Nearness to Jesus, The Divine Law of Persuasion, How To Approach Each Day

The Disciple-Leader Newsletter #58

Jul 13, 2024

Discipleship

“There will be three effects of nearness to Jesus: 1) Humility 2) Happiness 3) Holiness.”1
Charles Spurgeon

It can be hard to gauge just how near or far you are from God. Spurgeon here gives a good measuring stick. Let’s talk about them.

Humility

When Jesus visited His followers in ancient America, The Book of Mormon records the ensuing encounters:

“The whole multitude fell to the earth.”2
“The multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was He … (and they) did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.”3
Nephi “bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet.”4

In modern times, apostle Orson F. Whitney had a similar experience. He wrote about a dream in which He saw the Savior. He recorded, “(I) ran out from behind the tree, fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him.”5

Consider how Joseph Smith felt about Jesus, “When we reflect upon the holiness and perfections of our great Master, who has opened a way whereby we may come unto him, even by the sacrifice of himself, our hearts melt within us for his condescension.”6

Does your heart melt when you think of Jesus? Does the very thought of Him make you want to bow down in worship and wonder? Are the affections of your heart placed upon Him?7

Everyone thinks humility has to do with how and what you think about yourself. In reality, however, humility has little to do with how you view yourself but everything to do with how you view God.

Happiness

The nearer you get to Jesus, the happier you’ll become.

One of the clearest examples of this is from the Book of Mormon. Lamoni’s father, the King of the Lamanites. He was the King. He had money, power, prestige. He had all this world had to offer.

Yet, something was missing.

His life changed when he met messengers of God. They taught Him truth and he felt God’s power. After experiencing the fruit of the spirit,8 something drastic changed in him. He asked the messengers, “What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.”9

The King had learned a lesson—from hard experience—that most struggle to grasp their whole lives. You can gain the world, and never find happiness.10

The great actor Matthew Perry articulated what the King must’ve felt before finding God. In his autobiography, he wrote:

“I found myself getting to my knees, closing my eyes and praying. I had never done this before. ‘God, you can do whatever you want with me, just please make me famous.’ Three weeks later I got cast in ‘Friends,’ and God has certainly kept his side of the bargain—but the Almighty, being the Almighty, had not forgotten the first part of that prayer as well. Now, all these years later, I’m certain that I got famous so I would not waste my entire life trying to get famous. You have to get famous to know that it’s not the answer.”
“I couldn’t believe what I was about to say, but I said it. I said, ‘You know what, Craig? It doesn’t do what we all thought it would. It doesn’t fix anything.’ (What a sobering thought for a 26-year-old who had only ever wanted fame and had only just realized that fame hadn’t filled the holes at all. No, what had filled the holes was vodka.) Craig stared at me; I don’t think he believed me—I still don’t think he believes me. I think you actually have to have all your dreams come true to realize they’re the wrong dreams.”11

Will Smith talked about the same idea. He said, “The material world is utterly incapable of providing lasting happiness. You have to get to the ends of the things and still be miserable to realize it. People talk about rock bottom. There’s a corresponding place called cliff top, where you wear out everything in the material world. It is an absolute abyss when you realize that there’s nothing else in this world to reach for to make you happy.”12

You’ll never find genuine, authentic, and deep happiness from anything in this world. That only comes from drawing nearer to Christ.

Holiness

The nearer you get to Jesus, the holier you become. The Holy Ghost has a sanctifying effect on those who draw near. You become markedly different, vibrant, full of life, and whole.

You become like Jesus.

“How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing . . . it is irresistible.”13

Leadership

“Peacemakers are not passive; they are persuasive in the Savior’s way.”14
Neil L. Anderson

What does it mean to be persuasive in the Savior’s way?

The Lord revealed, “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

“By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—

“Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy.”15

Jesus—the most powerful and influential Being to ever walk the earth—here gives His principles of power and influence. His guide to persuasion.

Persuade with long-suffering (or patience)
Persuade with gentleness and meekness
Persuade with genuine love
Persuade with kindness
Persuade with pure knowledge, without hypocrisy or deceitful tactics

This is how the most persuasive Being in the universe does it. This is how He goes about changing hearts and minds.

One of the most frequent, yet misguided patterns of behavior that individuals and even world leaders engage in is to try to persuade in ways antithetical to Christ’s way. There are divine laws that govern the power of persuasion. Attempting to persuade or influence in any way other than God’s does not work. It never will. It violates divine law. You can compel momentary and fleeting changes in behavior through fear, force, and anger. But you can’t change hearts and minds that way.

Love is the Lord’s way of persuasion. Love is what people respond to. If you want to persuade, you have to show love.

Mental Performance

“I’d treat every practice, every day like it was the Super Bowl.”
Tom Brady

Tom Brady’s daily mission and purpose were clearly defined: become the best quarterback he could be. Every day he woke up on fire with purpose. He treated every practice, every game, every day like it was the Super Bowl.

Is your personal mission and purpose clearly defined? Is it something you pursue daily? Do you even think about it daily? Weekly? What if you approached your mission and purpose with the same clarity, intensity, and passion as Tom Brady pursued his? What if you treated each day like it was the Super Bowl?

Do you have that level of regard for your mission? Do you feel that convicted by your purpose?

If not, change. Treat your days with the value they deserve. Treat your purpose with the reverence it deserves (which is certainly a higher purpose than playing football).

Or are you going to let someone take the game of football more seriously than you take your purpose?

Have some self-respect.

Morning and Evening Devotional. May 12th entry. Charles Spurgeon.

3 Nephi 11:12

3 Nephi 11:14-15

3 Nephi 11:19

The Divinity of Jesus Christ by Orson F. Whitney

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg. 54