Feasting upon the Words of Christ

President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, recalls: “Some time ago in South America, a seasoned group of outstanding missionaries was asked, ‘What is the greatest need in the world?’ One wisely responded, ‘Is not the greatest need in all of the world for every person to have a personal, ongoing, daily, continuing relationship with Deity?’” President Faust observes that “having such a relationship can unchain the divinity within us, and nothing can make a greater difference in our lives as we come to know and understand our divine relationship with God and His Beloved Son” (“That We Might Know Thee, the Only True God, and Jesus Christ,” Liahona, February 1999, 2).

Our Relationship with Deity

In order to understand and strengthen our relationship with Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, we need to follow Nephi’s counsel: “Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Ne. 32:3). The words of Christ are found in the scriptures, in inspired messages of living prophets, and in the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. “All members [of the Church] need to generate an appetite for gospel sustenance,” counsels Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “We must ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’ [Matt. 5:6] before we can be filled” (“Feasting at the Lord’s Table,” Ensign, May 1996, 80).

Family Scripture Study

“Just as the best meals are home cooked,” Elder Ballard says, “the most nourishing gospel instruction takes place at home” (Ensign, May 1996, 81).

A sister in Sandy, Utah, tells of a time her son, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter stayed in her home. “Every evening before their little girl’s bedtime,” she recalls, “all three would disappear into their bedroom. One evening during their absence, they received a phone call. I went to their room and quietly opened the door. There on the bed were the three of them, each with a Book of Mormon. Mom and Dad would take turns reading and then talking to their two-year-old about what they had just read. The warm, sweet spirit that filled the room is difficult to put into words. By their example as parents, they were teaching their little daughter to feast on the words of Christ. I quietly closed the door and thanked my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have a peek at a bit of heaven on earth.”

Feasting Daily

Our relationship with Deity is something we need to work on constantly. President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) once observed: “I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, edited by Edward L. Kimball [1982], 135).

If we desire to know the Father and His Son, we must feast daily upon the words of Christ. As we do so, we can testify, with those who have gone before us, that we “have heard [His] voice, and know [His] words” (D&C 18:36).

Illustrated by Robert A. McKay