an effort to improve ourselves. It will only be a matter of time when we become discouraged because we have not reached that stage of accomplishment we had anticipated and our dedication to those resolutions will wane.

During this past month we were all caught up in the preparations for the Christmas holidays. Occasionally we thought of the Lord Jesus Christ. We remembered that this was the time we celebrated His birth but mostly we were seeking our own pleasure and happiness with the decorations, dinners, presents and family companionship's. It was a time of peace and tranquility in a very troubled world - a respite from ideological confrontations and the pains resulting from them.

It is good to have a season of peace, a relief from the realities of pain and sorrow. It is good to have a time to rest from the troubles of the world. But the make-up of mankind is such that we do not learn and grow and develop while we are at rest. The Lords' children were not created to be static. We are active, growing through the various stages of life, learning new concepts, developing new ideas, testing what we have learned and choosing the better part.

After Adam and Eve had make their conscious choice and were cast out of the Garden of Eden and after the Gospel plan had been explained to them, Eve spoke these poignant words:

"Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should
have known good and evil."
(Pearl of Great Price I Moses 5:11)

Ever since then the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve have concerned themselves with what is good and what is evil. Most of us have incorrectly assumed that good is pleasurable and evil is painful. Adam however, after learning of the whole gospel plan said:

"because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy."
(Pearl of Great Price I Moses 5:10)

If then the purpose for us in this life is to have joy - how must it be accomplished?

Many of us have mistakenly assumed that joy is something synonymous with pleasure and fun. But as we look at the masses of people who have sought the physical pleasures of mortality, they are not happy and joy has eluded them. The world is filled with fun seekers who are miserable.

Most people believe that great wealth will bring with it great happiness yet how many a rich person has said, "I would give it all away if I could have the happiness I had when we were young and struggling to make ends meet".

The holy scriptures have much to say about mankind having joy. In nearly every instance the scripture couples joy with serving God and serving others.

The scriptures tell us that Adam taught his children the Gospel Plan all the days of his life and although the going was tough and his children were rebellious and disobedient, Adam did as God commanded and Adam had Joy.

Abraham was called upon to sacrifice his son Isaac and although it brought great pain to his heart, Abraham made all the preparations with obedience to the Lords command and Abraham had joy.

Job found himself in the most dire of circumstances and unable to change anything - only to suffer the excruciating conditions as each painful loss and tortures were heaped upon him. Even his friends suggested that he revile against God for the injustices he had suffered. Yet Job found joy in his travail and expressed it thusly:

"though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God"
(Old Testament I Job 19:26)

We find throughout the scriptures the injunction for us to serve one another as well as to serve the Lord. We are told to nurse the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry and in every way to love our fellow beings as we love ourselves.

Each month Readers Digest publishes a feature entitled "Everyday Heroes". In its' pages the Digest tells us about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. People who without any thought for their own safety or comfort, risk life and limb to save someone else from imminent danger.

When 9/11 happened, we witnessed some of Gods finest sons and daughters knowingly make the ultimate sacrifice in an attempt to save anyone in need. Those heroes were not necessarily religious. Not all of them attended a church regularly. Perhaps some of them did not believe in prayer. Yet those ordinary men and women knew something that we all need to learn; joy comes to those who serve.

I have a cousin who told me of an experience he treasures above all else. For the last two years of his Aunt's life, he took care of her every need. She was totally incapacitated. He had to feed her, clothe her and in a hundred other ways, provide for her every need. Of this experience he said: "Providing for my Aunt was the most spiritually satisfying experience of my life".

When people have gone back and interviewed such heroes and asked them if they had to do it all over again, would they still do the same thing? Unequivocally the answer is yes! It does not matter that some have lost arms or legs. It makes no difference that some are scared from burns or crippled from injuries. The personal pains these heroes have suffered had been turned into joy in their souls.

Many years ago I came across a book entitled "The Mystery of Pain". It was written by James Hinton, a British Doctor who devoted the latter part of his life in helping people understand the nature of pain and how to use it to fill their lives with joy. Doctor Hinton suggests there is a simple formula for doing that.

When we make a sacrifice for someone else, regardless of how trivial or grandiose it may be, the sacrifice itself is an encroachment upon us - a pain of some sort. The greater the sacrifice - the greater the pain. But when that sacrifice is made in love, the pain ceases to exist and the sacrifice becomes a joy. I quote:

"Man's perfect life could use all suffering for joy; that is, a love for others should be so
powerful within us, and a consciousness of others' good should be so fully ours, such
rapture should possess us, that all loss, all grief's, should be to us the trivial sacrifices
which love delights to have the opportunity to make."

He then goes on to state his conclusion:

"The evil of our pains should make us say, not how evil is this that we are called to bear,
but how far short we fall - man falls - of the true human life, that this sacrifice is an evil to us..
It should prompt us to seek deliverance, but deliverance by cure: the deliverance that
is brought by a perfected life; the joy that is the joy of love, and finds its necessary food
in sacrifice."

Jesus not only commanded us to love one another, he revealed to us by what method we could achieve and maintain joy in this life. As the Master hung from the cross he uttered these words:
"It is finished"! These were not the words of a defeated dying mortal but a grand and glorious pronouncement of joy, knowing that He, the Son of God, had accomplished the salvation of His beloved brothers and sisters.

Now what of us today? Are our lives filled with joy or are we complacently sitting by in an attempt to avoid any discomfort which domes from any degree of sacrifice we may be called upon to bear.

Do we gladly do our home and visiting teaching because we love the ones who have been vouchsafed to us or do we belligerently go begrudging the time spent.

Are we loath to volunteer when a need arises or do we race one another to see who will have the privilege of service? When the Master comes again, He will not magically change our attitudes. He has told us how we may have joy in this life but we must change ourselves.

Someone once said, "Don't ask God to guide your steps unless you are willing to move your feet". Well - He has revealed to us how we might have joy all the days of our lives. Let us be wise enough to follow His directions.

Another book I came across many years ago is called "Mr. Anonymous". It is the story of William Volker, a young German immigrant to this country.

William had been raised by good Christian parents. Among the many Christian attributes they taught him was the need to help those who were less fortunate than himself.

Simple unbidden acts of kindness became a way of life for him.

During the great depression, William would open his office doors from five A.M. until eight A.M. six days a week, to anyone who was in need. Each day, hundreds who had suffered the devastating effects of the depression would come to his office in search of the financial means to rescue their lives.

One time an interviewer asked William how he accounted for the phenomenal success of his business. He answered: "I have a shovel which I use to distribute my wealth to those in need. God has a bigger shovel."

In his lifetime he single-handidly financed hospitals, universities and libraries. He gave away millions to the needy. Shortly before his death he set up charitable foundations for the remainder of his wealth. When asked if he had any regrets he said he wished he could have done more.

It is my wish and prayer that each one of us today might inculcate into our lives this method the Lord has shown to us as to how we may have joy in our lives. The scriptures tell it to us so simply: Charity is the true love of Christ and Charity never faileth.

Andy