I had all the teenagers choose a random kids toy from a table as they walked into my church class.
At first, I seemed very popular as everyone got excited that they could play with a children’s toy during this lesson.
However, I quickly lost my popularity when I told them they had one minute to think up an analogy for how the toy they were playing with somehow represented Jesus Christ.
Despite their groans, the youth did a fantastic job!
They giggled about stretchy toys that reminded them to “spread the gospel”.
They shared drawing boards that allowed them to erase their mistakes.
They modeled how a play abacus reminded them to “count their blessings.”
We then talked about how Jesus is the root of everything.
Jesus is everywhere and everything.
We can make silly analogies about Him with toys…
But much more importantly, He is the reason for everything we have in this church.
“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ. . . .” (2 Nephi 25:26)
Do we mistakenly attend the temple, go to sacrament meeting, or even perform missionary service while losing focus of the true goal of becoming like Jesus?
Jesus is the reason for everything we do.
Everything!
We worship our Savior in His holy house, we partake of His sacrament to renew covenants, and we bring other people to the remembrance of their loving Savior.
So let’s do better at talking of Christ.
Rejoicing in Christ.
Preaching of Christ.
The more we can do this, the more we can be reminded that Jesus is at the center of our lives!
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black