"True Disciple"

Early in his talk, "Pure Love: The True Sign of Every True Disciple of Jesus Christ," Elder Massimo De Feo of the Seventy listed several traits of what he called "true disciples."

True disciples love to serve.

True disciples love to forgive.

True disciples are quick to forgive and quick to ask for forgiveness.

True disciples love to submit themselves to the Lord with peace in their heart.

True disciples know that the real blessings are not always what they want but rather what the Lord wants for them.

True disciples love the Lord more than the world and are steadfast and immovable in their faith.

True disciples love to listen to the voice of the Spirit and of the prophets and are not confused by the voices of the world.

True disciples love to “stand in holy places” and love to make holy the places where they stand.

True disciples love to obey the Lord’s commandments, and they obey because they love the Lord.

And these are only the traits he listed that began with the words "True disciples." There were several other qualifications that started with "They" or referred to "them," but for the sake of brevity, I left them out. I think that even just these nine qualifications are enough to disqualify almost all of us from being "true disciples."

I serve, but I don't love to serve, except when I'm serving certain people. I don't love to forgive, not that I have to do it often. I don't know if I forgive quickly, but I know that I'm slow to ask God for forgiveness. I definitely don't love to submit myself to the Lord. I know that the real blessings are the ones the Lord wants for me, but that doesn't mean they're the ones I want. I can't say whether I love the Lord more than the world, but I have not been steadfast, and I don't feel immovable. I love to listen to the voice of the Spirit, when I can hear it, but I am often confused by the voices of the world. I love to stand in holy places, but I haven't made my home one. And I don't love to obey the Lord's commandments; when I obey (if I obey), I do it because I "should" or "have to."

So, there we have it. Nine qualifications, and I only half-qualify for three of them. I am not a "true disciple." With those qualifications, I'd be surprised if many of you are. Discipleship is, apparently, a rather high bar, and only a relatively few people measure up.

But that doesn't mean that we ought to give up. Just like perfection, discipleship is, by this set of qualifications, a more long-term goal than a shot-term goal. It's something to work toward, one step at a time. Any of these nine qualifications would make good starting points. Maybe I ought to pick one and start working on it. I'll choose one that I really struggle with, which is probably all of them, except the three I half-qualify for. Nine minus three leaves six. I'll roll a (digital) six-sided die, and work on whichever qualification the die (or fate, or God) picks.

The die rolled a five. "True disciples love the Lord more than the world and are steadfast and immovable in their faith." Okay. Not the worst result the die could have given me. I'll have to figure out what all is included in "the world" and what it means to love the Lord more than it. "Steadfast" and "immovable" seem pretty straightforward, though I may need to check a dictionary to brush up on the exact definition of "steadfast." All in all, it's not a bad goal.

I am not what Elder De Feo would call a "True disciple," but as of right now, I'm working on it.