A Job Description for Servants of God

The first recorded revelation Joseph Smith received on behalf of someone else was directed to his father. (See Doctrine and Covenants 4.) The revelation uses the plural “ye” instead of the singular “thou,” indicating that it is applicable to a much larger audience.

The revelation reads like a job description for a disciple of Christ. The Lord identifies the need: He is about to do a “marvelous work,” and “the field is white already to harvest.” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:1, 4). He explains what is expected: people who are willing to “serve him with all [their] heart, might, mind and strength” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:2). He specifies the compensation: Those who take this job will “stand blameless before God at the last day” and will “[perish] not, but [bring] salvation to [their souls]” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:2, 4).

Most of the revelation consists of qualifications for the job. They are listed in two groups—a set of attributes which “qualify” us for the work (v. 5), and another set which we should “remember” and “ask” for (v. 6-7). It’s not unusual for job descriptions to contain a list of required skills and another list of desired skills. The two lists in this revelation may serve a similar purpose: Start with faith, hope, charity [which is love], and and eye single to God’s glory, and then develop the other attributes through on-the-job training. Why are faith and charity on both lists? Surely we can bring whatever faith and charity we can muster to the job, and develop them further as we work.

A unique thing about this job description is that we are hired before we even get to the qualifications. “If ye have desires to serve,” the Lord says, “ye are called to the work” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:3).

Many of the qualifications listed in this revelation also appear in a list of Christlike attributes in 2 Peter 1:5-7. I have written a blog post in which I identified a Book of Mormon passage for each of those attributes. Today, I’m replicating that exercise, but with the expanded list of attributes found in Doctrine and Covenants 4:

1. Faith – “Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21).
2. Hope – “what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise” (Moroni 7:41).
3. Charity (and love) – “Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him” (Moroni 7:47).
4. An eye single to the glory of God – “The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (3 Nephi 13:22).
5. Virtue – “blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (3 Nephi 12:8).
6. Knowledge – “They had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God” (Alma 17:2).
7. Temperance – “I would that ye should be…temperate in all things” (Alma 7:23, Alma 38:10).
8. Patience – “Go amongst thy brethren, … and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success” (Alma 26:27).
9. Brotherly kindness – “When Ammon and his brethren saw this great work of destruction, they were moved with compassion” (Alma 27:4).
10. Godliness – Angels show themselves to people “of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness” (Moroni 7:30).
11. Humility – “Humble yourselves even in the depths of humility” (Mosiah 4:11; see also 2 Nephi 9:42, Mosiah 21:14, Helaman 6:5, 3 Nephi 12:2).
12. Diligence – “Let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God” (Moroni 9:6).

Today, I will strive to develop the attributes of an effective servant of God. I will ask for His help, and I will remember that the attributes listed in this revelation will accrue to me naturally over time as I serve.