Always Remember Him
Lonnie Bradley
When you are in a hurry, do you ever hop in your car and drive away. And then you hear that familiar ding-ding-ding sound that is your cue to buckle up? You forgot to fasten your seatbelt. How do we forget? It’s something we know that we need to do, and we snap it on every day. But we all get distracted and forget. I did that just yesterday.
Each week, we bow our heads and participate in the most important ordinance of our meetings—the Sacrament. We renew our baptismal promises to God to take Christ’s name upon us, to keep His commandments, and in both prayers, to always remember Him. In turn, He promises us that if we will do these things, we will always have the Lord’s spirit to be with us. This is the gospel in its simplicity.
Today I would like to talk about that word, “always.” It’s the word that makes this promise so tricky. How do we always remember him? How long are we able to remember Him after partaking of the Sacrament? Do we get through the Sacrament ? The Sacrament Meeting? Through all of Sunday? Through Monday? Through an entire week? It is difficult to always remember Him.
President Monson’s recent homage to September 11, published in the Washington Post, addressed this issue of our forgetfulness: He wrote: “Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. But we are less faithful than He is. If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives.” He added, “But we are forgetful.”
Is there a way that we can be less forgetful and have more steadiness and commitment? What distracts us from always remembering our Savior, Jesus Christ?
Our busy lives, the things of the world, our negative thoughts, our discouragements, our fears, our lusts, our anger, our shame, our pride? It is the natural man in us, described in Mosiah 3:19, that gets in our way.
How can we remember our Savior--always? Maybe we need reminders or cues.
Having worked in advertising, I know that advertisers are very skilled at making people remember their ads. They know that if they put catchy music to words and visuals and repeat them over and over again in jingles, that we are likely to remember their product.
Let’s see how true this is. For those of you familiar with American advertising Jingles, finish the last words to these jingles:
M'm M'm Good That’s why ?(Campbell's Soups are m’m m’m good) (1935)
I Wish I Were an ? (Oscar Mayer Weiner" (1963) )
You deserve a break today at ? (McDonald’s) 1974)
Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun with ? (double mint, double mint, double mint gum" (Wrigley's Doublemint Gum, 1986)
Maybe we need to take a tip from advertisers and find a cue that will stick in our minds to always remember Jesus. For me it is music. I enjoy collecting and singing traditional gospel songs, and as the lyrics drift into my mind day and night, they are my cues to more often remember our Savior.
These are a few lyrics from one song that I love:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his Glory and Grace.
“Look full in his wonderful face.” Isn’t this why we are here on Earth, to prepare ourselves with charity for that very moment. In Moroni 7:48 we read, “when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as he is.
I love our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I have a firm testimony that he chose to do his Father’s will.
He created our beautiful Earth.
He gave all glory to His Father.
He volunteered to be our Savior and atone for our sins.
He lived a sinless life of service on Earth to be an example to us so that we may know how to live our lives.
He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane to take upon him all of our sins, if we will repent.
He willingly died for us and was resurrected that we too might have eternal life.
He will plead to the Father for us.
And He will come again in power and glory.
Should we not remember Him every moment of every day?
Taking the Sacrament each week is a blessing. It is an opportunity for us, as we repent, to have all of our sins washed away. Heavenly Father’s promise to us is that we will ALWAYS have His spirit to be with us—there’s that word again, ALWAYS . If we do our part, God does His. As President Monson said, “we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us.”
In Mosiah 5:12, we read (and please listen for the word, always):
I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your heart that ye are not found on the left hand of God.
So I invite you today to choose a cue that works for you--one that will help you remember our Savior. It could be something as simple as every time you touch a door, you remember Jesus. I have been known to write a J on my hand. You might find a hymn, or even a little song as simple as Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam to hum as a cue to always remember Him. As for me I will continue with my cue of making a “joyful noise” unto the Lord and buckle up for spiritual safety.
Men are, that they might have joy. (2 Nephi 2:25) This is God’s plan. It is my testimony that when we always remember Him and we have His Spirit to be with us, that we are joyful.
I say these things, in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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