Buildeth Upon My Rock

I was surprised today to find that the Savior spoke about building on His rock three times during His visit to the people of Nephi in the Book of Mormon. The first came after He described to them what His doctrine was. He taught them of the importance of baptism, faith, repentance, and the Holy Ghost, and He summarized it this way: “And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.” In case we missed that, He repeated it one more time, “And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” Then, directly after telling us twice that we need to repent and be like a little child, He said this: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them” (3 Nephi 11:37-39). To build on His rock, we must become like a little child and repent. Later on the same day the Savior also said this, “Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock—And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock” (3 Nephi 14:24-25). Here His emphasis was on keeping His commandments: to hear and to obey Him is to build on His rock. Finally, at the end of that first day among them, the Savior instituted the sacrament and taught them that they should do this in remembrance of Him. He then said, “And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock. But whoso among you shall do more or less than these are not built upon my rock” (3 Nephi 18:12-13). If we consistently partake of the sacrament in remembrance of Him and witnessing that we are willing to keep His commandments, we are built upon His rock.

                For me the most surprising of these three teachings about building upon the rock is the prerequisite to become like a little child. It’s clear that to have a foundation in Him we need to keep His commandments of which partaking of the sacrament is a very important one. But I don’t think in a Sunday School class about building on His rock many would think of being like a little child as an important step in having that strong foundation. When I was growing up, Chevrolet had their “like a rock” advertising campaigns, showing powerful, manly trucks that were supposed to be tough and resilient like a big rock. The images were those of heavy duty hauling and exploring rough terrain with ease because of the powerful engines. Probably the last thing you would think of in connection with that kind of messaging is a little child. But the Savior’s rock is not like that of the world, and for us to build on His rock and be like the Rock He is, we must humble ourselves like a little child. And perhaps the most important quality of little children that He wants us to emulate in order to build our foundation on Him is love. Of course, little children are not always perfect at loving, but the love they do show is often purer and more guileless and abundant than that of adults. They usually love without ulterior motives and selfish thoughts or reservations. Last night my six-year-old daughter set up three “games” downstairs by herself using Magnatile squares and some dice and random toys or pieces from building sets, and then she called me down to play. The games consisted of rolling a die and moving a piece around the squares, and even though the rules didn’t totally make sense to me, she was simply thrilled to play with me and then with my wife. Whether we “won” or she did, she was just as excited about it and seem to just revel in playing together. In short, she was full of the love for us that the Savior wants those who are no longer children to find again. It was a great reminder to me of what matters most. To build upon the rock of Jesus Christ we don’t need great physical strength sought for by the world, but rather we need the great love found in little children that helps us be like Him.