Renlund - Through God's Eyes - October 2015

This is Elder Renlund's first talk as an Apostle.  The first line in the young women's theme is so basic yet so impactful.  It says "We are daughter of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him."  Each of us is a child of God, born of heavenly parents who love us and want what is best for us.  They have given us people in our lives to help us, encourage us, test us, and love us.  The ability to see all of God's children as He sees them is truly one of the tests of our mortal experience.

Elder Renlund discusses a few times in our lives that being able to see God's children as He does will determine our success.  He said:

• Something wonderful happens in a missionary’s service when he or she realizes that the calling is not about him or her; rather, it is about the Lord, His work, and Heavenly Father’s children.
  

This ability to see people as God sees them will help us in our callings at church.

• No matter what the assignment or calling is in the Church, to serve capably, one must serve knowing that everyone we serve “is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, … has a divine nature and destiny.”

It is important as parents that we see our children the way God sees them.  God loves each of his children and he knows each of them by name.  As we serve others in and outside our families, it is important to remember that:

• To effectively serve others we must see them through a parent’s eyes, through Heavenly Father’s eyes.

When we are baptized, we made covenants to help our fellow man along the journey of life.  Elder Renlund reminds us:

• We cannot completely fulfill our covenant obligation to mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort unless we see them through God’s eyes.
• Only when we see through Heavenly Father’s eyes can we be filled with “the pure love of Christ.”

The greatest comment made by Elder Runlund speaks to my soul and echos the desires of my heart.  He said:

• With all my heart I want to be a true follower of Jesus Christ.

The ability to see God's children as he sees them is so vital to being a true follower of Jesus Christ.  We cannot have Christ like love for someone unless we see past their faults, through the difficulties in their lives, and walk with them through the trials of mortality.

Elder Renlund finishes his talk bearing his testimony of the Prophet Jospeh Smith.

• I testify that on a day in 1820 in a grove in upstate New York, the risen Lord appeared, along with God, our Heavenly Father, to the Prophet Joseph Smith, just as Joseph Smith said They did.
• Priesthood keys are on earth today to enable saving and exalting ordinances.

This talk reminds me that the gospel of Jesus Christ is an individual gospel.  The ability to see others as God sees them is the essence of what the scriptures call charity.  If I judge people by the way they look, act, dress, or smell, I am not seeing them as God sees them.  God knows those good qualities in all of us.  My assignment in life from God is to see those around me as my Brothers and Sisters and treat them with love and respect.  By doing so, that Christ like love will grow within me and I will become a better disciple of Jesus Christ.