a Missionary Morsel

a Missionary Morsel

1 Corinthians 9

Paul was an apostle. Because of this calling in the church, and his pure devotion to the Savior, Paul was a missionary.  In1 Corinthians 9:22, Paul wrote (in the second half):

“…I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Paul, being the dedicated disciple that he was, did whatever he could to turn the hearts of men to Christ. Verses 20-22 talk about how when he was with certain groups of people, Paul would find ways to relate to them.

In verse 20, it was the Jewish people:

“And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law”

In verse 21, it was those without the law, and in verse 22, it was the weak.

Have you ever had salesmen come to your door and promote their product? I have. And I think there are a few different types.

The first one: the pushy, rude, only-cares-about-commission type. Usually he comes to the door with a vacuum or a set of scripture movies. Sometimes he comes with some supplement that will cure anything you got! When I was pregnant-sick with our first child, this salesman showed up to our door. I could barely stand, let alone listen to his never-ending pitch. I ended up collapsing in my doorway while listening to him. Did he stop his speech? Nope! He took the opportunity to push his shakes and explaining that that wouldn’t happen if I took his overpriced cure-all. Did he sell me any shakes that day? No. Why? He didn’t care about me; he didn’t care about my life or my problems. He just wanted me to write a check so that he could get busy finding the next schmuck to listen.

Then there is a second kind of salesman: the one who really, genuinely feels for my situation and my family. These sure seem to be rare! They usually don’t have some amazing new product, maybe not even something tangible at all. The best example for this: a missionary. All though this isn’t the typical sales job, they do work hard to share the Lord’s gospel in hopes that people will “buy it,” (decide to seek for an answer that it is indeed the truth.) This type of salesmen is successful because they love and care about their investigators. They look to find their needs and follow the Spirit in teaching.

What Paul shows us in 1 Corinthians 9, is that we need to be the second type of salesmen missionaries.  We need to care enough about the people that we are preaching to, to make sure we know their needs and their hesitations. How can you connect with someone on a spiritual level, if you don’t know where that person is coming from spiritually?

Elder Bruce R. McConkie expounded a little on the way that Paul handled his missionary responsibility: “Paul here says he made himself all things to all men in an effort to get them to accept the gospel message; that is, he adapted himself to the conditions and circumstances of all classes of people, as a means of getting them to pay attention to his teachings and testimony. And then, lest any suppose this included the acceptance of their false doctrines or practices, or that it in any way involved a compromise between the gospel and false systems of worship, he hastened to add that he and all men must obey the gospel law to be saved”

Paul displayed in his own words and example, that because we have been blessed with the knowledge of the Lord’s gospel, we have a very real obligation to share that knowledge. To be effective at this, we need to do more than casual discussions about it. We need to do everything in our power to turn our brothers and sisters to Christ. We need to be able to relate to them as real people, with real problems and questions. We need to find ways to communicate with them despite their challenges or shortcomings.

I have this friend that I want to accept the gospel. We have done missionary discussions with him, he has watched conference with my family, he has even regularly attended church in the singles ward in our stake. He started reading the Book of Mormon even before I gave him one. I believe that he is what is called “the golden investigator.” However, after all of his effort and logical thinking, this friend is still unsure and denies the opportunity of Baptism. It has been hard and kind of frustrating- but mostly just sad. After reading this lesson, I know that I am lacking in my teaching. I know that I need to meet this friend where he is at, not where I want him to be.  I will not deny or belittle what I know to be true, but I need to understand the beliefs of this friend before I can help him connect with the Savior.

Because I know what I know, I have work to do; and my friends deserve for me to do the best I can.