My Work Is Not Yet Finished

In his powerful address about drawing the power of Jesus Christ into our lives, President Nelson said this: “The more we know about the Savior’s ministry and mission—the more we understand His doctrine and what He did for us—the more we know that He can provide the power that we need for our lives.” This should indeed be one of the focal points of our study of the scriptures each day: to learn about Jesus Christ and His ministry, mission, doctrine, and power. President Nelson encouraged us as well to study The Living Christ which summarizes that ministry this way: “Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He ‘went about doing good’ (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.” Surely His life, of which we have relatively few details, should be studied by all of us in earnest. But the purpose of such a study is not simply to learn about Him—we are to learn how to connect with Him ourselves and draw His power into our lives. Towards the end of John’s gospel he said this: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:30-31). We have the incredible accounts in the New Testament and other scriptures of His life so that we can believe in Him for ourselves and gain life eternal.

I love the way John finished the next (and final) chapter: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25). One of the reasons that the things which He has done cannot all be written—that the world itself could not contain all of the books—is that He is not done with His work! He has yet to do many things in our lives as He continues to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. He said this through the prophet Nephi: “My work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever” (2 Nephi 29:9). President Nelson expressed his belief in the yet future works of Jesus Christ this way: “Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory.” So we study His life, ministry and dealings with the children of men throughout history so that we can develop faith in His power to help and guide and purify us in our day. He told His disciples this: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20). We likely won’t have physical mountains that need to be removed, but we all have mountains in our lives, challenges that we don’t know how to overcome and work through. But His promise is that we will have the power to do so with faith in Him. We must “invest time in learning about the Savior and His atoning sacrifice,” studying the scriptures with an earnestness such that President Nelson’s words are true of us: “When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do. in order to strengthen that faith and obtain His power to overcome all the difficulties of mortality.”