Ephesians 4:11-14

On Christmas Day 2011, Elder Bednar spoke in the MTC about the character of Christ. I'm pretty sure that his talk has been shown to every single set of missionaries who has entered the MTC since then. It's the one where he compares the "natural man" to Cookie Monster ("I want cookie now! I want baptism now! I want marriage now!")

One of the things he shared in this talk is a technique he uses for studying the Book of Mormon and getting answers to his questions of the soul. He gets a paperback copy of the Book of Mormon and writes his question on the front or the sides of the book. And then he reads the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, looking for answers to his question. When he is finished, he writes a one-page summary of what he has learned. During the mission, our mission president challenged us to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, looking for every single example of the Atonement (i.e. a time when the Atonement of Jesus Christ enabled a person to do or become something that he or she could not have done or become on their own). As Elder Bednar promised, it changed my life.

The day that I flew home to New Mexico, I started a new copy with a second question: how to prepare for eternal family relationships. While reading about the Plan of Salvation in 2 Nephi, I was given guidance regarding how to work through challenges in courtship. Six months into the challenge, Bryan proposed to me and I joyfully said yes. As Elder Bednar promised, studying the Book of Mormon for an answer to a specific question of the soul changed my life.

On June 21, I started a new copy with my third question: how to spend time wisely. I have received little packets of inspiration that have guided me in deciding how to spend my time. Some of these packets of inspiration have been surprising: one morning, I was shown that I needed to pause my scripture study and go spend time with my husband.

Yesterday I was reading 2 Nephi 25:1, which says that a lot of people find it hard to understand the writings of Isaiah because they "know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews." At first, I wanted to be very smug and think things like, "Oh, well, I'm squared away, since I know about God's pattern of working and teaching through prophets." And then I remembered that complacency equals pride and so I decided to refresh my testimony and understanding of prophets by going to Chapter 3, Lesson 1 of Preach My Gospel.

One of the scripture references took me to Ephesians 4:11-14. I like this verse because it explains the WHY of calling apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. I also like it because it declares how long God will use this pattern. Here is what Paul said:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every windo of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive

Why do we need apostles, prophets, and all the other offices of the priesthood? The answer, for me, likes in verses 12 and 14: for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up and strengthening of the whole church, so that we know the pure doctrine of Christ.

When will God stop calling apostles and prophets? The missionaries who taught me pointed out that verse 13 suggests that God will only stop giving us apostles and prophets when we have a unity of the  faith and knowledge of the Son of God and when we have realized perfection. That hasn't happened yet!

I know that these verses don't "prove" anything, but it was a very tender mercy for God to lead me to them and allow me to remember my own spiritual journey.