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...Foremost in
our desire is to provide true ministry to the Saints. The effort to reach all the homes is not a goal for “a
goal’s sake.” We
are, however, given commandment to visit the home of every member. The purpose of record keeping is
to make sure no one is being left out...
We’re not trying to measure success by the quantity
of visits made, nor equate making visits with a success we can even
measure (i.e. let’s not assume that if all homes are visited, then
Wednesday night church attendance will double).
Have faith that in visiting the Saints in sincere
humility, and diligently caring that none are missed or left out, then
we will be fulfilling a commandment as important now as it was in the
day it was given.
Please do not be discouraged if you have not been
able visit as consistently as you have hoped. And if you have not been able to
visit at all yet, please do not give up.
Take an easy step. Make
a simple commitment to contact your partner this week and visit one home
this month.
If you will permit me, I’d like to share an
understanding that penetrated
my soul as I was able to share this summer in our congregation’s
vacation church school program.
The summer church school theme this year was “Keep
My Commandments.”
As assistant pastor of the program, each day with
about 100 kids, we talked about, sang of, prayed over, and lived out,
many of the commandments given to us by our Creator.
In praying over and preparing for each day’s
lesson, one day the essential lesson, the simple truth that rang
so clear to me was this: our
Heavenly Father has given each of His commandments for OUR benefit—for
OUR peace, prosperity, well being, growth, happiness, and salvation.
While the world would suggest that commandments bind,
restrict, and burden our freedom, this notion is simply Satan’s plot
to obscure the truth. God’s
law’s were given in OUR best interest, not to keep us in bondage but
rather that we may enjoy life more fully—as a loving parent joys to
give gifts to his child, and as a concerned parent strides to protect
his child from harm, so too, is He continually concerned for our
happiness and protection.
This said, it could appear to some, that
committing to visit the saints may cut into your personal time, or
burden you with yet another
stress and tie you down. I
would offer this: when fulfilling the commandment we've been given
to “visit the home of every member”, we will find, instead, that our
personal time becomes more satisfying, and we’ll partake in the joys
that have been reserved for us. This is His design, and desire....
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