It may not be on the mountain height

Or over the stormy sea,

It may not be at the battle's front
My Lord will have need of me.
But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I'll go where you want me to go.
I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
Over mountain or plain or sea;
I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;
I'll be what you want me to be.

This hymn reminds us that to follow the call of the Savior we must prepare
ourselves to serve as Heavenly Father wants us to serve. I think this hymn has
great relevance for members of the church in the latter days. We are not often
asked to lay down our lives for our faith as did early members of the church or as
the early Christians did. Instead, we are asked to live in a Christlike way in our
regular, everyday lives! Elder Faust stated: For most of us what is required is not
to die for the Church but to live for it. For many, living a Christ like life every day
may be even more difficult than laying down ones life. However, as followers of
Christ, we know that we can rely upon the merits of the Savior in order to be what
He wants us to be.
My comments today will come mostly from a conference address by Elder Robert D.
Hales, entitled Being a More Christian Christian, At the beginning of his talk he
defines what it means to be a Christian and shows that there can be no doubt that
we, as Latter-day Saints are Christians! As I go into more detail from Elder Hales
talk, I hope to accomplish two things this morning:
1) That as we ponder on these things, we will be inspired on how to become
more Christian Christians, both as individuals and as a ward

2) and secondly, that we will feel the love of the Savior and remember the great
blessings that come from discipleship

Firstly, how can we become more Christian Christians?

Elder Hales states: A Christian has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the literal
Son of God, sent by His Father to suffer for our sins in the supreme act of love we
know as the Atonement. A Christian believes that through the grace of God the
Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, we can repent, forgive others, keep the
commandments, and inherit eternal life. The word Christian denotes taking upon us
the name of Christ. We do this by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy
Ghost by the laying on of hands by those holding His priesthood authority.

What I like about his definition is that it includes the foundational beliefs of our
religion but it also shows that being a Christian requires action on our part. Our
Christianity must be more than just belief; it must change who we are as a person.
Elder Hales explains: We too are called upon to leave our nets, to reject worldly
habits, customs, and traditions. We are also called to forsake our sins. When [Jesus]
had called the people unto him , he said unto them, Whosoever will come after
me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Denying ourselves
of ungodly behavior is the beginning of repentance, which brings a mighty change
of heart until we have no more disposition to do evil.
This conversion and change of heart is made possible only through Jesus Christ. As
we are made new in Christ, our very natures change and we no longer want to go
back to our old ways. For each of us that have experienced this change of heart, a

simple question remains: what kind of Christians are we? In other words, how are
we doing in our quest to follow Christ?
This is a thought-provoking question for us to consider and somewhat
overwhelming. There is so much we need to do to become like the Savior, where
do we start? How we can assess how well we are doing? To help us in our quest to
follow Christ, Elder Hales asks us to consider 10 Christian qualities that, if
strengthened within ourselves, will allow us to become more like the Savior.
Included in his list are: faith, sacrifice, love, caring, peace, service, patience,
forgiveness, conversion, and endurance to the end. I would encourage you to go
back and read about these 10 qualities, since I wont have time to go over each
one.
Two of these qualities that I wanted to discuss more in depth are Christian caring
and Christian love. Like the Good Samaritan, the Savior was continually reaching
out to rescue, love, and nurture people around Him, regardless of their culture,
creed, or circumstances. The Savior valued everyone. Kind and compassionate to
all, He left the ninety and nine to find the one, for even the very hairs of our head
are numbered to Him.
The qualities of Christian caring and Christian love as described by Elder Hales are
the essence of the message that the Savior taught Peter, after his resurrection.
From John, chapter 21, we read: So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon
Peter, Simon,son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea,
Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. This
exchange is repeated two more times, and each time the Savior implores Peter to
feed His sheep.

Elder Hale elaborates: This is the call of Christ to every Christian today: Feed my
lambs. Feed my sheepshare the gospel with young and old, lifting, blessing,
comforting, encouraging, and building them, especially those who think and believe
differently than we do. We feed His lambs in our homes by how we live the gospel:
keeping the commandments, praying, studying the scriptures, and emulating His
love. We feed His sheep in the Church as we serve in priesthood quorums and
auxiliary organizations. And we feed His sheep throughout the world by being good
Christian neighbors, practicing the pure religion of visiting and serving the widows,
the fatherless, the poor, and all who are in need.
I suppose that I feel very strongly about this quality because I myself have been one
of the sheep that needed love and encouragement, and not only me, but members
of my family. Before joining the church I was fellowshipped in an incredible way: I
had offers of ride to and from church, I had diligent and loving Bishop with
wonderful counselors, I had excellent friends who were great examples to me, and
teachers who went above and beyond their callings to help me understand and love
the scriptures. These individuals could not force me to have a testimony, but they
made me feel the love of the Savior through their Christian caring and love.
I ask you to consider how you would feel if you had a brother or sister, or a child, or
a dear friend who was struggling with their faith. They might live far away and
perhaps they need more love and rescuing than you can possibly give from a
distance. If you have experienced this, like I have, then you know how much it
means when someone acts with Christian love and does all that they can to rescue
another sheep of the Good Shepherd. I know that many of you have struggled with
wayward children or other loved ones who have left the gospel. I have a younger
brother who is no longer active in the church and has made some choices that I

know cant bring him eternal happiness. And having experienced that, I feel even
more strongly the desire to do all that I can to love and care the neighbors, friends,
and members who need my support here. At the heart of the Saviors call to feed
his sheep is a reminder that these sheep that need our love are our brothers and
sisters in the gospel. And I pray that someone, somewhere will love and fellowship
my brother enough that he will have the desire to come back into the fold.
Another of the qualities that Elder Hales mentions is Christian peace. He teaches:
Throughout His ministry He urged understanding and promoted peace. Especially
among His disciples, He taught that Christians cannot contend with other Christians,
notwithstanding their differences.
That statement reminded me of another recent conference address by Elder Hales,
given in 2008, entitled Christian courage. In that talk Elder Hales addresses a sister
who asked him why the church didnt defend itself more aggressively against its
attackers. This was his response:
To my inquiring sister and all who seek to know how we should respond to our
accusers, I reply, we love them. If we follow Christ and show forth His courage, we
must love them. We do not feel we are better than they are. Rather, we desire with
our love to show them a better waythe way of Jesus Christ. His way leads to the
gate of baptism, the strait and narrow path of righteous living, and the temple of
God. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Only through Him can we and all our
brothers and sisters inherit the greatest gift we can receiveeternal life and eternal
happiness. To help them, to be an example for them, is not for the weak. It is for the
strong. It is for you and me, Latter-day Saints who pay the price of discipleship by
answering our accusers with Christian courage.

I had an experience recently with my younger brother, who is no longer active in the
church. I have great faith that someday that will change, but recently he posted
some comments on his Twitter account about religious people that I really didnt
like. I was completely prepared, as his older and wiser sister, to call him up and give
him a piece of my mind. I felt justified in feeling what I considered to be righteous
anger. Thankfully, I didnt respond to him right away. And when we finally did
discuss his comments, I was able to do it in loving way and most importantly we
maintained a good relationship and good feelings still existed as we talked. I think
that the Spirit was present as we talked and the Spirit is what can influence Him to
change the way he thinks and feels, not any righteous indignation that I might have
mistakenly expressed.
Perhaps today there are loving words
Which Jesus would have me speak;
There may be now in the paths of sin
Some wand'rer whom I should seek.
O Savior, if thou wilt be my guide,
Tho dark and rugged the way,
My voice shall echo the message sweet:
I'll say what you want me to say.

And now, to the second part of my goal, for this morning to be reminded that the
Savior loves us and He blesses us for our discipleship.
Elder Hales explains that the true test of a Christian is to act like Christ even when
we are facing difficulties, trials, and sadness. When these refining challenges
come, we may be tempted to return to our old ways. However, he gives us also a
promise that if we seek to answer the call of the Savior through his infinite grace
and atonement we can become more Christian Christians. It is through the
blessings of the Atonement in our lives that we feel the love of God more fully in our

lives. The more we seek to act like Christ, even despite difficulties and trials, we
more we feel the Saviors love for us.
Elder Hales again: For many, the call to be a Christian can seem demanding, even
overwhelming. But we need not be afraid or feel inadequate. The Savior has
promised that He will make us equal to His work. As we follow Him, He blesses us
with gifts, talents, and the strength to do His will, allowing us to go beyond our
comfort zones and do things weve never before thought possible.
I love the statement he made that the Savior will make us equal to His work.
Havent we all felt inadequate as we strive to be better disciples of the Savior? But
there is such reassurance in knowing that Heavenly Father is blessing us along the
way with all that we need to accomplish HIs work.
President Faust taught us Many think that the price of discipleship is too costly and
too burdensome. For some, it involves giving up too much. But the cross is not as
heavy as it appears to be. Through obedience we acquire much greater strength to
carry it. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I want to add my testimony that the price of discipleship is worth any difficulty that
we may encounter on our way to becoming like the Savior. I was asking advice of
my mother on what to say today, and she told me that she was so happy that I was
a member of the church and so grateful for all that the gospel had given me. And
this is a sweet testimony from someone who isnt a member of the church yet!
Because that is truly what it was - a testimony that all our efforts to become a more

Christian Christian are WORTH IT because of the wonderful blessings we receive

and of who we become along the way. In closing, I want to testify that we can
become what the Savior wants us to become if we rely upon Him to guide us and we
sacrifice our will to that of our Heavenly Father, and we become what he wants us
to be.
There's surely somewhere a lowly place
In earth's harvest fields so wide
Where I may labor through life's short day
For Jesus, the Crucified.
So trusting my all to thy tender care,
And knowing thou lovest me,
I'll do thy will with a heart sincere:
I'll be what you want me to be.