Be One
December 15, 2024
In the October 2024 Leadership Instruction, President Eyring spoke of being one in the Lord. He said that the power of unity multiplies our efforts as we serve in the Church. He promised, “When we are unified with one another in service, we cannot help but become increasingly unified with our Savior.”
In D&C 38:27: “Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.” I want the Lord to claim me as His, so I desire to be one.
In 1842, Joseph Smith said to the Relief Society in Nauvoo: ““It grieves me that there is no fuller fellowship—if one member suffer all feel it—by union of feeling we obtain pow’r with God.”
In a talk in 2020, Sister Sharon Eubank said, “That small sentence struck me like lightning. By union of feeling we obtain power with God. This world isn’t what I want it to be. There are many things I want to influence and make better. And frankly, there is a lot of opposition to what I hope for, and sometimes I feel powerless. Lately, I have been asking myself searching questions: How can I understand people around me better? How will I create that “union of feeling” when all are so different? What power from God might I access if I am just a little bit more unified with others?”
Elder Christofferson gave a talk in April 2023 conference called One in Christ. He said, “Where God prevails in all hearts and minds, the people are described as “in one, the children of Christ.”
How is this even possible? We have different personalities, viewpoints, cultures, backgrounds, talents, professions, interests....the world around us is contentious. How can we be one and what does this mean?
Elder Christofferson said, “We are too diverse and at times too discordant to be able to come together as one on any other basis or under any other name. Only in Jesus Christ can we truly become one. Becoming one in Christ happens one by one—we each begin with ourselves.”
President Marion G. Romney, a former counselor in the First Presidency, in explaining how enduring peace and unity are obtained, said:
“If a single person, yielding to Satan, is filled with the works of the flesh, he wars within himself. If two yield, they each war within themselves and fight with each other. If many people yield, a society [reaps] the harvest of great stress and contention. If the rulers of a country yield, there is world-wide contention.”
President Romney continued: “As the works of the flesh have universal application, so likewise does the gospel of peace. If one man lives it, he has peace within himself. If two men live it, they each have peace within themselves and with each other. If the citizens live it, the nation has domestic peace. When there are enough nations enjoying the fruit of the Spirit to control world affairs, then, and only then, will the war-drums throb no longer, and the battle flags be furl’d. … (See Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Locksley Hall,” The Complete Poetical Works of Tennyson, ed. W. J. Rolfe, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1898, p. 93, lines 27–28.)”
“We cannot be one unless we all bend our efforts to the common cause.” -Elder Christofferson
“Unity does not require sameness, but it does require harmony. We can have our hearts knit together in love, be one in faith and doctrine, and still cheer for different teams, disagree on various political issues, debate about goals and the right way to achieve them, and many other such things. But we can never disagree or contend with anger or contempt for one another.”
I saw unity and harmony last weekend as my ward held a ward party. The ward mission leaders and ward missionaries worked with ward members to deliver flyers to every home in the ward. The committee who organized the party worked together to plan the dinner, the program, and to coordinate everything. The Elders Quorum helped set up and clean up tables and chairs and serve the food. Members of the Relief Society helped cook the food and served in the kitchen. The Primary sang. The young women decorated. The Relief Society had previously met to assemble bags for the homeless as a service project, and all ward members were invited to take some to distribute. These were all individuals with distinct personalities and opinions, but they came together to create a wonderful activity and to welcome friends and neighbors.
Another time that I felt unity was on a September 11 Day of Service a few years ago. President Carlson organized a service project for members of Hunter South Stake to help do yard work and other work for a nearby Buddhist temple. As we worked side by side with these friends of another faith and felt their love, generosity, and gratitude, I felt a union of feeling...a unity and love for them.
As we unite in temple and family history work, in ministering, in missionary work, in service projects, we hopefully feel and experience this sense of unity of purpose and unity of vision.
This summer I had an experience that was life changing for me. For years I have dreamed of going on a safari in Africa. This summer I was able to go. We spent 3 weeks traveling through Kenya and Uganda and went gorilla tracking, chimpanzee tracking, and went on safaris in 4 national parks. It was amazing. But my favorite part of our trip was a couple of days we spent at an orphanage in Uganda. The orphanage is run by a charitable organization and has church support. Active, endowed, married couples who are willing to raise orphans come and live in a village in Uganda. They are given a job in the village and a home to live in, and then they raise their own biological children as well as 8-14 orphans. It was remarkable to witness the community working together and the way they assist and love one another! Everyone in the village is united in caring for these orphans. They all work together to grow crops, raise livestock, teach the children, cook, clean and teach the children. Each person has specific responsibilities and each child is raised in a family...but I saw them care for each other’s children, reach out in love to one another, and bear one another’s burdens. I heard them bear testimony of how the gospel has blessed their lives and I felt their shared love for the Savior and united witness of the gospel’s truth. It was incredible to witness. I am certain that these Saints are imperfect and I there may be moments of tension or misunderstanding, but what I saw was faithful men and women using their unique gifts and talents to love and serve one another and to raise children in love and righteousness.
How do we do it? How can we increase unity?
First, President Eyring said, “Unity comes when faith in Jesus Christ and the love of God replace self-interest.”
Elder Christofferson said, “Then he explained, “If individually we each “put on Christ,” then together we can hope to become one, as Paul said, “the body of Christ.”14 To “put on Christ” certainly includes making His “first and great commandment”15 our first and greatest commitment, and if we love God, we will keep His commandments.16
Unity with our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ grows as we heed the second commandment—inextricably connected to the first—to love others as ourselves.17 And I suppose an even more perfect unity would obtain among us if we followed the Savior’s higher and holier expression of this second commandment—to love one another not only as we love ourselves but as He loved us.18 In sum, it is “every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.”
Faith in Christ and keeping the first and second great commandments are necessary for us to have charity and I believe charity is a necessary component of unity. Christ loves our fellow-men and he can help us to gain love for them as well, and our unity increases when we love one another. One of my favorite verses of scripture is Moroni 7:48 which says: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.” If we will pray to love one another with “all the energy of heart”, we are promised that we will be filled with this love. Being filled with charity, will help us with the second thing we can do to build unity.
Second, we can forgive one another and be merciful. We must forgive any wrongs we have suffered if we want to have unity.
On that same day in 1842 that I mentioned above, Joseph Smith said, ““… The nearer we get to our heavenly Father, the more are we dispos’d to look with compassion on perishing souls—[we feel that we want] to take them upon our shoulders and cast their sins behind our back. [My talk is intended for] all this Society—if you would have God have mercy on you, have mercy on one another.”2
Third, we can work together to build the kingdom of God. I shared already some of the times when I have felt unity. That feeling of unity most often comes for me when I am shoulder to shoulder with others, serving. As we participate in service projects, as we serve and worship in the temple, as we share the gospel with friends, as we join with our family in loving our neighbors, as we serve in councils in the Church, as we unite to gather Israel, our unity will increase. When we are engaged in the Lord’s work, it is easier to feel unified. Sister Eubank compares this to rowing. In rowing, when every person on the the team is completely in sync, they attain swing. Sister Eubank quotes The Boys in the Boat, “Rowers must rein in their fierce independence and at the same time hold true to their individual capabilities. Races are not won by clones. Good crews are good blends—someone to lead the charge, someone to hold something in reserve, someone to fight the fight, someone to make peace. No rower is more valuable than another, all are assets to the boat, but if they are to row well together, each must adjust to the needs and capabilities of the others—the shorter-armed person reaching a little farther, the longer-armed person pulling in just a bit.
Differences can be turned to advantage instead of disadvantage. Only then will it feel as if the boat is moving on its own. Only then does pain entirely give way to exultation. Good “swing” feels like poetry.”
Finally, Sister Eubank says that we can clear away the bad as fast as the good can grow. In Jacob 5, we read the allegory of the olive tree. In that allegory, the servant is told: “Ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow.”
When something happens that hurts or offends us, we can clear away the bad as fast as the good can grow. Sister Eubank says, “Unity doesn’t magically happen; it takes work. It’s messy, sometimes uncomfortable, and happens gradually when we clear away the bad as fast as the good can grow.” The Savior can help us. He understands our pain and disappointment when we are hurt or disappointed by the actions of others. He reaches our reaching. And He extends mercy to us when we hurt or disappoint others. Let us extend that same mercy and clear away the bad as fast as the good will grow.
As President Eyring promised, As we increase our unity with one another, we increase our unity with the Savior. We will experience increased power and peace, joy and love.
