The Lord Loves Effort
This week during my studies, I came across a teaching that showed me the importance of effort. This teaching is that the Lord loves effort. I read a story in Matthew 26:7-10 which reads:
7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.
10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
In these scriptures, we read the story of the woman who pours precious ointment onto Christ's head. While she did this, the people watching wondered why she wasted all that ointment and criticized her. Hearing this, Christ asked why they were questioning the woman's actions because she did good work unto Him.
This story shows us that while the people around us don't recognize our efforts, the Lord does. All the Lord asks us to do is to do our best and put in as much effort as we can. This truth is apparent as we look at all the teachings of modern-day prophets and apostles that the Lord uses to share modern revelation with us. Recently our Prophet President Russell M. Nelson gave us some advice when it comes to our level of worship and what worship looks like for us individually. His advice was simple, "The Lord Loves Effort". This simple phrase teaches us that the Lord has no precise numerical figure that represents that perfect disciple. The Lord doesn't count every one of our prayers, making sure we bless every piece of food we eat. The only thing that the Lord asks of us is to try our best and if it's not enough He will make up the rest.
I know that Christ suffered for sins and provided us with a way to make it back to our Father in Heaven. He doesn't expect perfection and neither does our Father in Heaven. They only want us to show them how much we love them and try our best. It doesn't matter what the world thinks or what they say about the effort that you put in. Just know that Christ and Heavenly Father love every bit of effort that you put in. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.