3 Nephi 26-27

(December 6, 2014)

                The name of the Church seems like such a common-sense thing to us in our day, but it is amazing that so many people don’t see it.  There are Catholics, who choose their name based upon the universal applicability of their church.  There are Baptists, who focus on a particular practice.  There are Seventh-Day Adventist, who focus on a particular commandment.  There are Jehovah’s Witnesses, who focus on a particular piece of doctrine.

                All of these things are good – to the extent that they demonstrate a desire to separate truth from error – but they are ‘a’ good rather than ‘the’ good.  The Church, focused on anything other than Christ, cannot accomplish its purpose.  In the very same way, in our lives as disciples of Christ if we find ourselves focused on any particular trait or virtue (good though it may be), and lose sight of the fact that we are disciples of Christ first and foremost, then we become a Church by a different name.