September 18-24

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One of Paul’s messages this week was extremely timely for me. It’s just something I’ve been pondering a lot over the past few weeks, and I find it so important. 

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Satan subtly tempted Eve, and Paul is worried that the Corinthians will be corrupted away from the simplicity that is in Christ. I believe that Satan has confused many of us and our youth in ways that are extremely quiet and subtle. We become so distracted that we miss what the gospel is truly about.

There is a quote from Boyd K. Packer; he was teaching about the mercy extended through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and he taught, “This is the very root of Christian doctrine. You may know much about the gospel as it branches out from there, but if you only know the branches and those branches do not touch that root, if they have been cut free from that truth, there will be no life nor substance nor redemption in them.”

What happens when a branch is no longer connected to the root? There is no fruit, no goodness, and eventually, that branch dies. If we, or our youth, are living the gospel without Jesus Christ, it can be very easy to get lost. If we are carrying the burden of the gospel without being nourished by the root that is Christ, it will become too heavy. The gospel isn’t worth living without Jesus Christ. We have to teach our youth and children about Christ above every other thing; and when we do teach something else, we must learn to connect everything back to Christ. We have to connect the branch to the root. 

Satan’s subtlety

Satan loves his tools of distraction, and he has many tools at his disposal. Social media, video games, immense amounts of entertainment and information on the internet, sports updates, constant interruptions with notifications; none of these things are inherently evil, but they do have the potential to fill our lives with the meaningless. These tools of distraction can prevent us from reaching our potential here, but more than that, it can cause us to die in many ways. Distraction is okay, but it is not nourishing.

And I believe that as Satan has perfected his craft over the past few thousand years, he has started to utilize an even more subtle tool of distraction. Could it be that one of Satan’s most subtle tricks is using the branches of the gospel as a distraction from the root? If one of his strategies is to fill us with the meaningless, then he could definitely do so by harping on commandments, standards, programs, meetings, and gospel appendages and excluding the true message of Jesus Christ. 

We take our kids to church. They attend all the meetings, classes, devotionals, camps, and activities. They partake of the sacrament and go to the temple, but all of these things are still just the branches! We may look at their activity in the church and think, “Oh, we’re just fine. They’re active.” But activity in the church is not the end all. Our true purpose is to connect them to Christ. If all of these “branches” are missing their mark and failing to help them build a foundation on Christ, we will lose them. These branches are useless if they are not connecting our youth directly to the Savior. 

Think of the entire Old Testament that we studied last year. Over and over and over, the Israelites would fall into idol worship. One of the forms of that idol worship was when they started to worship the Law of Moses. They believed that salvation came from the programs enacted by Moses in their dispensation. The Law of Moses often amounted to nothing because they could not see Christ in the rituals and symbols. In fact, it became such a problem, that the Jews called for the crucifixion of their Savior because they were too distracted by the Law of Moses, by the branches!

Take your children and youth to church. Help them follow the commandments and be active. But above all, we have to remember that our purpose is Christ. All of those other things are vehicles by which we arrive at Christ. And just like we have to teach our children the commandments, ordinances, and standards, we have to hold their hands and teach them how all of these things are connected to Christ. 

So how do we teach them to lean into those branches and to reach out and connect to the root so they can be nourished? How do we teach them to connect the gospel appendages back to Christ? How do we save our children?

Making the connection

Making the connection back to the Savior is very subtle, just like how Satan disconnects it from the Savior. I want to talk about how it looks first, and then I want to talk about how we achieve it second.

From the outside, it is as simple as changing the way you speak. When we talk about feeling excited to go to the temple, what are we really excited about? Because it’s just an empty building without the Savior. Instead, we say that we’re excited to spend time with the Savior where it’s easier to feel Him. When we are worried and stressed and the Spirit assures us that it’s going to work out, we testify of the power that the Savior has to bless us and how He sent the Spirit to remind us that everything will be okay. When we talk about tithing, we teach them that the Lord is trying to help us rely on Him because He is the only true safety. When we hear our kids talking about the gospel, we hear them talking about how they have felt the Spirit because that’s the language we have given them. This isn’t bad; I’m not criticizing this. But we can and should take it a step further because the world is getting darker and our kids need it more than ever. 

That is what it looks like to teach our children to connect the branches back to the root, but that can be a difficult thing to remember to do. It may even seem a little silly and just one more thing to add to our plates. Which is why I want to talk about how to achieve it.

This is not about making a goal to say “Christ” more. Not only is that difficult, but it’s trite. If it lacks sincerity, it won’t hit its mark. Rather, this is about making a goal to develop a personal relationship with the Savior so that we automatically start to talk like that. The most effective way to teach your children about Jesus Christ is to strengthen your own testimony of Him. When you know He is there, His presence will become more known. You will start to talk of Him more because you are spending more time with Him, and it will be sincere and the Spirit will testify of it. Your children will follow what you do far more than they will ever follow what you say to do.

We have to learn it ourselves. We conscientiously spend time with Christ, develop that personal relationship with Him, and then we introduce Him to them. 

Benefits

Connecting everything back to Christ accomplishes a few things. It truly makes the gospel simple again, just like Paul said. Instead of trying to do a million different things perfectly, we are simply focused on spending time with Christ and we utilize the tools that enable us to do it more easily. There is power in looking at the branches of the gospel as stepping stones towards Christ in comparison to benchmarks that we feel guilty over missing.

I have a lot of friends who have left the church. I hear them talk about healing from church. They talk about how they had to learn to trust themselves again, to not feel guilty all the time, to stop judging others. A relationship with Jesus Christ prevents so many of the negative feelings that often come with church cultures. 

If I know who I am in relation to Jesus Christ, I understand that I don’t have to cower and ignore my feelings and always seek out a higher Being to tell me everything I should do. Rather, I feel Christ pushing me along to make difficult decisions, to weigh out options in my head and learn for myself. Occasionally, He will step in and direct me somewhere else, but that’s only because He sees the end from the beginning. It’s not because He doesn’t trust me; He just knows I cannot yet see what He sees.

If I know who I am in relation to Jesus Christ, I don’t feel guilty all the time. I feel a drive to become better. Sometimes, I feel a divine discontent in which I know I am not yet what I want to be. However, I also let go of the weight of sin and flaws. I take my growth and lessons, and I leave the rest because I know Christ paid for it.

If I know who I am in relation to Christ, I don’t judge others because I’m extremely aware of how much He has done for me. I know who they are because I know who I am. I know that there is protection in the commandments in standards of the church, but I also recognize that goodness can look like a great many things. 

All of the problems with religion eventually cease to be problems if we are tied back to Christ. All of the hard things that come with mortal life become bearable because we know what comes on the other side. We feel peace and security amidst confusion. We take solace in knowing that the Savior can wash away all sin and pain, and we bravely face difficulty knowing that He allows sin and pain while we’re here because it’s truly what’s best for us.

It is worth connecting with the Savior. It is worth investing the spiritual energy it takes to spend time with Him. It is worth picturing yourself before your Heavenly Father and Savior as you speak to Them. It is worth listening for His voice and trying to decipher it amidst all the other influences. It is worth it because it takes all the necessary “bad” associated with the Plan of Salvation and gives it an opportunity to be turned to goodness.