Seek This Jesus

To my daughter,

                Recently you have enjoyed reading Harry Potter. In the game of Quidditch that the book describes there is one position that is called a Seeker. Harry plays this role for his house at Hogwarts. This person’s job is to try to capture the Golden Snitch which as you know is very difficult because of how it moves erratically and quickly. The player who is the seeker must focus intently on finding and chasing the little flying ball, and the game ends once it is caught. The team that captures it usually wins. Today I want to encourage you to also become a Seeker—not of golden snitches but of knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To do that you too must focus and put your energy in studying the word of God each day. The Lord has invited us to be seekers in many scriptures, such as in this one: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” I love that promise He gives us—if we truly seek we will find knowledge of the Savior. In the same revelation the Savior also commanded, “And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63, 118). The Lord wants us to keep learning throughout all our lives and to focus that learning on the very best books, foremost of which are the scriptures. I want to invite you to commit to being a lifelong learner from the scriptures, seeking daily to draw closer to the Savior and understand better His plan. In another revelation He also emphasized this invitation: “Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion; Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:6-7). We should seek to bring forth Zion—becoming the people of the Lord—and learning wisdom from Him in His word. Those are the things that will help us receive eternal life through Him, not seeking riches and the things of the world. And never think that you will get to a point where you “know it all”, for the gospel and the scriptures as “inexhaustible” as Elder Maxwell put it. He testified, “The gospel is inexhaustible because there is not only so much to know, but also so much to become! The vital truths are not merely accumulated in the mind but are expressed in life as well.” Indeed, there is always more to learn and to be in the gospel!  

                In this week’s Come, Follow Me lesson, we are given this invitation as we start a new year studying the New Testament: “‘What seek ye?’ Jesus asked the disciples of John the Baptist (John 1:38). You might ask yourself the same question—for what you find in the New Testament this year will greatly depend on what you seek. ‘Seek, and ye shall find’ is the Savior’s promise (Matthew 7:7). So ask the questions that come to your mind as you study, and then seek diligently for answers. In the New Testament you will read about the powerful spiritual experiences of disciples of Jesus Christ. As a faithful disciple of the Savior, you can have your own powerful spiritual experiences as you accept the Savior’s invitation, found throughout this sacred volume, ‘Come, follow me’ (Luke 18:22).” As we study the New Testament I hope that you will be a seeker: a seeker of truth, a seeker of knowledge, and a seeker of the Savior as you read the scriptures, ponder their messages, and pray to your Father in Heaven. I hope that you will remember this invitation and promise from Moroni: “And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever” (Ether 12:41). May we all seek Jesus this year so that His grace may save us and His Spirit be with us in all that we do.  

Love,

Dad