By David Armstrong

President Russell M. Nelson has said to the youth of the Church, “My dear extraordinary youth, you were sent to earth at this precise time, the most crucial time in the history of the world, to help gather Israel. There is nothing happening on this earth right now that is more important than that. There is nothing of greater consequence. Absolutely nothing. This gathering should mean everything to you. This is the mission for which you were sent to earth” (“Hope of Israel”).

This message applies not just to the youth, but to every person who has found the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, has repented, and has accepted the ordinances of salvation. Sharing the gospel of Christ is not a hobby or a pastime we can pick up and put down whenever we feel like it. It is an imperative duty.

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“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die, and it shall be well with us,” the prophet Nephi warned that many would say in the latter days (2 Nephi 28:7). The philosophy goes that you should enjoy yourself and satisfy your appetites because life is short. And some would add that “you can always repent.” Others focus on contemporary definitions of success and chase whatever promises the most cash the fastest.

By contrast, Jesus taught, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:19–20). In other words, make an investment of your time and energy in those things that will secure you a place with Him.

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Some critics of Jesus Christ’s gospel see it as nothing more than a set of commandments, and the commandments as nothing more than a set of restrictions. Such a view severely limits the scope of the blessings that the Redeemer offers us through His gospel. The plan of salvation is about more than not doing bad things. It’s even about more than being forgiven of those bad things we do.

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I’m convinced that one of the reasons that Heavenly Father organized the pattern of human life the way He did—that is, in families—is to give us His perspective on His dealings with us.

One example is when I tell my kids that they’d be better off listening to their parents and doing things the way we teach them instead of doing it their own way. Of course, sometimes they learn by doing it their own way … that their way isn’t the best way to do it. That there’s a better way that doesn’t involve frustration and tears. We are often so willing to help, but they shortsightedly refuse.

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Several months ago, I was at a point where I felt keenly my flaws. While in church on a particular Sunday during that time, I spoke in front of the congregation, and I said that the older I get, the more I realize that I need Jesus Christ.

In my notes among my list of possible concepts for parables for this website, I had an item about not being able to cleanse myself, that I must be cleansed by Him. However, as I gave that some thought, my mind went back to the Parable of the Silver Pitcher and an element of the story that I glossed over the last time I gave some interpretation of that parable.

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