3.090 Behold the Man!

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as savory salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

Let's be honest for just a second. I've had a rough day, but I'm grateful to Savory Salt and grateful that I attended my church meetings earlier in the week. Let me explain what I mean as we dive into our readings this week.

We are focused on the Come Follow Me Easter messages all the way through to the end of the week. I don't know how much of those stories or conference talks I'll dive into. I'm going to pull some of my own studies as well as some Old Testament and Book of Mormon references as well.

But look, it's been a challenging day. And as I sit down here to think about sharing a message, I thought back to our sacrament meeting, which was an awesome sacrament meeting, an opportunity to have an Easter message and beautiful music and narration, right? And inside of it, there was a talk that was shared called "Behold the Man" by Elder Uchtdorf from 2018.

And it was April of 2018, which is actually kind of interesting timing-wise, where we're at in our timing here versus there. But the last time we had Easter Sunday and General Conference overlap, we had a solemn assembly where we brought in a new prophet. And we're going to do that again this year.

So if you're listening live, as most of you are here, this coming weekend, we'll have a solemn assembly where we actually get to sustain President Dallin H. Oaks as our prophet, seer, and revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now, inside of this concept of "Behold the Man," Elder Uchtdorf shares a couple of segments that just helped me out.

I didn't know on Sunday past that I was going to have a difficult day or a difficult week ahead of me. And yet, there were some thoughts that I just kept thinking about. And I wanted to bring those in, especially as we think about the role of Christ in our lives.

So, without further ado, let me share a couple of segments, and that'll be our verse for the day. And we talk about that. He says, "Those who find a way to truly behold the Man find the doorway to life's greatest joys and the balm to life's most demanding despairs." So, when you are encompassed by sorrows and grief, behold the Man.

When you feel lost or forgotten, behold the Man. If you are despairing, deserted, doubting, damaged, or defeated, behold the Man. He will comfort you.

Now that sentence there and several other sentences in this talk are, I believe, promises from an apostle of our Savior Jesus Christ. I see that as a promise that we will receive comfort and healing through Jesus Christ. And then further down the talk, he says this, he says, "As you accept his sacrifice and become his disciple, and finally reach the end of your earthly journey, what will become of the sorrows that you've endured in this life?" My friends, I hope you take an opportunity to listen or read this talk today in your scripture study.

And throughout your Easter studies, I hope that you find Jesus Christ and his healing in all that you seek in your life. May our difficult days and challenges be swept away through the atonement of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice to us. That is my wish and testimony today for each of us.

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope.