Why the Church
By Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
“In the Church we not only learn divine doctrine; we also experience its application… All of us are imperfect; we may offend and be offended. We often test one another with our personal idiosyncrasies. In the body of Christ, we have to go beyond concepts and exalted words and have a real ‘hands-on’ experience as we learn to ‘live together in love.’”[i]
Oh it seems so much easier said than done! So here are two ideas that I might include if I were asked to write:
1. Consider asking the Holy Ghost who you might have offended and use the Sabbath Day to go and make amends.
The Savior’s counsel to “first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift”[ii] is integral to sacrament and temple worship. It is also a “divine doctrine” that requires application.
One Sunday morning, I had the very distinct thought that I needed to write a note of apology to a ward member. I felt discouraged because I really thought I was “old enough” to not make those kinds of mistakes that required formal, written apologies. A thought came to me that I needed to accept the fact that by the time I died, I would likely have written (or needed to have written) a letter of apology to each member of my ward. Just accepting the fact that apologizing needs to be a common practice in my life, completely changed my perspective.
2. When it is my turn to handle another’s IDIOTsyncrasies, I repeat a saying I heard several years ago that I have remembered as, “You can measure your spiritual maturity by how easily you are offended.” This thought has been my major defense against those feelings of righteous indignation. Elder Neal A. Maxwell also said, “not only are the meek less easily offended, but they are less likely to give offense to others. In contrast, there are some in life who seem, perpetually, to be waiting to be offended. Their pride covers them like boils which will inevitably be bumped.”[iii] I don’t think it sounds very attractive to have spiritual boils covering me just ready to burst at the slightest abrasion!
I know apologizing is a part of life, I really know it is a part of the church, and I now know it can be a part of me too. But it is more than writing apology notes, or brainwashing myself with quotes from General Conference. “In the body of Christ, we have to go beyond concepts and exalted words and have a real ‘hands-on’ experience as we learn to ‘live together in love.’” It is in that learning and becoming where Satan is bound and Zion is established, one little congregation at a time, “till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”[iv]
I was born and raised in Alberta, Canada and California and promised every childhood friend I would never raise my family in Utah…until I fell in love with the most amazing fourth generation Orem boy. Now we are raising our kids in the house he grew up in and we love it. I am an estate planning attorney and marriage educator but I really want to be better at those half-baked talents like speaking Spanish, playing the piano, and making dinner every night! Read more about me at mormon.org