"The Man of Christ"

[8ballrollin]

I had never read this conference address by NA Maxwell prior to this week. I’ve gone over it several times since my first reading. The title is in reference to Hel 3:29.

Has anyone else ever read it?

Here are a few interesting sections:

“Regarding events in the world, “the man of Christ” sees trends around him “about which it is difficult to speak, but impossible to remain silent.” Because he sees with “an eye of faith,” he knows more than he can tell; but he need not always be fully articulate, for real Christianity is contagious.”

And later…

“He is a realist and will not succumb to the narcotic of nostalgia, but will lean enrichingly into the present. He knows he cannot enjoy the quietude of one age and the technology of another; he will not, therefore, as some do, demand to have “the Victorian age, but with penicillin.”

As “the man of Christ” looks realistically at life in the Church, he sees and feels still other things.”

Finally…

“He accepts the reality that the curriculum of the Church may, at times, seem like an echo chamber, but he knows that just as the challenges of life repeat themselves, so must the Master’s teachings.

He marvels not, therefore, when customized challenges and temptations come his way—with soul-stretching experiences and individualized injections of irony: These may constitute “but a small moment” (D&C 121:7), but endured well, yield experience which shapes all eternity!”

(Neal A. Maxwell, “The Man of Christ,” Ensign, May 1975, 101)