Continue to Minister

Speaking of those who “repent not,” the Savior instructed the Nephite disciples in these words: “Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them” (3 Nephi 18:32).  I’m impressed by this simple injunction: “continue to minister.”  No matter what our station in life, we shouldn’t stop trying to minister to those around us, particularly those who “repent not” and on whom we may be tempted to give up.  The Savior here is telling us that we never give up on others—we simply minister and recognize that we “know not” whether they will someday come unto the Savior with full purpose of heart.  As Mormon told his son when their task to minister to the Nephites seemed hopeless: “And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay” (Moroni 9:6).  We have a labor to perform in ministering to those the Lord places in our path, and we cannot cease that labor for as long as we live. 

               Elder Brent Nielson told a story in general conference a few years ago showing how their family sought to follow this counsel to “continue to minister.”  His sister had left her faith, and though they had sought to minister to her, for many years she remained outside the gospel path.  He described, “As we sought heavenly guidance as to how we might properly respond to her, it became evident that we had to follow the example of the father in the parable of the prodigal son. Susan had made her choice, and we had to figuratively let her go—but not without her knowing and feeling our sincere love for her. And so, with renewed love and kindness, we watched and we waited.”  Perhaps in our efforts to minister to and help others we focus too much on the final goal of someone returning to full activity in the gospel or entering the waters of baptism.  We can forget that all those we minister to “are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest” and that our job is simply to love and continue to minister (Alma 26:7).  We wait and watch like the father of the prodigal son, but we don’t control when the prodigal will return.  What the Lord described as the role of the Elders quorum is surely applicable to all who seek to be His disciples: we are to be “standing ministers to [the] church” (D&C 124:137).  We may not work the mighty miracles that the Savior did, but we can, day by day, continue to serve those around us and be a standing minister of the Savior.