What it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ:

• Sets aside temporary needs to learn of things more eternal
• Comes unto the Savior for revelation by asking with a sincere heart
• Gives the father all that he has
• Does not covet worldly possessions
• Knows that spiritual things are more important than temporal things.
• Seeks for the kingdom of God before the world
• Waits patiently and is prepared for the second coming of the Savior
• Follows the straight and narrow and strives to be worthy to enter into the kingdom of God.
• Immediately comes when they are needed.
• Is willingly to do anything for the Savior.

                There are many of these principles that I need apply more into my life but one that I think would make a big difference in my life would be if I learned to not covet worldly possession. I’m not just talking about the new shoes that I want to buy or how great a new computer would but, I’m talking about putting my temporal needs in front of spiritual. I am guilty of putting my school work ahead of my spiritual school work a lot, I think that this is because I am too focused on the next 3 months of schooling instead of what is important; eternity. I think that if I focused on the spiritual stuff a little more than the temporal stuff would fall into place.

                Ultimately to become a disciple of Jesus Christ we need to follow his teachings and commandments. We need to give up everything we have, so that we can fully serve him with our might, mind, and strength. With this we will be an even better tool in the hand of the Savior bring more to His gospel. We must do this because the Savior gave everything to us, He suffered, bled, and died so we could have a chance to live with our Heavenly Father.

Matthew 18: 1-14. "Become as Little Children"

                We are like little children in many ways but one particular way we are like little children is brought up in Doctrine and Covenants Section 78 Verse 17, it states: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;” We don’t have a full understanding, like children, but we do need to be like children in the sense that we are curious enough to continue learning and growing. We should not get frustrated that we don’t know everything but should be comforted in the fact that the Savior will help us by leading the way.

                The best ways for us to become like children is to take in what Mosiah chapter 3 verse 19 states:

 “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

                To become as little children we need to stop listening to things of the temporal world and focus on the eternal perspective for life.  The best things about children is that they are “submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him” If we want to return to live with our Heavenly Father we can be we need to follow these steps because they are the ones on the correct path.  To learn to become like a child we need to be open to learning from them, children know a lot more than we believe they do and they are who we need to become.

Matthew 14: 22-33. Walking on the Sea

 When the apostles first saw the Savior walking on the water toward their ship they were very afraid because they thought it was a spirit. But after they realized who it was they were calm and Peter asked if he could also walk on the water to meet the Savior.  This was an example of the faith that Peter had, if he did not have faith in the power of the savior he would have not asked to walk on the water. Peter began to sink because he looked around; he lost sight of what was important and began to focus on what was around him instead of in front of him. When Peter began to sink he cried out to the Savior for help and IMMEDIATELY the Savior “stretched forth His hand, and caught him.”

            In Doctrine and Covenants Section 88 Verse 67 it states “And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehended all things.” The principle here is that if you keep your focus on the Savior then your whole “bodies shall be filled with light.” This related to Peter walking upon the water because his whole focus at the beginning was walking toward the Savior and with that faith he was filled with light and was able to defy science and walk on water. This can easily be applied to my life because while I am going through a personal storm I can keep my focus on the Savior and He will lift me to safety and help me gain strength to overcome whatever is troubling me.

Matthew 13: 24-48. The Lord often taught with parables

                A parable is a basic sense is a story. I believe the Savior used them so often because the best way for Him to teach principles to the people was to put it on their level and make it into a comparison. Parables can be linked to our day as well, for example the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven can be linked to the growth in the church. It describes how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was able to grow in and prosper while it is so young and it helps in describing the future growth of the church.  In the parable if the seed is planted in the right place and continually courted it will grow, just like the church. The parable of the gospel net can be related the large missionary effort made by the church. The kingdom needs to be gathered, for this to happen missionary work needs to be occurring so that all can be brought to the true gospel on the earth. The parable of the pearl of great price is the reason many wealthy members of the church sacrifice so much, they know the wonderful gift that the church is and are willing to give all they have to keep that wonderful blessing. The last parable I want to address is that of the wheat and the tares. I believe that this can be compared to why some members choose to leave the church, we are all growing in the same place and it can be really easy to mesh into the wrong crowd and loose ourselves and become a tare.

                In addressing the parable of the pearl of great price we are asked what sacrifices we would be willingly to make for this gospel. I believe that I would sacrifice everything for this gospel because in the long run the true gospel is all that matters. Christ gave His life for me, He bled from every pore for me, how can I not give everything I have to help Him in any way possible? I don’t know of any sacrifice I have made directly but to some not drinking, smoking, and doing other immoral things would be considered a sacrifice. Personally I am so grateful I will never be caught under these influences and can live a life without those evil things.

                In the parable of the net a question has come about of what the net represent. I believe that net is representative of missionary work, because verse 47, of Matthew chapter 13, says that the net will gather every kind; this is done with missionary work. To be gathered means to be brought together, to so everyone is accountable for themselves, and we are gathered before we are judged. From there we will be “sorted” and judged according to our actions, from this we see in the parable where there were some placed in good vessels and the bad cast away.

Matthew 5: 1-12. The Be-attitudes

            Blessed to me is gift we receive to lead us to higher happiness. Receiving a blessings don’t come without effort, they require us to do something first. While Jesus Christ taught on the Sermon on the Mount he gave several be-attitudes for everyone to live their lives. Three specific ones that I can relate to my life are: blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, blessed are the pure in heart, and blessed are the peacemakers

            Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: I have found in my life that when I have felt a hunger to learn about the gospel and grow closer to the savior I am becoming a better person. I am nice to those I am around and am a happier toward those around me. I hope that I can keep that hunger for the gospel always. I have had times in my past where I have forgotten about the rich blessing that come from that hunger but when I remembered again I decided to never forget.  

            Blessed are the pure in heart: I had never realized how amazing children where until I had the opportunity to work closely with them.  These are truly children of a loving Heavenly Father and were sent here to remind us of that. Children bring joy into our lives because of their wonderful purity, they have a spirit that the Savior knows is important as he said suffer the little children to “come unto me, for such is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:14).

            Blessed are the peacemakers: To become a peacemaker can be extremely difficult if we keep our hearts at war. When we decide to end this war within our hearts and become loving and accepting to all our fellowman we find a peace that keeps our hearts open to accepting promptings from the spirit and helps us draw closer to our Heavenly Father. I have noticed that when I set out to end the war in my heart and become a peacemaker I feel better about myself and less stressed in my life.