The Only Real Hope

In his recent general conference talk, Elder Holland spoke of the current situation with COVID-19 and the hope we have for the future. He said, “Undergirding all of this is our relentless hope for greater devotion to the two greatest of all commandments: to love God by keeping His counsel and to love our neighbors by showing kindness and compassion, patience and forgiveness. These two divine directives are still—and forever will be—the only real hope we have for giving our children a better world than the one they now know.” Our hope for the future resides in seeking to love God and our fellow man, and perhaps part of what he meant here referring to a better world for our children is that we need to teach them the importance of these two great commandments. I get sometimes overwhelmed with all that I feel like I need to be teaching my children and am not yet doing, and I worry that they aren’t learning the things they need to. Perhaps if I focus on teaching them the two great commandments—loving God and loving others—the other things they need to learn will fall into place. If we can truly get into their hearts the desire to love God and keep His commandments as well as a commitment to treat others with kindness and love, surely everything else they need to know will come.

               One of the scriptures that Elder Holland quoted was this famous passage from Nephi: “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:20). This was Nephi’s summary of what we must do once we have entered in the path of following the Savior through baptism. I don’t know that I’d ever thought about the fact that in this verse is an invitation to keep the two great commandments, to have “a love of God and of all men.” That is key to our pressing forward on the path and enduring to the end.

              Nephi could certainly have ended his record there with that powerful invitation, but he didn’t and the remaining two chapters I believe show us what it means to love God and love our fellow man. In 2 Nephi 32 he invited us to “feast upon the words of Christ” and “receive the Holy Ghost” and to “pray always” (v3,5,9). Doing those things is a major part of showing our love for God. As we feast upon His word and “not perform any thing unto the Lord” save we shall “pray unto the Father in the name of Christ,” our hearts are turned to Him in devotion. In his final chapter, 2 Nephi 33, Nephi also showed us the love he had for his fellow man. He wrote, “For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry” (v33). His people were so important to him that he earnestly prayed for them and cried over them by night. He expressed this love, saying, “I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-seat. I have charity for the Jew…. I also have charity for the Gentiles” (v7-9). His great desire was for the welfare of all mankind, that “many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day” (v12). And we can all be so saved if we focus on living these two great commandments to love God and all of His children.