Hello! I am grateful to be here with you all today. We have been looking forward to meeting with you, and we love you all so very much.
I love reading the conversion story of the Apostle Paul in Acts 9—his conversion is so dramatic and powerful. This account can help each of us in our own lifelong conversions. I invite you to come with me and to listen in to Paul’s experience.
You remember that Saul was on his way to Damascus “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” [1]
Verses 3 and 4 continue the story:
As he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [2]
This was the Savior’s voice, come to rescue Saul from his ignorance and from his blind commitment to the old laws. Saul responds to this glorious visitation with a question, saying,
“Who art thou, Lord?” [3]
Saul didn’t understand, so he asked a question. What a direct and humble response! [4]
Then we hear the Lord’s answer: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” [5]
Saul, at that moment, realizes that Jesus Christ—whose disciples he has threatened, hunted, and persecuted—is indeed who the Savior said He was, the Son of that very God whom Saul had been trying so diligently to serve. [6] The “light from heaven” he experienced at that moment seared from his soul the traditions that had so fiercely blinded him. Not surprisingly, we read that Saul was “astonished” and that he was “trembling.” [7]
Then, in verse 6, Saul asks a second question: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” [8]
Oh, to be as teachable as Saul, so willing to do whatever His new Lord asks him to do and to become whoever His new Lord asks him to become. [9] Christ answers him, and thus begins Paul’s new life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Clearly our own conversions are likely less dramatic and swift—though they may very well astonish us and they may very well make us tremble. We are more likely to realize He is indeed who He said He is in quiet moments of searching. For us the “light from heaven” will likely be the growing inward glow of the Holy Ghost. [10] Though less dramatic, our own conversion story is a precious and divine process. I encourage you to cherish and to nourish yours.
As you do so, you might remember that on that road to Damascus, Paul’s first question identified the very purpose of our life here on earth. [11] That purpose is described in John 17, when the Savior says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” [12]
Paul’s second question is also wonderfully well chosen: “What wilt thou have me to do?” As we grow in our understanding of who Christ is, our desire to do His will grows.
Paul’s two questions are intertwined in a cycle sent from heaven. As we learn more about our Savior and learn to truly hear Him, our desire to serve Him increases. As we do His work, we recognize ever more urgently our need to become more like Him. The Savior declared: “What manner of men [and women] ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.” [13]
Brothers and sisters, Paul teaches us that both the learning and the doing create powerful change in us. [14]
Our experiences here in this life—covenants, callings, family relationships, heartbreak, and joy—all teach us! If we truly hear His answers, these experiences will teach us who our Savior is and what He desires us to do. This is how the Lord leads us toward life eternal. [15] I am so grateful for callings that bring me to my knees in humble searching to know what I am to do.
I am eternally grateful for relationships that teach me the importance of striving to be more like my Savior daily. And I am eternally grateful for covenants that show me the path and empower me to walk it with my Savior.
Who is my Savior?
What would He have me do?
Paul’s two questions go to the heart of our purpose. Their answers lead us to true discipleship.
I invite you to spend your entire life seeking to answer these two questions. I promise you that the Lord will walk this path with you daily. I promise you joy in the learning and in the doing!
I testify to the reality of a living God, who loves you and who sent His Son to save us all. I testify humbly that He lives.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Acts 9:1.
[2] Acts 9:3–4.
[3] Acts 9:5.
[4] See Joseph Smith—History 1:13, Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,“ Ensign or Liahona, May 2018.
[5] Acts 9:5.
[6] See Acts 9:1–2.
[7] Acts 9:6.
[8] Acts 9:6.
[9] See Joseph Smith—History 1:25.
[10] See Moroni 10:5. “As you study, pay careful attention to ideas that come to your mind and feelings that come to your heart” ( Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service [2004], 18).
[11] See “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 145.
[12] John 17:3.
[13] 3 Nephi 27:27.
[14] See Mosiah 5:2.
[15] See 2 Nephi 28:30; Doctrine and Covenants 98:12.