Flipping the Switch between Spiritual / Inspirational and Humorous

◄ Blog Home

▣ Christmas Service

posted by Richard Rife on December 20th, 2009 at 8:36 PM

We had a wonderful Christmas service in our ward today. The choir performed many Christmas hymns. Janet sang a duet, and it was beautiful. My counselors spoke--and gave very good talks.

I also had the chance to give a brief talk, which I will quote below.

I also had a chance to share my testimony in Primary today after our Primary president, Sister Bringhurst, gave a wonderful sharing time about showing our love for God and Jesus by serving our brothers and sisters here on earth. At one point, Sister Bringhurst asked the question "How can we invite Jesus to be in our lives?" One very cute little boy raised his hand quickly and, when called upon, said "By not kicking my brother's butt."

Sister Tobler, counselor in the presidency, was sitting next to me on the stand and whispered to me "I've heard worse in Primary." It was very funny, and we all enjoyed it. Primary is so fun!

Now, here is my little talk:

Christmas Talk 2009

Obedience = Love

 

 

            I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I’m so grateful to the other speakers and to our ward family choir for the beautiful Christmas music today.

 

Yesterday I attended Steven Whiteside’s marriage in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. It was a lovely event. After, though, I was glad I didn’t live in Holland, where Sinterklaas leaves goodies in your shoes. When I went back to the “shoe room” after the ceremony was over, I found that someone had mistakenly taken my black dress shoes. I would not have had a pair of shoes to leave out for Sinterklaas.

 

As you know, when I was a boy, I lived in the center of the universe, Springville, Utah. My brother, Roger, and I played a lot of baseball. Our assistant coach in Little League was Keith Huff. When I was twelve and Roger was nine, Keith and his wife, Carol, asked Roger and me to babysit their son, Jeff, age four, while they went out to dinner and Christmas shopping. Jeff hadn’t been left with babysitters much, but he liked us.

 

Of course, Roger and I, being the altruistic young boys that we were, were more than happy to babysit—because our mother made us!

 

Before leaving, Keith and Carol laid down the rules, including bedtime. Roger and I were good babysitters. We didn’t just keep Jeff safe. We played game after game with him. But when it was bedtime, Jeff would have none of it. He refused to go to bed and asked for more and more games. We tried to put him to bed, but he was determined not to go.

 

Finally, exhausted and in frustration, I told Roger to cover for me while I went down into the basement. I knew then how to dial a few numbers and hold down the receiver and make the phone ring. When the phone rang, Roger picked it up and I began to speak: "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas! This is Santa Claus," I said in my best twelve-year-old imitation of Sinterklass. "May I speak with Jeff Huff?" "It's Santa Claus calling for you, Jeff," said Roger, as Jeff's eyes grew large. When Jeff came to the phone, I continued with my Santa imitation, asking what he wanted for Christmas and promising to bring him the desires of his heart if he were a good boy.

 

"Are you having fun with Richard and Roger?" I asked Jeff in my Santa voice. He replied in the affirmative. Then, I told him that it was past his bedtime and that he'd better go to bed right now or I would consider that "naughty" and would not bring him presents on Christmas Day.

 

Jeff put the phone on the hook, raced to his bedroom, climbed into bed, pulled up the covers over his head, and closed his eyes tightly. I came back up from the basement.

 

Rog and I should have been happy that my ruse had worked. Instead, we messed with Jeff and taunted him. "Hey, Jeff," we said, "Get out of bed and let's play some more games." Panicked, he told us to leave him alone so he could go to sleep; otherwise, he wasn't getting anything for Christmas from Santa.

 

A few minutes later, Jeff was asleep, and Roger and I had the rest of the evening to ourselves. It was my first impersonation of Santa Claus--and it had been a success! 

 

After talking with Santa, Jeff was highly motivated to “be nice” rather than “be naughty” and stay up past his bedtime. His motivation? Christmas presents from Santa on Christmas morning.

 

What is our motivation for being nice rather than being naughty? What is our motivation for being good or, in other words, for keeping the commandments of God? So we won’t be punished. So we won’t go to hell. Or, so we’ll get a great reward at the last day. The lyrics of the hymn “Let Us All Press On” say “Let us all press on in the work of the Lord, That when life is o’er we may gain a reward….”

 

It’s okay not to want to be punished. It’s okay to want to gain a great reward. But, is there a better motive?

 

"Being nice" is how we can show God we love Him. In fact, in my view, obedience is the best way—perhaps the only way— to express our love to God for His bounteous blessings so graciously given to us. There is a real connection between love and obedience.

 

The “first and great commandment” is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

 

Here is my non-comprehensive list of why I love God:

 

• He gave me my life, and He sustains me daily with life and breath.
• He sent His Only Begotten Son to work out the Atonement for me. I can be forgiven of my sins. I will be resurrected and have eternal life. The Father and Son understand me and comfort me.
• He has given me the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
• He has been merciful to me and will continue to be patient, long-suffering, and merciful with me.
• He gave me wonderful parents—a mother who taught me the gospel and a father who was a good example to me.
• He gave me a wonderful wife and children. And today, all of my children, their spouses, and my six grandchildren, including one that is “in utero” in his mother, Mary, are in this room. When you’re the age of Janet and me, this is a rare treat. We love our children and grandchildren!
• He has given me the opportunity to grow by serving in the Church.
• He has given me association with wonderful people—both inside and outside the Church—who have blessed my life. You members of the 9^th ward are wonderful people whose association has blessed my life.
• He allowed me to be born in a free country. I was able to gain an education, and this has blessed my life and the lives of my family members.
• He allowed me to be born in these last days when the gospel is on the earth and in a time of many opportunities (when I was a kid in the 50s, I never could have imagined the joy of having an iPhone!).
• He has given me material blessings as well as spiritual blessings.

 

Think about why you love the Lord. What is on your list that I missed on mine? I am sure you have many reasons for loving God. How can we express that love? The scriptures answer that question:

 

If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).

 

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him (John 14:21).

 

We show our love to God by keeping His commandments. As Elder McConkie taught, our “love of God is measured in terms of obedience and service.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 540)

 

When we were on our mission, one of our missionaries was known for his exact obedience. I asked him why he was so strictly obedient, and he responded, “It’s easy to say with my mouth that I love the Lord, but it is hard to show with my actions that I love Him. I have chosen to express my love to God by the way I act.” These are wise words for such a young man—because actions truly do speak louder than words.

 

But hang on a minute. Aren’t commandments restrictive and burdensome? You won’t find any best-sellers on the New York Times list on how to be more obedient. In our world, the focus is heavily tilted toward rights, not duties.

 

I want to proclaim today, before all of you, that commandments are not restrictive and burdensome: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:2–3, emphasis added).

 

Janet, who is very smart, once taught me this: “Commandments can be thought of as protective boundaries given by a loving Heavenly Father. These boundaries are not given to fence us in and restrict us from having any fun, but rather to protect us from the pain and heartache our omniscient Father knows lie outside those boundaries.”

 

In fact, modern revelation teaches that commandments are not to be avoided; they are actually to be sought after: “Yea, blessed are they whose feet stand upon the land of Zion, who have obeyed my gospel; for they shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth. . . . And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time—they that are faithful and diligent before me” (D&C 59:3–4, emphasis added). If we obey, God will crown us “with commandments not a few.”

 

Why is this so? Because obedience to commandments will keep us safe, give us joy, and bring us even more blessings—and so commandments are not grievous.

 

As we further read in the Doctrine & Covenants: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. (D&C 130:20-21)

 

Christmas is a blessed time of giving. And what better gift could we give our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ than the gift of obedience? This is the true way we show Them our love.

 

Little four-year-old Jeff Huff obeyed Santa Claus for fear of not receiving Christmas presents. We can obey God for fear of being punished or in anticipation of receiving a great reward. But isn’t it way better—even way more noble—to obey God because we love Him?

 

As John the Beloved said: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments!” (1 John 5:3)

 

            In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

 

last edited on December 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 PM

Comments

Kamari says:

Excellent post. Thank you.

March 11th, 2010 at 11:00 AM

Add a comment

Name:

Email: (Will not be displayed)

Website:

Comments:

 

  I can't read it!

Verify Post:
Input the text from the image above to verify this post

 

◄ Blog Home