The Color Purple
Fukuoka Ward Sacrament Meeting
20 January 2013
Sister Beus and I are serving as the office couple
missionaries. We have been here for just
over 8 months – so our mission is nearing the half-way point. This is a calling which has pulled us way
out of our comfort zone – but it has become a wonderful experience for us. We thank you for your love and support. Your kindness has made us feel at home here. We love you, we love the Fukuoka Ward and we
love Japan. There is much to admire in
the Japanese people and we are learning a lot from you.
Sister Beus amazes me in many ways. She is a valiant and courageous woman. Before we came, she was worried about the work
of a mission secretary – lacking the computer skills and afraid of the
challenge. But she has always been
willing to do whatever the Lord wants her to do. This was no exception. Once she realized that this is what the Lord
wanted her to do, she accepted the challenge and embraced the work. I am thrilled as I have watched her do this
work. She works really hard at her
job. She has learned to do things on the
computer that she couldn’t even have imagined a year ago. I marvel as I have watched the Spirit enable
her to do all that is expected of her.
Last week Sister Beus came to the office dressed in
purple. I was very surprised to see her.
She hasn’t worn much purple in her life
and this was an interesting change for her.
It reminded me of a book called “When
I am old I will wear purple.” The
book suggests that as we grow older we lose some of our inhibitions. We are no longer afraid to be different. We are willing to try something new, because
we don’t care as much what people think.
I’m not suggesting that Sister Beus is old or anything, mind you. I don’t associate purple with age – but
rather wearing purple signifies to me the courage to change.
We normally think that change is only for the young. But whenever I see the color purple, I am
reminded that we old people can learn some new things as well. We are not locked into what we are. New horizons beckon us as well as the
young.
The church of Jesus Christ is all about change - change from
what we are to what we should be. It is about becoming what God wants us to be.
We call it repentance. “Preach nothing
but repentance…” the Lord told leaders
of the church. Repentance is change. It
is the process by which we become a new person - when we set aside the old
person and decide to become better than we were - when we decide to become the
person God wants us to be.
Change is largely a matter of will power, and it is an act requiring
humility. It is a recognition that God
is smarter than we are – and that he can be trusted. It involves exchanging our will for our
Heavenly Father’s will. I love the
scripture that says Jesus let his will be
swallowed up in the will of his Father.
That took humility – and it took will power. So when we are ready to change ourselves, we
submit our will to that of God. We set
aside what we want to be and try to become what Heavenly Father wants us to be.
When is the best time to change and to start to become a
better person? Is it next week….next
month…..next year? No. The best time to change is now, this very minute. When Jesus approached Peter and Andrew and
said to them, “Come follow me,” they
didn’t say “I’ll get back to you on that.
I’ll let you know next week.”
The scriptures record that they straightway
left their nets and followed him. That
means they did it immediately – as soon as he asked. Perhaps they didn’t even know who was
asking. Yet without even thinking it
over, without even weighing the consequences, they straightway left their nets
and followed him. I believe that somehow they felt the Spirit telling
them that this was the promised Messiah, and they knew it was right.
The New Year is a good time to change. The New Year is like a blank sheet of paper,
an empty blackboard we can write on. The
New Year invites us to make resolutions -
to make new plans. We don’t have to be
evil to want to change. It isn’t that
we are bad necessarily. But we are not
as good as we could be - as we should be.
And repentance is what we preach in this church - it is what we do.
Recall from the New Testament the conversion story of Saul
of Tarsus. Saul was on the wrong
path. He was persecuting the
Christians. The resurrected Savior
appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus and told him he should change. Saul immediately realized how wrong he had
been. From that very moment he completely
changed the trajectory of his life. Inspired
by this vision, he embraced change. He
became a different person. He even
changed his name. He became Paul, one of
the greatest missionaries of all time. And
I am betting that when Paul presented himself before Ananias in Damascus to be
baptized, he was wearing purple.
Remember Alma. He
also was on the wrong path. An angel
appeared to Alma and told him how very wrong he was. In the Book of Mormon Alma describes how
awful he felt when he realized what he had done and how wrong he had been. From that very moment he completely changed
his life. He became a different
person. Alma put on his purple clothes
and became one of the great missionaries of all time.
Why did Paul and Alma make such dramatic changes in their
lives? First, something powerful got their
attention. Their faith was suddenly
awakened and through an act of great will power and humility, they admitted
their error and embarked on a new life.
There is no record of their worrying about what to do, weighing their
options, discussing it with friends – it happened like a thunderclap – BAM! And
they changed.
They received a powerful manifestation. It was made clear to them that the path they
were on would not lead to happiness.
They discovered a simple truth, one of the great lessons of the Book of
Mormon: “Wickedness never was happiness.”
Because I make a lot of mistakes, there is a key on my
computer that I find most useful. It is
the “undo” key. Sometimes I am working
with a document or a spread sheet on the computer and I do something really
dumb so that I make a mess of what I have been working on. My first reaction is frustration because I
have lost something important, damaged something valuable. Then I remember – I have the undo key. I can fix it. The undo key is magical. It doesn’t just erase a mistake. It can also restore something that was
damaged. It can bring it back as clean
and pure as it was before you ruined it.
Did you ever say or do something that got you into
trouble? Maybe you accidently hurt
someone, or broke something, or maybe you offended someone you love. It happens to me quite a bit. Whenever I do that, I just feel awful. And right away I am looking for the undo
key. I wish I could just hit a key and
have the deed undone. Someone ought to
invent an undo key for human relations.
My favorite scripture in all of the standard works is found
in the Old Testament in the first chapter of Isaiah. It describes something in the Lord’s toolbox
that sounds a lot like an undo key.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)
Does that sound like a good deal or what?
You see, in the gospel of Jesus Christ is the true principle
of “undo.” It’s not a computer key. It is a process involving principles and
ordinances. It begins with faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Then follows repentance or a change of heart
resulting in no more desire to do evil.
Then comes the greatest of all bargain deals: baptism by immersion for
the remission of sins. Remission sounds
a lot like undo to me. The sins were there and now they are gone.
But the remission of sins isn’t magic. The sins aren’t
magically eliminated. They go away
because they were paid for. Someone else
paid the price to free us from sin and satisfy the demands of justice. That price was paid by the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Redeemer. The price he
paid was evidently a very high price.
“For behold, I, God, have suffered
these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer
even as I; Which suffering caused
myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed
at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not
drink the bitter cup, and shrink— Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I
partook.” D&C 19:16-19
This whole process of repentance and forgiveness is possible
because of the atoning sacrifice of the Savior Jesus Christ. He paid the price for the sins of all mankind
– not just for you and me, not just for members of the church, but for all of
mankind. His atoning sacrifice lies at
the heart of the gospel – and it is the foundation of happiness for all
mankind.
It seems to me that
we progress in the gospel and in life insofar as we embrace the atonement of
Jesus Christ and make it operative in our lives. And we do that first and foremost through
change.
Why is God constantly asking us to change - to repent? Why does he do that? Is it because he wants to control us - to
dictate our behavior? No. It is because
he loves us, and because he knows what will bring us joy and happiness in our
lives. As parents, you try to influence
the behavior of your children for good.
You don’t do it because you are some kind of control freak, but simply
because you love your children and want to see them happy. It is the same with
our Heavenly Father.
Much like most loving parents, our Heavenly Father has great
patience. He is willing to work with his
children as we strive to achieve perfection.
He knows our weaknesses and our imperfections. He knows that we have to change and progress
to be worthy to return home to his presence.
He wants to see us change because, as he says…
“… I the Lord cannot look upon sin
with the least degree of allowance."
D&C 1:31
He knows that we cannot be admitted into his presence until
we have become cleaned every whit. His
long-term hope for us is that we will overcome every sin and become perfected
in Christ.
Is this process of repentance and forgiveness as good as
“undo?” Oh, yes! Much better, for the Lord tells us…
“Behold, he who has repented of
his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.”
(Doctrine and Covenants 58:42)
So as we face into the year 2013, as we stand before the
empty blackboard of this New Year, what are we going to write there? What are we going to make of ourselves in
this coming year?
Most of us are not like Saul or Alma. We are probably not going in a totally wrong
direction. We don’t need to turn 180
degrees and march off in the opposite direction. But I suggest that each of us has areas of
our lives where we would benefit from some course correction, where we need to
make some changes. Perhaps it is…
To read the
scriptures every day
To say
better prayers
To be a more obedient son or
daughter
To be
kinder and more helpful to those around us
To spend
more time with our children
To take
better care of an aging parent
To bear
testimony to a friend
To be a
better neighbor
To treat a
spouse with more respect
To find
those in need and help them
To be more
patient
To discover
God’s will for us
To become a
full tithe payer
To search
out our ancestors and perform ordinances for them in the temple
For each of us there is something we need to do to change
for the better, and the New Year is a good time to do it.
My own experience is that a good way to change is to select
an area where I need to improve, then write down a goal of what I want to
do. Then I try to develop a plan to
achieve that goal.
It helps to share
your goal and your plan with someone - a spouse, a parent or a friend. And you might make your plan in the form of a
promise. A promise to God, or to someone
you love and trust.
In the
Old Testament we read….
“If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an
oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do
according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.” (Numbers 30:2)
So it is helpful if the resolution we make
becomes a vow, a promise or a commitment – not just words on the blackboard or
on paper.
After all, this is the principal method our
Heavenly Father uses to strengthen and bless his children here on earth. He uses promises or covenants. He invites us to make covenants, as to what
we will do, and then he expects us to keep those covenants. It is a good method,
and a divine technique of motivation and leadership.
I promise you this – that if you make a vow
to change your life in a meaningful way, if you promise to live the life your
Heavenly Father wants you to live, he will help you do it. You will not be alone. He will be there for you. The path you choose may not be an easy one,
but he will take your hand and walk down that path with you. In the hard times that lie ahead, his love
will bear you up.
In Isaiah we read this promise from the
Lord:
“… they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 )
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not
complicated. Until we achieve perfection
and truly become like unto out Heavenly Father, living the gospel will always
involve change.
Now as I have been speaking about change and
suggested some areas to consider, I imagine that the Spirit may have spoken to
your heart. With its still small voice,
the Spirit may have suggested to you an area where change would bless your
life. At some point there may have
suddenly popped into your mind something you need to change in your life.
You don’t need an
angel to appear to you. The whisperings
of the Spirit are the manifestations of heaven to you. They are enough. We should never ignore nor resist the
promptings of the Spirit.
Decide to change
for the better. Do it today. Go into your closet and get out your purple
clothing and put it on. There is no shame in wearing purple. It is the color of the robe Jesus wore on the
day of his crucifixion. It is my prayer that each of us will walk out
of this sacrament meeting dressed in purple, with a firm determination to be a
better person. I know that God will help
us.
In the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen
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