“Draw Near unto Me”
Jesus Christ loves each of us. He offers us the opportunity to draw closer to Him.
My dear brothers and sisters, it is a joy for me to be with you in this general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is His Church. We are gathered in buildings and homes all over the world in His name.
We take His name upon us when we enter His kingdom by covenant. He is the resurrected and glorified Son of God. We are mortals, subject to sin and death. Yet, in His love for each of us, the Savior invites us to come closer to Him.
Here is His invitation to us: “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.”
There are times we feel close to the Savior Jesus Christ. And yet, sometimes during our mortal trials, we feel some distance from Him and wish for an assurance that He knows what is in our hearts and loves us as individuals.
The Savior’s invitation includes the way to feel that assurance. Draw near Him by always remembering Him. Seek Him diligently through scripture study. Ask through heartfelt prayer to Heavenly Father to feel closer to His Beloved Son.
There is a simple way to think about it. It is what you would do if you were separated for a time from dear friends. You would find a way to communicate with them, you would cherish any message you received from them, and you would do all you could to help them.
The more that happened, the longer it lasted, the deeper the bond of affection would be strengthened, and you would feel yourself drawing ever nearer. If much time passed without the cherished communication and the opportunity to help one another, the bond would weaken.
Jesus Christ loves each of us. He offers that opportunity to draw closer to Him. As with a loving friend, you will do it in much the same way, by communicating through prayer to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, listening for cherished guidance from the Holy Ghost, and then serving others for the Savior cheerfully. Soon you would feel that blessing of drawing nearer to Him.
In my youth, 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. When I was young, the sacrament was offered during an evening meeting. I can still remember one specific night, more than 75 years ago, when it was dark and cold outside. I remember a feeling of light and warmth as I realized that I had kept the commandment to gather with the Saints to partake of the sacrament, covenanting with our Heavenly Father to always remember His Son and keep His commandments.
At the end of the meeting that night, we sang the hymn “Abide with Me; ’Tis Eventide,” with the memorable words “O Savior, stay this night with me.”
These words brought an overwhelming sense of the Spirit to me, even as a young boy. I felt the Savior’s love and closeness that evening through the comfort of the Holy Ghost.
Years later I wanted to rekindle the same feeling of the Savior’s love and the closeness I had felt to the Lord during that sacrament meeting in my youth. So I kept another simple commandment: I searched the scriptures.
In the book of Luke, I read of the third day after His Crucifixion and burial, when faithful servants had come, out of love for the Savior, to anoint His body. When they arrived, they found the stone rolled away from the tomb and saw that His body was not there.
Two angels stood by and asked why they were afraid:
“Why seek ye the living among the dead?
“He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
“Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
That evening at dusk, two disciples walked from Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus, and the resurrected Lord appeared to them and walked with them.
The book of Luke allows us to walk with them that evening:
“And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
“But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
“And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
“And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?”
They told Him of their sadness that Jesus had died when they had trusted He would be the Redeemer of Israel.
There must have been affection in the risen Lord’s voice as He spoke to these two sorrowful and mourning disciples.
As I continued to read, there came these words that warmed my heart, just as I had felt when I was a little boy:
“And they drew nigh unto the village, whither 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.”
The Savior accepted that night the invitation to enter the house of His disciples. He sat at meat with them. He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and 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?”
The two disciples then rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the eleven Apostles what had happened. As they were sharing their experience, the Savior appeared again.
He stood in the midst of them and “saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” He then 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.”
Just as His beloved disciples, every child of Heavenly Father who has chosen to enter through the gate of baptism is under covenant to be a witness of the Savior and to care for those in need throughout our mortal lives. This commitment was made plain for us by the great Book of Mormon prophet Alma centuries ago at the Waters of Mormon:
“As ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
“Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places … , even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, … that ye may have eternal life.”
As you are faithful to these promises, you will find that the Lord keeps His promise to be one with you in your service, making your burdens light. You will come to know the Savior, and in time you will come to be like Him and “be perfected in him.” By helping others for the Savior, you will find that you are drawing nearer to Him.
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.
You may remember the Lord’s promise to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon when they were away from their families on His errands: “My friends Sidney and Joseph, your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.”
As you bind up the wounds of those in need, the Lord’s power will sustain you. His arms will be outstretched with yours to succor and bless the children of our Heavenly Father.
Every covenant servant of Jesus Christ will receive His direction from the Spirit as they bless and serve others for Him. Then they will feel the Savior’s love and find joy in being drawn closer to Him.
I am a witness of the Resurrection of the Lord as surely as if I had been there with the two disciples in the house on Emmaus road. I know that He lives.
This is His true Church—the Church of Jesus Christ. We will, on the Day of Judgment, stand before the Savior, face to face. It will be a time of great joy for those, in this life, who have drawn close to Him in His service and can eagerly anticipate to hear His words: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
I testify as a witness of the risen Savior and our Redeemer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.