Sabbath Devotional :: Faith to Move Mountains

In President Nelson’s last conference talk, he said:

“My dear brothers and sisters, my call to you this Easter morning is to start today to increase your faith. Through your faith, Jesus Christ will increase your ability to move the mountains in your life, even though your personal challenges may loom as large as Mount Everest.

“Your mountains may be loneliness, doubt, illness, or other personal problems. Your mountains will vary, and yet the answer to each of your challenges is to increase your faith. That takes work. Lazy learners and lax disciples will always struggle to muster even a particle of faith.

“To do anything well requires effort. Becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ is no exception. Increasing your faith and trust in Him takes effort.”

Whenever I hear about having faith to move mountains, I think of a display that used to be at the visitors center at Temple Square. The display explained how the temple was built. It explained the process of pulling huge granite stones that were sloughed off the sides of the mountains and hauling them 20 miles to the temple site. The title of the display was “Faith to Move Mountains.”

Before seeing that display, I imagined having faith to move mountains meant that the mountain literally picks up and moves, like magic. However, the pioneers exercised exceedingly great faith when they worked hard for 40 years!! to move a mountain to build a temple. It was tedious. It was labor-intensive. It took a long time. But it was a miracle.

This applies in my personal life and also in our work at MWEG. Mountains will move. But it will take a generation of hard work. We need enduring faith to keep working and building and hoping, holding on to a vision for a brighter future and relying on Christ.