Hold Up Your Light

President Nelson recently shared a video with a Christmas message for all of us. He said this: “God be thanked for loving us enough to send His Only Begotten Son. Jesus Christ changed the world for each of us with His atoning sacrifice. He is the light of the world. He is the light we need to hold up. He is the light that fills us with good will toward all people.” This reminds me of the Savior’s declaration to the Nephites: “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). President Nelson suggested how we might hold up that light: “This Christmas season, will you let your light shine? Amid all the hustle and bustle of gifts and gatherings, will you let your life reflect the light and love of Jesus Christ? With the dawning of each day, could you identify someone who needs your light? Reach out to that person by phone, video chat, or send a text or a note. Perform a quiet act of service to help someone nearby. Bring a new friend into your circle. Help someone turn to the Savior and find enduring peace and divine rest.” As we try to serve as He would have us serve by helping others, we come to know Him better just as King Benjamin suggested: “For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Mosiah 5:13) We serve Him by serving others: “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). The more we love and serve others, the more that we come to know Him and who He is.

                Today we remember the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith—217 years ago—who testified his whole life of the Savior. He taught that we should love one another in our service to God: “The nearer we get to our heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our backs.” He explained that as we reach out to others in love we will have the Spirit of the Lord more fully with us: “The Holy Spirit … shall be poured out at all times upon your heads, when you are exercised with those principles of righteousness that are agreeable to the mind of God, and are properly affected one toward another, and are careful by all means to remember those who are in bondage, and in heaviness, and in deep affliction for your sakes.” President Monson also consistently taught us to serve the Lord by serving others. He recounted in 2009: “Just over a year ago, I was interviewed by the Church News prior to my birthday. At the conclusion of the interview, the reporter asked what I would consider the ideal gift that members worldwide could give to me. I replied, ‘Find someone who is having a hard time or is ill or lonely, and do something for him or her.’” If that’s what the prophet would say, then it is surely what the Savior would say as well if we asked Him what we could do for the celebration of His birth. And it is indeed the essence of the invitation from President Nelson this year who said: “There is no better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ than by lifting, loving and serving others. The world needs the light of Jesus Christ. And the world needs your light.” He is the source of all goodness and light, and as we seek to do good to others and offer them light, we are bringing them and ourselves to Him.