“Jesus Christ bore the sins of all mankind — all the pains and sorrow, everything,” Elder C. Scott Grow, a General Authority Seventy, told students at the LDS Business College. “He did it all, 100 percent.” Elder Grow asked, “So what can we do?” and answered with three patterns of faith that would help the students “remain true to the faith.”
Elder Grow spoke at a devotional on June 21 held in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. J. Lawrence Richards, president of LDS Business College conducted the devotional.
The first pattern of faith Elder Grow shared with students was to study the scriptures daily so that they can become familiar with the voice of the Lord. However, in order to be effective, scripture study needs to be accompanied by the Spirit which will “show unto you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:5). “As we study the scriptures we receive the Spirit and the Spirit helps us to interpret what we have read and to sustain us when we need to be sustained,” Elder Grow said. He related it to a mathematical formula. “The Spirit plus [the] word equals the power of God,” he said.
Elder Grow also taught that while it is important to read the scriptures chronologically, it is important to study them by topic so that, “the doctrines will become part of who you are.” He suggested going to the index at the back of the triple combination and studying each reference about a particular topic. Elder Grow also said that he has found that studying the Book of Mormon is the most effective and the most critical because the Book of Mormon is, “the converting tool.”
The second pattern of faith that he shared was prayer. After Joseph Smith read in James, he prayed and because of that prayer the First Vision occurred. “Now,” said Elder Grow, “your prayers, and mine, might not be as earth shattering as his was, but for our own salvation they are every bit as important.”
Elder Grow said that when prayer is combined with scripture study, revelation flows. “Prayer is a great protection for you,” he said, one that also provides direction.
The last pattern Elder Grow spoke on was to attend church. Going to church is more than walking into a building and more than a social obligation, said Elder Grow. Attending church is “an opportunity to demonstrate our faith and our humility to God,” he said.
In addition to attending church, Elder Grow spoke about the importance of partaking the sacrament. Both of the sacrament prayers mention sanctification, but, “it’s not just about sanctified bread or water, it’s about the sanctification of your soul,” he taught.
Elder Grow said that, “Once a week we have the opportunity to come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit… and commit to Him that we will follow Him, that we will do His will, and thus we will always remember Him.”
Before the patterns of faith can help, Elder Grow said it is important to be converted unto the Lord. In the Book of Mormon it states that “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). Elder Grow asked the students to contemplate what was all they could do. “All we can really do,” he said, “is repent and be obedient to His commandments.” It is by repenting and following the commandments that true conversion comes. Only then will the patterns of faith help keep one true to the faith, Elder Grow taught.
He closed with his testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and reminded students that, “God loves you and does not condemn you and the Savior’s arms are continually extended to you and to me.”
