The Savior is Our Perfect Example of Ministering

As I was reading “The Living Christ” during the sacrament a few Sundays ago, I began thinking how this beautiful testimony of the Savior provides us with a powerful description of ministering. It tells us Jesus “went about doing good. … His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.”1 If we follow the Savior’s example, we also will go about doing good. We will share His gospel. Especially to those to whom we minister, we will be aware of their physical and spiritual needs. While helping with physical needs may seem easier or at least more obvious, we should never lose sight of how important it is to help others as they prepare for their next ordinance and help them keep the covenants they have already made. Think about it, making and keeping covenants with our Heavenly Father helps us more fully understand our divine nature, clarifies our purpose in this life and teaches and prepares us for eternal life with Him and with our families.

“When I think of the Savior,” Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “I often picture Him with hands outstretched, reaching out to comfort, heal, bless, and love. And He always talked with, never down to, people. He loved the humble and the meek and walked among them, ministering to them and offering hope and salvation. That is what He did during His mortal life; it is what He would be doing if He were living among us today; and it is what we should be doing as His disciples and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. … As we emulate His perfect example, our hands can become His hands; our eyes, His eyes; our heart, His heart.”2

To have our hands, our eyes and our hearts become like the Savior’s, we need love and serve as He did. As He spent His days compassionately serving others, often His focus was on the one. He would “bless them and teach in ways that mattered most to them.”3 That is what true ministering is! If we will follow the Savior’s example and do likewise, our ministering will become holy. And as we follow the Savior’s perfect example and do “what He would be doing if He were living among us today,” not only does our ministering become holier, but so do we.

Neil L. Andersen taught us another way to make our ministering holier. He said, “Remember the first commandment before you exercise the second. … Your ability to bring a holier approach to loving your neighbor, to caring for and ministering to others, will rest upon how strongly you keep the first commandment. There is a unique and supernal gift of ministering that can come from someone who loves God with all his or her heart; who is settled, grounded, steadfast, and immovable in his or her faith in Jesus Christ and in the restored gospel; and who keeps the commandments with exactness.”4

Elder Andersen said that while there are many kind and wonderful people all over the world who care for others physically and emotionally, there is a unique kind of ministering that is done by converted members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kind-hearted people can help fix a flat tire, take someone to the doctor or to lunch. “But a follower of the first commandment will naturally add to these important acts of service, encouraging the person who is doing well in keeping the commandments and sharing wise counsel to strengthen the faith of someone who is slipping or who needs help in moving back onto the path he once traveled.”4

This kind of ministering takes conscious effort. It may even take us out of our comfort zones at times. We will definitely need to rely on the Holy Ghost to help us. “Strengthen your efforts to spiritually minister to one another,” Elder Andersen urged. “To minister spiritually can begin with baking cookies or playing a basketball game, but eventually this holier way of ministering requires opening your heart and your faith, taking courage in encouraging the positive growth you are seeing in a friend, or expressing concerns about things you see and feel are not consistent with discipleship. … Unlike changing a flat tire, just one experience rarely fixes a spiritual problem. It takes time, conversations, and encouraging experiences that will help rebuild faith. It comes more like the dew from heaven than a one-time blast from a firehose. You have to minister again and again as you help someone turn back to God and again rely on the Savior and His Atonement.”4

We are all familiar with the parable of the good Samaritan. You will remember that both the priest and the Levite saw the man who had been beaten and left for dead but “passed by on the other side.”5 It is important to note that both the priest and the Levite had a priesthood responsibility to take care of others. They had a duty to help, yet neither did. In fact, they went out of their way to avoid helping. The Samaritan, considered an enemy to a Jew, would have been completely justified in not helping. Yet he truly cared for this man’s needs. Think of the valuable lesson the Savior was teaching us here. We are all God’s children and we have a responsibility to love and care for all. So how does that apply to ministering? If we are truly keeping the second commandment, our ministering will be to whomever the Lord puts in our path. Often, probably most often, that will be to someone who isn’t on our ministering list. If there is a need, we should not see that need but "pass by on the other side.”5 (vs. 31, 32)

Thomas S. Monson, an incredible example of ministering to the one, reminded us, “We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.”6

As we follow the Savior’s perfect example of ministering, we will look for opportunities to serve and lift in our day-to-day lives. Elder Andersen said, “When Jesus ministered to the widow of Nain, He was on His way to somewhere else. However, while on His way, Christ saw her and had compassion for her, and it changed her life. Pray that these opportunities will come to you, listen, write down your thoughts, and then be ready to take action as people are put in your way.”4

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”7 The more we love our Heavenly Father, the more we will love and serve His children. We have been asked by a prophet of God to care for each other in a holier way. Our Savior’s way of ministering is that holier way. And following His perfect example will take time, effort, and faith. A few years ago, President Nelson asked the young adults to spend more time in holy places. He told them, “As you consistently give the Lord a generous portion of your time, He will multiply the remainder.”8 I believe the prophet’s promise can also apply to us as we spend our time in holy service to Heavenly Father’s children.

May we be more willing to love and serve as the Savior would if He were here so that “our hands can become His hands; our eyes, His eyes; our heart, His heart.”2 For that is what true, holy ministering is.