40 Days Closer to Christ

What if they decided to hold a concert and every member of the orchestra showed up with their instruments tuned anyway they wanted? I’ve been to a few middle school concerts and I have to tell you that it wouldn’t be good. There must be some standard to which all the instruments are tuned, or else you end up with a cacophony. But not only do the instruments need to be tuned, but they need to be tuned to a Master note.

In my house I have three guitars. (Actually since my kids played rock star with one of them only two are playable, but for illustration purposes lets suppose all three can be played.) If I tune one of them to with a pitch pipe or with an electronic tuner than I am pretty sure that it is conditioned for optimal performance. Now I can go to the second guitar and tune it by the first one. And I can get around to tuning the third one by using the second. Theoretically, all three should be tuned up just right. But if I strum a note on the third one, and check it with the tuner, more than likely it will be a little flat or a little sharp. It is just not quite in tune. No matter how good my ear is, a little variation sneaks in as they get tuned down the line. All three guitars have different tones and pitches but if they are all tuned with the electronic tuner and to the same standard then they sound good together.

It is the same way with us. We can get pretty close to where we should be in our spirituality, in our righteousness, and in our walk with God by sharpening ourselves against each other, but we will always be a little off. We need to go back to the Master to make sure that we are where we need to be. It is Christ alone who is the standard by which we measure ourselves. And it is by Him alone that we will be able to perform as we should. That is why we take forty days leading up to Easter and use it to draw closer to Christ and to reestablish our discipleship.

Forty days is the optimal period to form a new habit, to establish a new practice, and to change the pattern of your life. 40 Days – Closer to Christ is an activity (we won’t use the word program) that can change your life.

Forty is a significant number in the scriptures. When God brings about change, the scriptures often represent a significant event as having a forty day duration. Noah’s world was changed forever in forty days. Moses saw God face to face and in forty days received the word which is still the basis for law and government. The city of Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes and turned away God’s wrath in the space of forty days. David became a hero after all Israel cowered under Goliath’s forty day challenge. Elijah lived by faith for forty days after God sustained him with one meal. The disciples were given the mysteries of the kingdom as they were taught by the Lord during an intensive forty day seminar after the resurrection. Jesus prepared with a forty day fast for a ministry which culminated in the salvation of mankind.

We can grow closer to the Savior as we study His life and His appearances throughout scripture. We become the people we should as we strive to lead a life of diligent discipleship. In these forty days we can review and renew the vital things that bring us to the Lord. We can refresh our memories and recall the eternal truths of who God is, who we are, and how we can have a close relationship with Him. 40 Days – Closer to Christ is an opportunity to more fully develop that relationship, so that we may see as we are seen and know as we are known.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Day 1 ~ Christ (Doctrine & Covenants 18:33)


Every Christmas it happens. Some people become absolutely livid. They say that the secular progressives are trying to take God out of everything. No, not "God", they correct themselves, the SPs want to remove the "Christian God." The argument goes that the movement to remove God won't quit until He is eradicated from public life entirely - then the goal is to make Him illegal in private life. There is some truth in this. But that movement is still a very small percentage of the population, they just make a loud noise. I think there is more harm in letting it bother you to the point that you take offense and let it ruin your Christmas.

I was at work and became part of a conversation where somebody let this very thing happen to them. A colleague was insulted when she had gone shopping and there on the store front was a sign declaring a "Xmas Sale." Why! They were trying to X Christ out of Christmas. How bad was it when they wouldn't even write the name Christ anymore? Jesus Christ had been replaced with an X. Or so she thought. I don't know what the store's intentions were but my work colleague was forgetting a few facts. Christ is not a name but a title, and comes from the Greek Christos. Christos is a literal translation of the Hebrew word Messiah. Both words mean "anointed." I'm sure she may have known that or had heard it before. But what she may not have been aware of is that the X in Greek is the first letter in the word Christos and was used by the early Christians as a symbol for Christ. X represents the Greek letter chi, with a hard ch. The X is a simple enough symbol that the learned and unlearned could easily identify it and just as easily portray it. It was accessible to all. I like that. Christ is accessible to all. Certainly being able to recognize and act in His holy name is a blessing. It is the way of salvation.

When Joseph was struggling over what to do with Mary, his espoused, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him to take Mary to wife. And to take the child as his own - in other words, full adoption and would make the child heir to Joseph's birthright. Gabriel also told Joseph to name the child - Jesus. The name means "Jehovah saves" or "Jehovah is salvation." Jesus' name is a testimony. There is salvation in none other.

In the Pre-existent Council, the Father presented His plan to all of His children, then He asked, "Whom shall I send?" It was an important decision, because the One sent had to live a sinless life. He had to perfectly conform to the Father's righteousness. He would be the only one who would be saved in the Father's name alone. This One had to completely get the choices placed before Him and decide without mistake to be like the Father. The Father's perfect Holiness could not allow imperfection to return in His name. The Father knew he would send Jesus, the First-born, to be His Only-begotten Son in the flesh. He would make the Father's plan to save His children possible.

Jesus was born into mortality and he walked in perfection all the days of His life. Jesus knew His salvation was by the Father. In the Gospel of John alone, Christ says over a hundred times that He was sent by the Father, did nothing but what the Father commanded Him, that he did all those works in the name of the Father and that He sought to glorify the Father in all He did. And it was in the Father's name He was resurrected, received His perfect glory and was given heirship to all the Father possesses.

Christ has "assumed the name and the power of his Father, and through that name and by that power he has extended the promise of salvation to all who would take upon themselves his (the Son's) name as he had taken upon himself the name of the Father. Such is the system of salvation" (Robert L. Millet and Joseph Fielding McConkie, In His Holy Name, p 7). Just as Jesus could be saved by no other name than that of His Father's, there is no other name given by which we can be saved except through the holy name of Christ. We should seek to do the works of Christ, do them in His name and thus glorify Him and the Father who sent Him.

"Take upon you the name of Christ, and speak the truth in soberness. And as many as repent and are baptized in my name, which is Jesus Christ, and endure to the end, the same shall be saved.
"Behold, Jesus Christ is the name which is given of the Father, and there is none other name given whereby man can be saved;
"Wherefore, all men must take upon them the name which is given of the Father, for in that name shall they be called at the last day; wherefore, if they know not the name by which they are called, they cannot have place in the kingdom of my Father." (D&C 18:21-25)
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