Elder Gunnerson
- Don't lose Focus
- Don't lose Focus Elder Gunnerson had an amazing talk, you really missed out if you didn't attend. He touched on a couple of things through out his talk but one that stood out the most was putting the savior in the center of our hearts, and to become more like him.
Elder Gunnerson shared with us an experience he had when he was 15 years old. It was a typical Sunday, even though Elder Gunnersons ward had priesthood and Sunday school in the morning and regathered for sacrament in the afternoon. On his way to Sunday school he had been offended by something a church leader had said. Elder Gunnerson decided to walk home, and considered not retuning to church ever again. Elder Gunnerson's father went home to look for him after he was told his son was no longer at church. "This was one of thoughts defining moments," shared Elder Gunnerson. He sat knee to knee and eye to eye with his father, as his father taught him an important lesson in life. His father drew 2 stick figures on a sheet of paper, one was Jesus and the other was Elder Gunnerson, in between them he drew another stick figure and said "this is elder so-and-so, my councilor."
He then proceeded to draw a line from Elder Gunnerson's head to the councilor's head and from there to the head of Jesus. After he did this he asked what's the problem here. Elder Gunnerson didn't understand what it represented. His father then explained, you can not see Jesus because of elder so-and-so. His father said,"Son, please don't ever let anyone or anything stand between you and Jesus."
After this father-son talk he went back to church and has never left since.
What happened to him that didn't allow him to see the savior?
"There are many distractions in life school work, family, activities, etc. If we are not careful we can get easily distracted from what is most important.
Someone offends us, we start running around with wrong friends. We may feel alone, we may feel we're not as good as others who seem to have everything going right.
These are ploys of Satan, sometimes they are subtle and sometimes they are direct."
Elder Gunnerson quoted Isaiah, saying that in the latter-days many would stumble and fall. It is our duty to reach out to those who are stumbling. If it was not for his father who reached out to him when he had stumbled, Elder Gunnerson might not have been able to get back on his feet.
"In all that we do we can not lose our focus of [Jesus] by embracing less important things such as studies, career or anything else."
"The essence of Christianity is not Christianity, the essence of Christianity is Christ."
"The study of great books of scripture including the king James bible is clear, they are through the spirit to bring us to Jesus."
We must help each other understand what is most important, Elder Gunnerson spoke of Lehi and his dream. He said the reason that Lehi had the dream was because of his concern for Laman and Lemual. Laman and Lemual although raised from good parents, had allowed something or someone to get between them and the savior.
Elder Gunnerson said these are thing Nephi had as to not become like his brothers.
- Desire
- Prayer
- Inspiration
- Humble attitude
Nephi like his father didn't allow anything or anyone get between him and the savior.
If you are spiritually strong Satan might not come at you directly, but in a different way so you will not notice. It takes our best efforts to withstand Satan's attacks and we must be diligent and prepared.
"We need to have our eyes focused on light, not truth in some abstract sense but, the joy of keeping the gospel of Jesus Christ and, the Joy of not having anything or anyone come in between you and your savior. If I decide I will not make light and the savior my primary vision I'm already out of the contest to see good, and to want and desire it in the midst of filth" -President Iring
In directing our life if we have as a foundation the savior and His doctrines we will find the ability and power to withstand Satan in times we lest expect.
Our focus needs to be on Him, the savior, not on lesser truths. Nothing should ever come between us and him.
"When you center your life on Jesus you will then have the foundation and the power to overcome any obstacles and difficulty, and be able to bless everyone you come in contact, you will become a true disciple. You will become an image of him to bless and bless and bless again until blessings become what you are."
-Elder Gunnerson.
Are you making Jesus Christ the center of you life?
Did you lose focus?
This was some great perspective that i needed. I Know i have to make Christ the center of my life, and i have been trying not to lose focus on him with how busy i am. So listening to brother Gunnerson speak about how important it is i realized i have to make time to reading scriptues and staying focused on him. I love that we can help each other if we stumble i think the students here and also the teachers really help us not to fall, and if we do they help us get back up. I know that devotionals are inspired by the spirit because, every week, is excatly what i need to hear.
ReplyDeleteThat song was something else. When i heard her sing i stopped everything and listened so intently. "Come to the mercy seat, come to the throne of blessings." It was like a message telling me that God is inviting me home with open arms, like he wants me to sit with him in eternal glory. I felt at peace.
ReplyDeleteA really great friend of mine was sitting next to me and we were writting notes back and forth about her life and some things that have come up in her life right now that she's struggling with. I shared with her a couple of quotes and thoughts that i've been learning in my Foundations & Learning class, and as i was writting some things Elder Gunnerson said a few things that i was able to quote right then and there to her about "not letting anything come between us and the Saviour." "Sometimes we'll stumble and fall but we CANNOT lose our focus." My friend was very grateful for the peace and ease i could give her for that moment. And I am very grateful for the foundations & learning class i'm taking because i now have a whole new outlook on things, a BETTER outlook.
Feb 1st Devotional, Elder Gunnerson
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that during each week's devotional there is one thing in particular that really sticks out to me/slaps me in the face. I know this is the Spirit speaking to me and is a result of my desire to take something away from them. The Spirit teaches me how it applies to me and how I can apply it to my life. What stood out to me this week was the topic of distractions. In his sense of the word, a distraction is: ANYTHING that shifts our focus away from Christ or causes us to lose sight of Him. Our school work and our studies are great examples distractions that can cause us to lose focus on Christ, if we allow them to. These are both extremely important areas that we all should focus on and make them priorities in our lives. At the same time though we mustn’t take our focus on them too far because then we will lose sight of everything else, including Christ! It is too easy to focus all of our time and energy into one aspect of our life, causing us to lose sight of what is most important. It is very important for us to find the middle ground, in all that we do, including schooling. I have been trying so hard to make school a priority in my life and in the process I have lost focus on Christ. I didn't intentionally do this, I simply just have allowed myself to be consumed and lose sight of Christ. Not completely but enough that I have noticed a change in my daily life. Not a big change, but enough to bother me and inspire me to fix this. I know that if I find the perfect balance between the two, I will be blessed and in turn my schooling will benefit as well.
I felt the Spirit very strongly throughout all of this talk, but especially as he related his experience of when his father helped him remove the obstacle (an offensive comment) that obstructed his view of the Savior. After this talk, I became quickly aware of several things in my life that impede me from growing closer to the Savior. Along with a resolution to do whatever is necessary to make sure that Christ is the focus of my view, I have also determined to strive to be like Bro. Gunnersons father, who was able to turn a stumbling block for a young man into an important stepping stone.
ReplyDeleteI'm so grateful that every week we keep getting such great speakers. I feel very strongly that both the speakers and the topics they choose are a testimony of continual revelation.
I remember attending this devotinal. I really really enjoyed his story about how putting Christ in the center of our hearts. Sometime with my busy life I forget who I am, What I stand for and that people around me are watching. I always love Christ but sometimes I forget to do my best to show it in my everyday life. I realized many things that I was ALLOWING to stand in the way to allowing me to grow closer to God. I am going to remove those now from my life to better myself. im very thankful to Elder Gunnerson for his talk.
ReplyDelete