Be of Good Cheer

 

Jeanine Elsholz
@JeanineElsholz
In the words of Jeffrey R. Holland— “The Lord has probably spoken enough “comforting words” to supply the whole universe, it would seem, and yet we see all around us unhappy Latter-day Saints, worried Latter-day Saints, and gloomy Latter-day Saints into whose troubled hearts not one of these innumerable consoling words seems to be allowed to enter. Consider, for example, the Savior’s benediction upon his disciples even as he moved toward the pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary. On that very night, the night of the greatest suffering the world has ever known or ever will know, he said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). I submit to you that may be one of the Savior’s commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally DISOBEYED; And yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart. I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel CONFIDENT in his care or SECURE in his hands or trust in his commandments. Just because God is God, just because Christ is Christ, they cannot do other than care for us and bless us and help us if we will but COME UNTO THEM. There is not a single loophole or curveball or open trench to fall into for the man or woman who walks the path that Christ walks. When he says, “Come, follow me”, he means that he knows where the quicksand is and where the thorns are and the best way to handle the slippery slope near the summit of our personal mountains. He knows it all, and he knows the way. HE IS THE WAY! He wishes us to come unto him, to follow him, to be comforted by him. May we have enough faith to ACCEPT the goodness of God and the mercy of his Only Begotten Son. May we come unto him and his gospel and BE HEALED. When the storms of life make this difficult, may we still follow his bidding to “come,” keeping our eye FIXED ON HIM forever and single to his glory. In doing so we too will walk triumphantly over the swelling waves of life’s difficulties and remain unterrified amid ANY rising winds of despair. I pray we will hear this very night that sweet utterance from the Savior of the world: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. . . . And ye shall find rest unto your souls— BE OF GOOD CHEER; it is I; be not afraid!” (BYU Devotional, March 1997)

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland/come-unto/


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