Let Him Know

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood Session of the April 1990 Conference.

Sometimes I tune out a bit when I read a talk about choosing friends, since I feel like I'm past the stage of life where I'm really finding friends or worrying about peer pressure or whatever. (Maybe it's because I already have such good friends, I feel like I couldn't possibly be lucky enough to make any more. I know that's shortsighted, though—the friends I have made as an adult are just as precious to me as the ones I found in childhood, so I would never want to close myself to the possibility!) But I was struck by this passage from Elder Malcolm S. Jeppson:

Above all, be a friend of the Savior. You, my young men, are the honored holders of a royal priesthood. If you have not done so previously, now is the time to let him know you consider him your true friend and that you will be a true friend of his.

I keep thinking about the part that says "now is the time to let him know you consider him your true friend." It's just so personal. How would I let the Savior know that? In his actions, He's obviously already been a friend to me, through all eternity. But to tell Him I love and value that friendship, and that I intend to return it—the way Elder Jeppson says it here, it sounds less formal than covenant-making. He didn't say "let him know by being baptized" or "let him know by joining the church." He acted like it was something you should do on your own, individually, directly to the Savior. It's a new thought to me that the Savior might want to hear that from me.

It makes me think of the part in Doctrine and Covenants 84 that I've always loved, where Jesus says he will call His servants "friends." I have a great longing to have that be my relationship with Him too! I'm content with "servant." I'd be honored to be merely that. But friend! I know He's mine, but it would be amazing to be HIS as well.

Other posts in this series:

Expound Scriptures with Bedrock Understanding—by Jan Tolman