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Showing the Savior’s Love through Service
The authors live in Colorado, USA.
Through genuine acts of love and service, we can help others come unto Christ and feel God’s love.
As covenant members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we may sometimes wonder how to fulfill our commitment to share the gospel with others. Service provides a wonderful opportunity to help others and also to share more about Jesus Christ as we help them in His name. Yet sometimes we may worry that our efforts might be perceived as an attempt only to share the gospel.
What we have discovered in recent years is that the motivation behind acts of service makes a tremendous difference in how the service is received. Like King Benjamin’s people, we have come to embrace the knowledge that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17). When we seek God’s direction and prayerfully approach others with the desire to serve them and help them feel God’s love—not to just talk about the gospel—we need not worry about the outcome. That is why we have found the example of Ammon in the Book of Mormon to be so inspiring.
Following Ammon’s Example
Ammon was a Nephite who went to preach the gospel in the land of Ishmael, a Lamanite land where he could be perceived as an enemy. When Ammon arrived, he was bound and taken before King Lamoni, who questioned Ammon’s motives for coming. When asked why he came, Ammon said:
“I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.
“… I will be thy servant” (see Alma 17:23, 25).
Ammon loyally and faithfully served King Lamoni, even risking his own life to protect the king’s sheep and his fellow servants from robbers (see Alma 17:26–39). These genuine acts of devotion and service provided Ammon an opportunity to share the gospel with the Lamanites when he was asked about his actions.
Ammon’s example has inspired our family’s own pattern for service. It involves serving people for one core purpose: to help them be successful and happy. In other words, we serve them because we genuinely love and care about them.
This approach is natural and manageable because all it requires is that we be aware of what’s going on in the lives of people around us and help them when and where help is needed. We’ve found that while working with the ward mission leader and the ward and full-time missionaries, we can maximize every opportunity to demonstrate God’s love to our friends and neighbors.
Recognizing a Need, Choosing to Act
Years ago, a woman named Jacqueline Langey-Johnson moved into our neighborhood. She is a caretaker for two young women with developmental disabilities. As a couple, we wondered if Jacqueline might have a difficult time taking care of her property while caring for these young women. We decided to introduce ourselves and see how we could help.
We had a wonderful conversation during which we told Jacqueline we would be delighted to help her with some yard work. She gratefully accepted our offer and told us how difficult it was for her to get outside and do yard work since she couldn’t leave the young women alone in the house.
The Lord was very aware of Jacqueline’s situation and used us to help her find joy in her new home and feel welcomed in the neighborhood. We were thrilled at the chance to serve her and develop a forever friendship.
Seeing the Blessings of Service
We soon discovered that Jacqueline was a devout Christian who loved reading about the Savior. So during one of our conversations, we gave her a Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: New Testament manual. Jacqueline absolutely loved the material in the manual and the creative way it was presented—it made reading the New Testament enjoyable and easy to understand.
One day about two years ago, Jacqueline asked if the full-time missionaries could come to her home and teach her more about the Church using the Come, Follow Me manual. Alongside the full-time missionaries, we started having weekly discussions with her. After four months, she wanted to be baptized. She asked me (Bob) to perform the ordinance and my wife (Judy) to be a witness.
Since her baptism in September 2020, Jacqueline has served as a sacrament meeting greeter, assisted the full-time missionaries in teaching others, counseled young adults in our ward with developmental disabilities, met with the full-time missionaries weekly to learn more about the Church, and identified several of her ancestors who need temple ordinance work performed for them. She also currently serves in the Denver Colorado Temple.
Witnessing Miracles
At baptism, members of the Church covenant with God 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” (Mosiah 18:9).
As we all genuinely strive to share Heavenly Father’s love with our brothers and sisters through our service, as Ammon did, we know that the heavens will open and we will experience mighty miracles, including some that come through sharing the gospel with our friends and neighbors.