Enduring To The End

What does it mean to endure to the end? Sometimes people regard salvation as a balance scale where the good you’ve done is measured, and they wonder why it matters if there’s just a short period at the end of a person’s life when a person is not valiant in his testimony. They may look at another’s life and say, “Look at all the good this person has done in his life.” But the reason we must remain valiant to the end of our lives is because it is who and what we’ve become by the end of our lives that’s important. Remaining faithful qualifies us for eternal life. Sometimes people think enduring to the end means hanging on, trying not to do anything wrong until the end of their lives. However enduring to the end is an active quality. It means to keep going with faith in Jesus Christ, obedience, repentance, and keeping the commandments. It includes service to God and to others. We need to be where we should be, when we should be, doing what we should be doing, and doing it with a good attitude. To endure to the end our heart must be in it; we must experience the mighty change of heart through faith in Jesus Christ. We must love the Lord and his work and our fellow men. We are to “endure to the end in following the example of the Son of the living God” (2 Nephi 31:16). “Wherefore, [we] must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if [we] shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:1920). I don’t believe I’d ever thought before of enduring to the end in relation to our callings. In our callings including missionary work, it means to keep serving with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength, to not be discouraged, and to rely on the Lord. In DC 123:17 we read, “Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.” Elder Uchtdorf in last May’s general conference said, “Brothers and sisters, we have to stay with it. We don’t acquire eternal life in a sprint – this is a race of endurance. We have to apply and reapply the divine gospel principles.” It is not enough just to have a testimony of the gospel, we must “nourish it with great care, that it may get root.” Then “we can partake of the fruit that is ‘sweet above all that is sweet, and . . . pure above all that is pure’ and ‘feast upon this fruit.’” According to Elder Uchtdorf, enduring to the end begins where we are today. I like Elder Uchtdorf’s idea that we don’t have to prequalify to take this first step. We just need to now “embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, become his disciples, and walk in His way.” “Come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved” (Omni 1:26).