The Greatest Challenge

President Benson made this statement: “I testify to you that there is no greater, more thrilling, and more soul-ennobling challenge than to try to learn of Christ and walk in His steps….  ‘What would Jesus do?’ or ‘What would He have me do?’ are the paramount personal questions of this life. Walking in His way is the greatest achievement of life. That man or woman is most truly successful whose life most closely parallels that of the Master” (see here).  I love that quote and wish that I always believed it!  It’s so easy to get caught up in trying to succeed in good endeavors that we can forget that the greatest efforts of our lives should be in trying to become as the Savior is.  At the end of the day I should be more concerned with how I treated people than with what I accomplished. 

                President Uchtdorf said it this way: “My dear brothers and sisters, we would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most….  Diligently doing the things that matter most will lead us to the Savior of the world. That is why ‘we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, … that [we] may know to what source [we] may look for a remission of [our] sins’” (see here).  To do that we have to really believe that our efforts to become more like the Savior (and which are largely unseen by the world) are more important than getting more success in work or more recognition from others for secular accomplishments.  The greatest challenges or goals that we have should be at the core spiritual, not temporal.  Our aim must be to please God and not man; as Paul said, “Do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).  In our dispensation the Lord said, “Without faith no man pleaseth God” (D&C 63:11).  He didn’t say that without formal education or without certain knowledge or without some set of qualifications; no, the real requirement is faith in Jesus Christ.  Do we have enough faith to please God?  It that takes real reflection to be able to answer that question truthfully.