Day of unity
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With increased unity, the Lord will be able to perform what the world will deem miraculous. Indeed, Church members can accomplish any purpose of the Lord when fully united in righteousness.
That was the message President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, shared Sunday morning.
With so much conflict in today's world, divisions and difference could infect Church members. But the Church leader said there is hope because a great day of unity is coming.
"The Lord, Jehovah, will return to live with those who have become His people and will find them united, of one heart, unified with Him and with our Heavenly Father."
Unity is found among the members, he added. Fathers and mothers are pleading for unity in their homes — and those prayers are being answered. Families are praying together night and morning. Meanwhile, many members are finding unity through the service they share.
"You have seen evidence as I have that we are moving toward becoming one," President Eyring said. "The miracle of unity is being granted to us as we pray and work for it in the Lord's way. Our hearts will be knit together in unity. God has promised that blessing to His faithful Saints whatever their differences in background and whatever conflict rages around them.
"He was praying for us as well as His disciples when He asked: 'Father, that we might be one"' (John 17:21. Doctrine and Covenants 50:43; 93:3).
Joy comes when the Church is blessed with unity. "We yearn as spirit children of our Heavenly Father for that joy which we once had with Him in the life before this one. His desire is to grant us that sacred wish for unity out of love for us."
President Eyring said unity is given when the Lord's people gather together. He wants families to come together as one. He has established classes, wards and branches and commanded them to meet together often.
"In those gatherings, which God has designed for us, lies our great opportunity. We can pray and work for the unity that will bring us joy and multiply our power to serve."
The Book of Mormon teaches that unity is found in observing gospel principles and ordinances such as faith, repentance and baptism. The principle of revelation also leads to greater unity because it allows members to understand and follow the will of the Lord through the workings of the Holy Ghost.
The Church leader added that pride is "the great enemy of unity." He spoke of recently witnessing two people having a mild disagreement. Soon what started as a discussion of what was true became a contest about who was right. Voices became louder. Faces became a little more flushed.
"You would have felt alarm as I did," he said. "We have seen the life-destroying effects of such tragic disunity. You and I know people who left the fellowship of the Saints over injured pride. Happily, I have seen more and more skillful peacemakers who calm troubled waters before harm is done.
"You could be one of those peacemakers, whether you are in the conflict or an observer."
Peacemakers search for anything on which to agree, he added. The great peacemaker finds shared truth. "The truth they share is always greater and more important to them than their differences. You can help yourself and others to see that common ground if you ask for help from God and then act. He will answer your prayer to help restore peace, as He has mine."
That same principle applies as members build unity with others from vastly different backgrounds. God's children have more in common than differences; even the differences can present opportunities, he noted.
"God will help us see a difference in someone else not as a source of irritation but as a contribution," President Eyring said. "The Lord can help you see and value what the other person contributes which you lack. More than once, the Lord has helped me see His kindness in giving me association with someone whose difference from me was just the help I needed."
Another principle of unity, he added, is speaking well of each other. He cautioned members to be careful about judging others wrongly and with "an imperfect light." Harsh words can sow the seeds of disunity, he observed. "I can promise you a feeling of peace and joy when you speak generously of others in the light of Christ."
The Lord's unifying principles can bring people of different backgrounds together, he said.
"What will become more obvious to us is that the Atonement brings the same changes in us all," President Eyring said. "We become disciples who are meek, loving, easy to be entreated, and at the same time fearless and faithful in all things. We still live in different countries, but we come into the Church through a process that changes us.
"We become by the gifts of the Spirit what the Apostle Paul saw: 'For through him we both have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God' (Ephesians 2:18-19)."
