Jesus encouraged us to let our light shine (Matthew 5:16, 3 Nephi 12:16). He told us not to hide our light under a bushel (Matthew 5:15, 3 Nephi 12:15). And on the American continent, He clarified, “I am the light which ye shall hold up” (3 Nephi 18:24).
Nevertheless, the apostle Paul recognized that we are imperfect bearers of the Savior’s perfect light. He expressed gratitude that “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” But then, he acknowledged, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” In other words, we are far from perfect. When we preach the gospel, you are receiving God’s light in a very ordinary container. But the weakness of the container serves an important purpose: “that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7).
Of course we try to be as good as we can when we represent the Lord. “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord,” counseled Isaiah (Isaiah 52:11, 3 Nephi 20:41). But at some point, we must recognize our own inadequacy and marvel that God is able to use imperfect people to help Him accomplish His work.
I see two practical applications of this principle:
- We need to be patient with our church leaders. One year before he became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, John Taylor gave the following advice to a group of church members regarding their local leaders: “Pray for them. Have they weaknesses? Yes. Have you? Yes. Have I? Yes. We are in possession of a rich and glorious treasure; but it is contained in earthen vessels. We all have our weaknesses and infirmities; but we will pray for those that are appointed to preside over us, that God may bless them” (Journal of Discourses 20:357).
- We need to be patient with ourselves. As we make mistakes and fall short of our expectations for ourselves, we need to remember that God is fully aware of our current state of development, and that He is willing to work with us where we are. Rather than be immobilized by our mistakes, we ought to be motivated to learn from them, to reengage, and to continue doing the best we can with faith that God can accomplish great things with our “small and simple” contributions. (See Alma 37:6-7.)
Today I will strive to be a resilient disciple of Jesus Christ. I will strive to do God’s work as well as I can, and I won’t hold myself or others back if we stumble along the way.