This morning I read about the people of Zeniff. Like so many other people in The Book of Mormon, the people of Zeniff were slow to remember the Lord until their lives were threatened and they needed His help. I like to call this crisis discipleship--only remembering the Lord when it's convenient or when you get something out of it.
Whenever I read about examples of crisis discipleship it causes me to pause and reflect on my own commitment to the gospel. Am I just as guilty as these people are of having a casual relationship with God and His Son unless I'm in trouble and I need Their help? Or am I just as committed on the good days as I am on the bad ones?
To whatever degree I am guilty of being a crisis disciple, I hope this is something that I can change. One way relationships are draining, and I don't want to drain the Lord. So while I know that I can never give back to Him enough to make up for all that He gives me, I want to try. I want to answer the call that Elder Holland imagined for us in the exchange between Christ and Peter, when speaking for Christ he said: "What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do."
"I need someone who love me," Elder Holland imagines Christ saying. That is the key to committed discipleship: love. When our commitment to the gospel becomes more about our love for Christ and God and less about what They have asked us to do, it is then that our hearts truly change and that we become true disciples.
So that's what I want to focus on--loving the Lord. And this is perhaps the most precious thing I could ever give Him.
