Pillars and Rays – June 2, 2024

Photo by Wren Meinberg on Unsplash

By Elder Alexander Dushku Of the Seventy

My message is for those who worry about their testimony because they haven’t had overwhelming spiritual experiences. I pray that I can provide some peace and assurance.

The Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ began with an explosion of light and truth! A teenage boy in upstate New York, with the very ordinary name of Joseph Smith, enters a grove of trees to pray. He’s worried about his soul and his standing before God. He seeks forgiveness for his sins. And he’s confused about which church to join. He needs clarity and peace—he needs light and knowledge.1

We … have our own desperate needs. We too need freedom from spiritual confusion and worldly darkness. We too need to know for ourselves.5 That is one reason President Russell M. Nelson has invited us to “immerse [ourselves] in the glorious light of the Restoration.”6

One of the great truths of the Restoration is that the heavens are open—that we too can receive light and knowledge from on high. I testify that is true.

But we must be wary of a spiritual trap. Sometimes faithful Church members become discouraged and even drift away because they haven’t had overwhelming spiritual experiences—because they haven’t experienced their own pillar of light. President Spencer W. Kimball warned, “Always expecting the spectacular, many will miss entirely the constant flow of revealed communication.”7

President Joseph F. Smith likewise recalled, “The Lord withheld marvels from me [when I was young], and showed me the truth, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.”8

That is the Lord’s typical pattern, brothers and sisters. Rather than sending us a pillar of light, the Lord sends us a ray of light, and then another, and another.

Those rays of light are continuously being poured down upon us. The scriptures teach that Jesus Christ “is the light and … life of the world,”9 that His “Spirit giveth light to every man [and woman] that cometh into the world,”10 and that His light “fill[s] the immensity of space,” giving “life to all things.”11 The Light of Christ is literally all around us.

If we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost and are striving to exercise faith, repent, and honor our covenants, then we are worthy to receive these divine rays constantly. In Elder David A. Bednar’s memorable phrase, “we are ‘living in revelation.’”12

And yet, every one of us is different. No two people experience God’s light and truth in exactly the same way. Take some time to think about how you experience the light and Spirit of the Lord.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/15dushku?lang=eng


Sacrament Meeting Program

Presiding: Bishop St. Felix
Conducting: Brother Riker

Opening Hymn: #100 – Nearer, My God, to Thee
Invocation: By Invitation

Sacrament Hymn: CS 71 – To Think about Jesus

Bearing of Testimonies

Closing Hymn: #1003 – It Is Well with My Soul
Benediction: By Invitation

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