Reflect on His life
Seek greater joy- Elevate His name
Thoughts of Jesus ought to be more frequent and much more constant through all seasons and times of life, declared President Howard W. Hunter in the Sunday morning session.
"Surely life would be more peaceful, surely marriages and families would be stronger, certainly neighborhoods and nations would be safer and kinder and more constructive if more of the gospel of Jesus Christ could fill our breasts," said President Hunter of the Council of the Twelve.
President Hunter used as his text the hymn, "Jesus the Very Thought of Thee," written by Bernard of Clairvaux an estimated 900 years ago.
"How often do we think of the Savior?" he asked. "How deeply and how gratefully and how adoringly do we reflect on His life? How central to our lives do we know Him to be?
"For example, how much of a normal day, a working week, or a fleeting month is devoted to `Jesus, the very thought of thee?' Perhaps for some of us, not enough."
President Hunter observed that, "Unless we pay more attention to the thoughts of our hearts, I wonder what hope we have to claim that greater joy, that sweeter prize: someday His loving `face to see and in [HisT presence rest.' "
He noted, however, that even as "we think on the name of Christ more often . . . how tragic it is and how deeply we are pained, that the name of the Savior of mankind has become one of the most common and ill-used of profanities."
This, he affirmed, is despite all the Savior has done for us. "May we all do more to respect and revere His holy name and gently, courteously encourage others to do the same," he said. "Let us lift the name of Deity to the sacred, sweet elevation that it deserves and that has, indeed, been commanded. . . .
"We love the name of our Redeemer. May we redeem it from misuse to its rightful lofty position."
Through Him, hope is extended to every contrite heart, and joy to the meek. Contrition is expensive because it "costs us our sins." And in a world filled with intimidation, few seek to grow in meekness. "But the meek shall inherit the earth, a pretty impressive corporate takeover - and done without intimidation!" said President Hunter. He noted that in that day when the meek shall inherit the world, everyone will confess that "gentleness is better than brutality, that kindness is greater than coercion, that the soft voice turneth away wrath."
"Jesus is . . . the only prize men and nations can permanently hold dear. He is our prize in time and eternity. Every other prize is fruitless. Every other grandeur fades with time and dissolves with the elements. . . .
"We will know no true joy save it be in Christ."
