The Worth of Souls is Great in the Sight of God - ALL Souls

This week's "Come Follow Me" study covers Doctrine and Covenants 18-19. 

When I was a youth growing up in California, I attended Seminary at 6:30 a.m. every school day before going to class, as there was no time to go back home between seminary and school. Part of our program was memorizing especially impactful scriptures, called "Scripture Mastery." Many of you of course will have had similar experiences. I remember that I enjoyed memorizing these scriptures, and as a result, got to know them fairly well. Some scriptures have "stuck" better than others. This is one of them.

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10, 15-16 says:

10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

The Lord loves every one of us, equally. He doesn't qualify that his joy will be great if you bring a white soul unto him, or a soul of a man with great wealth or fame, or the soul of the most beautiful woman in the country unto him. He simply says, "save it be one soul unto me." 

When President Russell M. Nelson spoke in October 2020 General Conference he stated:

The gospel net to gather scattered Israel is expansive. There is room for each person who will fully embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each convert becomes one of God’s covenant children,¹⁵ whether by birth or by adoption. Each becomes a full heir to all that God has promised the faithful children of Israel!¹⁶

Each of us has a divine potential because each is a child of God. Each is equal in His eyes. The implications of this truth are profound. Brothers and sisters, please listen carefully to what I am about to say. God does not love one race more than another. His doctrine on this matter is clear. He invites all to come unto Him, “black and white, bond and free, male and female.”¹⁷

        "Let God Prevail," Russell M. Nelson, General Conference 2020

When the Savior came to earth to teach us how to be like him and return to Heavenly Father, he also took upon him the sins of the world so that through baptism and repentance, we could return to Him. After making such a great sacrifice for ALL mankind, of course the Savior would want us to do all we could to follow the path he had created for us.

In Doctrine and Covenants 19:16-19, another piece of "Scripture Mastery" that we memorized as youth in seminary, it says:

16 For behold, I, God, have ^asuffered these things for all, that they ^bmight not suffer if they would ^crepent;

17 But if they would not repent they must ^asuffer even as I;

18 Which ^asuffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might ^bnot drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

19 Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and ^afinished my preparations unto the children of men.

I want to emphasize these words, that "I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent." He has given us the path and the key, and he did this at great sacrifice and with great love "for all." For every single one of us. 

I'm so grateful for our Savior, the shepherd, that humbly walked on earth among us to teach us and to guide us, and that, even now, looks for every one of his lost sheep, and gathers us into his fold, no matter of far we've traveled, what mud we've dragged our wool through. He loves each of us, and his sacrifice was for every single one of us.