Have faith
Follow Christ- Feast at the table
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to satisfy ultimate spiritual hunger and slake definitive spiritual thirst, said Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Speaking Sunday morning, Elder Holland recalled reading an essay on "metaphysical hunger," suggesting that souls "were dying, so to speak, from a lack of spiritual nourishment in our time."
He said the observation reminded him of the prophecy from Amos, who said: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." (Amos 8:11.)
As the world moves toward the 21st century, Elder Holland said, many people long for something, but do not know what. "We live in an information age that has a world of data available literally at our fingertips, yet the meaning of that information and the satisfaction of using knowledge in some moral context seems farther away for many than ever before."
Elder Holland said he wondered if someone listening to conference was hungering for something more substantial in his or her life, or hoping to find the answer to a deeply personal problem, or to have some light cast on the serious questions of the heart.
"It is to those who so hunger that I wish to speak," he said. "Wherever you live, and at whatever point in age or experience you find yourself, I declare that God has, through His Only Begotten Son, lifted the famine of which Amos spoke. I testify that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life and a Well of Living water springing up unto eternal life."
Speaking to those who may feel they have forfeited their place at the table of the Lord, Elder Holland said God has "a forgiving disposition," and that Christ is "merciful and gracious."
"If you feel too spiritually maimed to come to the feast, please realize that the Church is not a monastery for perfect people, though all of us ought to be striving on the road to godlilness," he said.
Elder Holland testified that in spite of life's tribulations, there is help for the journey.
"There is the Bread of Eternal Life and the Well of Living Water," he said. "Christ has overcome the world - He has overcome our world - and His gift to us is peace now and exaltation in the world to come. Our fundamental requirement is to have faith in Him and follow Him - always."
Elder Holland said that those who will receive the Lord Jesus Christ as a source of their salvation will always lie down in green pastures no matter how barren the winter has been.
"The rod of His priesthood and the staff of His spirit will always comfort us," he said. "And when we hunger and thirst in the effort, He will prepare a veritable feast before us, a table spread even in the presence of our enemies - contemporary enemies - which might include fear or family worries, sickness or personal sorrow of a hundred different kinds."