Epilogue | Feed My Sheep

January 1, 2015 - WEEK FOURTEEN

Raphael, Christ’s Charge to Peter, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

DAILY READING

John 21
3 Nephi 11
JS-H 1:11-20
For Younger Disciples

CONSIDER AS YOU READ

Are there times in your life when you figuratively say to the Lord, “I go a fishing?”
What similarities are there between Jesus’ first invitation to Peter (Luke 5:1-11) and this second invitation to “Follow me”? Do you remember when you were first converted?
Does the Lord know how you would feel if your son returned from his mission and immediately picked up on his video games?
Are you conditioned to recognize the voice of the Lord?

SUPPLEMENTAL READING

I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—”Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind” (Luke 10:27…). And if at such a moment we can stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it….
To all within the sound of my voice, the voice of Christ comes ringing down through the halls of time, asking each one of us while there is time, “Do you love me?” And for every one of us, I answer with my honor and my soul, “Yea, Lord, we do love thee.” And having set our “hand to the plough” (Luke 9:62), we will never look back until this work is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The First Great Commandment,” Ensign, Nov. 2012).
READ ENTIRE TALK

ADDITIONAL MEDIA

The First Great
Commandment

FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES

The Apostles Lead
the Church

QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES

Do you think the apostles were better listeners after Jesus was resurrected?
Who has Jesus chosen to lead his church today?