Capable, Trusted, Disciples of Christ

I just leaned over to President Kusch and said, “Are they always that good?” And he said “Yes.” It was beautiful. You just touched my heart. The accompaniment and choir. Thank you.

Well, it’s really a joy to be here with you. It was just over a month ago, President and Sister Kusch were kind enough to walk me through Ensign College. I called and asked if they would let me do that. It was great to be with them and to greet some of your fellow students.

I felt then and feel clearly today of the Lord’s love for each of you as an individual. I have the distinct impression that this college is provided with you—yes, you—in mind. Our Heavenly Father has known you for a long, long time. He held you in reserve until this time and age because He knows of your great potential to do good in this very confused world. Our Heavenly Father wants you to become capable, trusted disciples of Christ, so He led you here. Let’s talk about that mission statement. To begin, President and Sister Kusch, they model what it means to be capable, trusted disciples of Christ. I invite you to learn by watching them.

Let’s talk about “capable” very briefly. To be capable means that you develop skill and know-how. So, study, learn, work hard, get the help you need, and never give up! You will become capable as you persist. As capable as you may become, life will sometimes demand more skill or know-how than you have. So, you will need a source of strength beyond your own. And the Savior gives strength to His disciples.

In President Nelson’s words, “Now is the time for us to make our discipleship our highest priority.”

So, what is a “disciple?” You returned missionaries, and I met many of you this morning, know from Preach My Gospel that “The words disciple and discipline come from the same root word that means ‘learner’ or ‘pupil.’” A disciple of Christ constantly seeks to learn of Him, to actively follow Him, and to do as He would do. That’s how you get to know Him. In the Lord’s words, “He that receiveth my law and doeth it, the same is my disciple; and he that saith he receiveth it and doeth it not, the same is not my disciple.”

Alright, we’ve talked about capable and talked about disciple, now let’s spend a little more time on the word “trusted.”

So, what does it mean to be “trusted”?

The dictionary defines trust as the “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. One in whom confidence is placed.” To be trusted means that others can truly, confidently rely on us and our choices to be honest and good.

Let me tell you a story about trust. Tommy Langai, a returned missionary from the impoverished nation of Liberia, honorably completed his fulltime missionary service in DR Congo. Sister Nash and I served for approximately four years in West Africa. We loved Wests Africa, I loved all of Africa. Well, this young man, as he left the mission field to return home, his mission president in DR Congo gave him $100 to cover expenses on his trip home. When he arrived in Liberia, he had his release interview with the mission president there. During the interview, he handed the mission president $90 in cash, with receipts for the $10 he had spent on his return home. This good mission president, who relayed this story to me, did not recognize the significance of that moment until he dropped off this noble returned missionary in the bush by the roadside where his mother—not a member of the Church—was waiting for him. They greeted (he actually took photos of this greeting). She placed his suitcase on her head, and together they walked into the bush. At that moment, the mission president realized what this young man had done: the $90 Tommy had honorably returned would likely have fed his family for at least a month! He would have been welcomed home as a hero. When the mission president shared this story with me, I exclaimed: “I would trust that young man with anything!”

It is so good and so sweet to be loved, students. And it is far better to be trusted! Consider this: our Heavenly Father loves all his children with a perfect love, that is sweet to know, but He does not trust us all the same. Those He trusts—those who live righteously—are favored by Him.

This makes sense. Think of your personal relationships: when you trust someone, you are more likely to place things you value in their charge. Our Heavenly Father is like this; He gives more to those who hearken unto Him, those who listen and follow Him. In other words those he trusts—here a little, there a little. With trust, relationships, companies, professions, and societies, even nations flourish. Without trust, they crumble.

Second, on the issue of trust, who do we want to trust us? We surely want our family and friends, employers, and many others, to trust us. As good and important as it is to be trusted by these persons, it is most important to have the trust of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They are the only Ones who know us perfectly, love us perfectly, are the source of all truth, and are never deceived.

The Savior in fact “has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.” If you have His trust, you will be trusted by many others.

As we understand who the Savior is, and as we understand who we are in our Father’s plan, I believe we will yearn to serve Christ and to have His trust.

Let’s consider who Jesus Christ is. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the Only Begotten of the Father who came forward in the premortal council and volunteered in humble majesty: “Here am I, send me.”

It’s important to know in stepping forward, Jesus was not vying for position. Knowing the Father’s plan and the need for an atoning sacrifice to save us, He—the greatest of us all—humbly offered himself to be the sacrifice for you, for me, for all our Father’s children. Because of Jesus’ goodness, His love, and His obedience, the perfection of His character, our Heavenly Father chose Him because He trusted Jesus to fulfill the purpose of our Father’s plan for His children.

Jesus taught and lived truth.

By the His atoning sacrifice—in which He suffered more than we can imagine for our sins, hurts, illnesses—Jesus made the Father’s plan operative. Because of Him and His Atonement, you and I can have a perfect brightness of hope of being forgiven, of having second and third chances as we repent with full purpose of heart.

By His resurrection, the Lord caused death to lose its sting and ensured that all will rise from the dead and “stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgement day, according to our works.” And through Christ we can have the sure confident hope that by living the doctrine of Christ we will be guiltless and spotless—and full of joy—at that day when we stand before Him!

I love the Lord. I know Him. I am profoundly grateful for Him—words really cannot express how deeply I feel about Him. I owe Him. I want Him to be able to depend upon me, to trust me. With all He has done for me, it is the least I can do for Him.

Let’s talk about you and I, but let’s for a moment about Nephi, son of Helaman. He had a really bad day a particular day and was feeling down. Despite feeling very low, he continued faithful to the Lord—as he had for a long, long time. But on this day, the Lord said to him: “…I have beheld how thou hast not…sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.”

Because Nephi had done this with such unwearyingness—in other words, so consistently—the Lord declared: “I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.” Great power was given Nephi and came from earning or gaining great trust!

Just as the Lord knew Nephi, He knows you and me.

Think of who you are. You probably have hard days. But remember, you are a child of God, a child of the covenant, and a disciple of Christ. You were held in reserve to come forth in this troubled period of the world because our Heavenly Father trusted you to be loyal to Him, to His Son, and to gather others to Him. Because of your loyalty to Him in the premortal existence, you were trusted by our Father in Heaven to learn and live the doctrine of Christ.

In other words, you were trusted to exercise faith in Christ unto repentance, be baptized, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and—because none would be perfect in morality—endure to the end in living that pattern of life. And having learned, lived, and tasted the joy of this doctrine, you were trusted to share this enlivening, joyous gospel with others so that they too can come unto Christ, be gathered to Him, and be saved.

Our Heavenly Father trusted you to come to earth and keep the covenants and commandments of God. He trusts you to walk the covenant path, including being sealed to your spouse in His Holy House—temples that He has made more accessible to us than to any previous generation in all the human history. So, let’s be true to His trust and make time to regularly worship Him in His Holy House and then leave the temple “armed with His power,” with angels given charge over us!

He trusted you to bring children into this world within the bonds of holy matrimony and to teach them to understand faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and joyfully enduring to the end in living that way. Now, if the blessing of marriage and children are not yet yours, seek those blessings and wait upon the Lord without setting a deadline. Those blessings will come to the faithful in the Lord’s due time.

I have learned that the more God trusts us, the more rich and complete is our relationship or connection with Him. We come to know Him. And more of His power is manifest in our lives.

Third, and finally on this question of trust, how do we gain the Lord’s trust?

In a time of great difficulty in the Church, the Prophet Joseph Smith needed people who could be trusted. The Lord told Joseph: “I say unto you, my servant George Miller is without guile; he may be trusted because of the integrity of his heart...”

Now, listen to these few choice words: Trust is earned by living with integrity.

To understand integrity, let’s consider three words: truth, agency, and integrity. If we understand these words, you will know how to be trusted by God and others.

Truth is the knowledge of “things as they really are, and of things as they really will be.” Truth is steady, unchanging, and dependable. President Nelson taught:

“Contrary to the doubts of some, there really is such a thing as right and wrong. There really is an absolute truth—eternal truth. One of the plagues of our day is that too few people know where to turn for truth.”

Truth is not subject to personal interpretation; it is absolute, and God is the source of truth.

An example of the meaning of truth is found in natural laws that are unchanging, steady, and dependable. Let’s consider for a moment the law of gravity. Gravity on earth existed yesterday, it exists today, and it will exist tomorrow—we can depend upon it. Can you imagine the disorder of mortality, and how weak our bodies would be without the law of gravity? Life as we know it would be impossible! And if any of us ignore the law of gravity, we do so at our peril: I cannot declare “my truth” that gravity does not apply to me while I casually step off a roof, without falling to the ground.

This is like the eternal law and truth of God. There are many in today’s world who claim they can redefine the truth, or that truth is relative to circumstance and place. Such will find that failing to live God’s absolute truth—the truth—ultimately produces misery. On the other hand, the more truth, or light, we learn and live, the more it will grow within us as we are filled with the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of Truth. For the faithful, that light will grow “brighter and brighter until the perfect day”!

Alright, let’s look at the word agency.

Our Heavenly Father’s plan was given so that we could have the opportunity to grow, learn, and become like Him and live in His presence. To return to his presence and receive all that He has, is called eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God. And the growth necessary to receive all the Father has cannot happen without agency.

I will explain: God made all things, “both things to act and things to be acted upon.” And “…the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself.” Agency is the gift to be able to choose between good and evil.

In President Oaks’ words, moral agency is “The power to decide and to act.”

This gift is essential to our progress and growth. When Satan said that he would save all mankind by destroying our agency, it was a lie intended to frustrate the Father’s plan, for one cannot become like God without the growth that can only happen when we exercise our agency to choose to become like Him. The growth comes by making righteous choices.

You will face opposition in using your agency to decide and to act. So remember that opposition really is opportunity—opportunity to grow by choosing to follow Christ and live His gospel. Those who shrink from making the choice to live according to truth when they are faced with opposition are missing out on an opportunity to grow! So, let’s use our agency to grow, by choosing to focus on Christ and live according to the truth, laws, and commandments of His gospel.

Now, let’s look at the word integrity.

With these two words—truth and agency—in mind, we can better understand integrity. Simply stated, integrity is to exercise our agency—the power to decide and act—to choose to live the truth, look how simple that is, of the Lord’s gospel at all times and in all places. This means that we are honest and true. We do not lie, steal, or cheat.

When we have integrity, the principles that guide our decisions and actions do not shift with the social mores of the world.

Instead, we choose to be grounded—solidly, permanently anchored—in the rock and truth of our Redeemer and His gospel. When we live like this, it matters not whether the world praises or mocks us, for we look to Christ—not the world!

Importantly, to the same degree that we trust the Lord, He will trust us. So, let’s “trust in the Lord with all [our] heart and lean not unto [our] own understanding.” Notably, the way we show our trust in Him—living with integrity—is exactly what increases His trust in us!

So, my dear students, be true to Him. Be true to who you are and the great trust He has placed in you. Be true to Him and place your full confidence and trust in Him. Live with integrity so that He can trust you and place His confidence in you. And when you fall short, regain His trust by living the doctrine of Christ, meaning exercise your faith in Him unto repentance with real purpose of heart!

Now to kind of wrap this up, I want to share with you a story of integrity. Again, this comes out of Africa and our experience there. A young missionary I met in the Ghana MTC grew up in Kenya. When he was 8 to 10 years of age, he and a group of his friends approached a market where a man was selling groundnuts (an African term for peanuts). He and his friends were hungry. A hungry child in some parts of Africa really cannot expect to have a meal that day.

So, they made a plan: one at a time, they would approach the stand where the man was selling groundnuts. When he turned his back to help a customer, each young man (again, one at a time to avoid attracting attention) would grab a handful of groundnuts, jam it into his pocket, and walk nonchalantly to the other side of the market.

That plan worked to perfection. Or should I say to imperfection? At any rate, each boy waited for the man to turn his back, grabbed a handful of groundnuts, put it into his pocket, and walked to the other side of the market without incident. Then it became this young man’s turn. He was the last.

Just before he started to walk to the stand where the man was selling groundnuts, he heard a voice that startled him. The voice said to him: “You should not do this. It is wrong.” He thought they had been caught and looked around. He saw no one.

But his friends had done it. They were not caught. And he was hungry! So, he ignored what the voice said and started to walk to the stand with the pile of groundnuts. As he neared the stand, the voice spoke again, repeating: “You should not do this. It is wrong.” Recognizing this as the Holy Ghost, he walked past the stand without taking a single groundnut.

When he rejoined his friends, they asked him why he had not taken any groundnuts. He told them: “Because it is wrong. And you should not have taken any groundnuts either!” They offered him a share of the groundnuts they had taken and this hungry boy with no promise of a meal refused, not a single groundnut.

The countenance of this noble missionary was full of light and goodness, as he shared this story with me. He had the humble confidence of one who was trusted by the Lord. He had the self-respect that only comes when we live with integrity.

In summary: integrity is to consistently exercise your agency to choose to live truth, regardless of who is or is not with you—even if it is hard. Even if you are hungry! Importantly “As you live with integrity, I’m quoting Preach My Gospel here, you will have inner peace and self-respect. The Lord and others will trust you.”

Without integrity, you and I cannot become like Christ. So, we cannot put on and then remove our integrity as we do an article of clothing, for that is not integrity. It is the constancy and consistency of integrity—choosing to live the truth consistently at all times and in all places—that actually enlarges our soul and permits the Spirit to weave the attributes of Christ into our very soul—here a little, there a little.

To be capable, trusted disciples of Christ. What a mission statement for this college. What a mission statement for life!

I invite you to resolutely resolve today that you will forever seek to be a capable, trusted disciple of Jesus Christ. Work at your studies, ever improve your skills. Learn of Christ through prayer, study of the scriptures, and by following Him. Use your precious gift of agency to choose to live the truth at all times and in all places, and in all things—even when it is hard to do. Especially when it is hard to do. And when you fall short, exercise your faith in Christ unto repentance without delay in order to regain the Lord’s trust in you.

I promise that as you live with integrity, you will receive strength from on high and be given the gift of self-respect. You will have hope—the expectation of good things to come! I promise that “your confidence [shall] wax strong in the presence of God.” I promise that you will be guided in wisdom’s paths, and will be prospered, preserved, and enlivened with joy. I promise that the Lord and others will trust you.

I promise that as you live with integrity, your faith in Christ will increase, for you will live with increasing assurance that the course of life you are pursuing is according to His will. And I promise that your increased faith will result in miracles. You will come to know and trust Him and enjoy His trust in you, for living with integrity is to “walk with [Him].”

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Beautifully, wonderfully true. What we know of Jesus Christ and His gospel, we know because Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true, everlastingly, wondrously true. We have a living prophet. We are children of a loving Father in Heaven. I know that Jesus is the living Son of the living God. He has all power in heaven and in earth—we can safely trust Him. So, let’s look to Him and live with integrity so that He can safely trust us, for He has a work for us to do.

I bear that witness to you and express my love, His love. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.