Souls With Strength To Serve by Morgan Shill

The word "soul" can have many different meanings. Soul translated from Arabic means "the core of." Soul translated from Hebrew means "heart, emotion, and embodiment." Lds. org defines soul as, "a synonym for spirit to describe a person in four different phases of his or her eternal existence (pre-mortal life, earthly life, the spirit world, and the resurrection). Today I would like to discuss the earthly phase where the spirit is joined with the body, and I would also like to talk  about giving our souls to service.

Throughout our earthly life, the Church can be an anchor for our souls. President Hinckley has said, "Cling to the Church. If you do so it will become as an anchor in the midst of a stormy sea, It will be a light to your lives and a foundation upon which to build them." Jacob 2:8 reads, "And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul." Both this scripture and quote enforce the idea that the Gospel of Christ is a sure foundation that our souls can build upon. When we are struggling or being tried, the Church can be our support and mend our broken souls in times of trouble. The Gospel can be our guide, and give us purpose in times when we are lost and feel hopeless.

 

We must offer our souls in service to the Lord and live the Gospel so that we can live with Heavenly Father again one day. In Omni 1:26 we read, "And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord  liveth ye will be saved." In this scripture we are promised that if we come unto Christ and offer him our "whole soul," fast, pray, and endure to the end, we will be saved. Although this seems like much to offer, we owe everything to the Lord. He has given us everything that we possess and the only true thing we have to give back to him is our service to others. When we serve we feel true joy and happiness from the work we do, which is a blessing in and of itself. By offering our soul to the Lord, we can be instruments in his hands, so as to spread the Gospel throughout the nations.

Through service in Christ, and a grateful heart we can become "unprofitable servants." Mosiah 2:20-21 reads, "I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another- I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day by lending you breath, that ye my live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another- I say if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." I really like this scripture because it has so much power in it. It helps us to remember and realize how blessed we are because of the love and goodness that Heavenly Father has given each and every one of us. He has blessed each of us immensely with a body, and agency, and so many other temporal and spiritual blessings. When we serve the Lord with our whole soul, we serve him through serving others and bringing the truth and light of the Gospel to those that surround us. I have a personal testimony that when we serve others with a grateful, and humble heart, we will be blessed and find light and happiness in our efforts.

When we serve Heavenly Father and give him the service of our souls, we will receive blessings. We can find one example of this in the Words of Mormon 1:18, which reads, "Wherefore, with the help of these, king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish peace in the land." Another example can be found in Mosiah 26:14-15. "And it came to pass that after he had poured out his whole soul to God, the voice of the Lord came to him saying: Blessed art thou Alma, and blessed are they who were baptized in the waters of Mormon. Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding faith..." Both King Benjamin and Alma were blessed for serving the Lord with all of their souls. A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to go and help clean the Conference Center with two of my friends, my dad, and a few people from my ward. We had to do various things like vacuuming the aisles, and cleaning the choir chairs, etc. At one point during the night i was cleaning up on the stage and I walked up and stood at the podium and looked out over all the empty chairs. As I looked out at the vast number of seats, I imagined how during conference all of the seats are full with steadfast, valiant members of the Church. In that moment the spirit overwhelmed me, and re-testified to me of how truly amazing this Gospel is, and how lucky we are to know of its truth. If I had not taken the opportunity to serve by cleaning in the Conference Center, I never would have had this wonderful experience. I would like to bare testimony that I know that when we choose to serve and offer our souls to the Lord, we will be blessed and be filled with Christ's love.

Works Cited:

1. The Book of Mormon

2. www.lds.org

3. Stand a Little Taller by Gordon B. Hinckley