The BYU Briefcase and the Name of Christ

This weekend was a proud one for BYU football fans when the team eked out a miraculous win over a team who was expected to dominate.  As exciting as that brief moment of glory is for a BYU alumni who wants his alma mater to be seen in a positive light by others, I was much more impressed by another reference to Brigham Young University that I heard about in our stake conference yesterday.  Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, gave a commencement speech this year in which he told of his experience receiving a BYU briefcase as a gift.  He started using it in his many travels, and he explained how it affected him to have people see him carry around a BYU logo.  He recounted, “I found that it was changing my behavior. I was acting with greater love and kindness than I ordinarily would. People would look at my briefcase, and I would want to help with their luggage. I would want to give up my place in line. That sort of thing. Why? Because I was unconsciously trying to live up to the high standards of kindness of your church and your university. At the very least, I was trying not to hurt your well-earned reputation.”  Brooks continued, “So what is the lesson here? It is not that your BYU briefcases have magic properties. It is that your greatest witness to the world as members of this community is the conduct of your lives. Our nation and world need this. They need you, more than ever today.”  This story was a powerful reminder to me of the need to be a worthy representative of the principles that BYU stands for and, most importantly, the teachings of the Savior.         

         This reminds of the statement by President Hinckley about the symbol of our faith. He said: “The lives of our people must become the only meaningful expression of our faith and, in fact, therefore, the symbol of our worship.”  The Savior invited us to be a representative of Him and what He would do, telling the Nephites: “Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people” (3 Nephi 15:12).  He said again later, “Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do” (3 Nephi 18:24).  Each week when we partake of the Sacrament we affirm our willingness to do just that, covenanting to take His name upon us.  Just as Brooks wanted to be kinder and more loving because he had the name of BYU physically on his briefcase, so too we should want to show greater love and respect and kindness to all those around us, for we have taken the name of Christ on us.  In the Old World the Savior suggested that how we treat others is exactly how people should recognize us as His followers: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).  We take His name upon us by showing the same kind of love He showed to all of those around us.  No matter where we are, at home, at work, in the car, in the store, in an airport; whether we are alone or with our families or in a crowd of thousands, we have the name of Christ on us.  His invitation to us is to strive to speak and interact and serve those around us as He did and as He would.  And no matter what we wear or what we have with us, whether our briefcase is in our hand or not, the name of Christ should always be on us—we are disciples of Jesus Christ seeking to hold up His light.