Great in the Sight of God

_____"Wherefore, the wicked are rejected from the righteous, and also from that tree of life, whose fruit is most precious and most desirable above all other fruits; yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (1 Nephi 15:36). When modern-day society looks at greatness, they view power, riches, position, sexual extremes, and many other secular desires that are not truly “great” at all. This worldly view of greatness is also summed up in Lehi’s vision of the tree of life; the “Great and Spacious” building symbolizing the pride of the world. Our Heavenly Father defines greatness as equivalent to keeping our sacrament covenants: namely, taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remembering Him, and keeping the commandments which He has given us. If we keep these three simple -yet powerful- covenants, then we have achieved greatness, always having the Holy Ghost to be with us.
_____To become great in the sight of God, we must take upon ourselves the name of Christ. We know that this occurs when someone is baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, not many completely understand what this “naming” means. In fact, taking upon ourselves the name of Christ means that we commit to representing Him in everything that we do. Mosiah even states that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17). This simple statement reveals that what we do in our everyday lives reflects the name of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. When we do good things, we represent Him well and others see His mercy and love towards mankind. When we do evil things, we disrespect His name and are hypocrites, possibly injuring the way others view the church. Although we are not perfect, when we truly take Christ’s name upon ourselves by representing Him well, we achieve greatness.
_____As well as taking upon ourselves the name of Christ, we must also remember Him constantly to become great. Always remembering Christ can have an extremely powerful impact on our lives. In fact, if we always remembered Christ, we would be perfect, never having any desire to sin. Speaking of the wicked, Helaman states “how slow are [the children of men] to remember the Lord their God” (Helaman 12:5). Every time we make a mistake in life, we have forgotten Christ, and have forsaken Him. At the same time, we can become great in his sight as long as we do remember Him and abstain from doing what is wrong.
_____Along with taking Christ’s name upon ourselves and always remembering Him, we must keep His commandments. The commandments represent being obedient to God’s will, doing what He has asked even if it is against our own selfish desires. Being obedient defines whether a member of the church is faithful or not. Keeping the commandments gives greater power to the Priesthood, causing great miracles to come to pass in the name of the Lord. Keeping the commandments is so important, that Nephi constantly stressed the point to his family. He even states that “the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7). This powerful statement by Nephi proves that we can become great and that keeping the commandments is entirely possible.
_____If we want to be great in God’s sight, we must keep our sacrament covenants. Doing so will invite the Holy Ghost and will give us strength to make an impact in the world.