Elder Nash Tells BYU–Hawaii Graduates How to Focus on the Savior

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By Aimee Cobabe, Church News

Speaking at BYU–Hawaii’s fall commencement, Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and former executive director of the Missionary Department told graduates how to focus on Jesus Christ.

The commencement was held on Friday, December 13, at the Cannon Activities Center on BYU–Hawaii’s campus in Laie, Hawaii. Graduates were from 31 different countries, and 207 bachelor’s degrees were awarded.

“If you steadily focus on Jesus Christ, I promise you, you will succeed in everything that matters in time and eternity,” he said. “To focus on Christ means to look unto Him in every thought, and to do so with full confidence in Him, doubting not, fearing not.”

Church President Russell M. Nelson said an April 2017 general conference talk titled “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives”: “Our focus must be riveted on the Savior and His gospel. It is mentally rigorous to strive to look unto Him in every thought. But when we do, our doubts and fears flee.”

Elder Nash said he wholeheartedly agrees with President Nelson’s words, adding that the key to all that is good and fulfilling in his own life directly relates to the decision made long ago to focus on Christ and follow Him.

He shared three things that, if done consistently, will help one focus on Jesus Christ.

1. Seek to Obtain and Follow the Word of God

“Those who consistently study, feast upon and treasure up the word of God with focus on Christ will have access to a wellspring of divine direction and power,” Elder Nash said.

He also emphasized the importance of remembering to read the words of Christ in scripture as married couples and as a family. He said he recently asked one of his daughters whether she and her husband were reading the Book of Mormon with their 6-month-old son. When she responded that he was only a baby, he told her: “I hope the words of the scriptures are in the very air that he breathes.”

“Those who make this a daily effort — and seek to apply what they learn — will not be overwhelmed by the currents and winds and the storms of the world. Instead, they will bring light and truth to the world — which I think you are called to do — and shape its future in preparation for the Lord’s Second Coming,” Elder Nash said.

2. Counsel With the Lord in All Things

“Your focus on Christ will depend to a large degree on whether you sincerely counsel with your Heavenly Father in prayer every morning, every evening and throughout the day,” Elder Nash said. “Share with Him your joys and your concerns. And then take time in your prayer to be still and listen.”

He invited those at the commencement to do this individually, as a married couple and with children.

Elder Nash said this counseling with the Lord has blessed the life of his daughter as she had an infant son undergoing chemotherapy and a husband diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

“And through all of this, Rebekah, our daughter, has riveted the focus of her heart, her mind, her soul upon Christ,” Elder Nash said. “She pours out her soul to God in prayer daily, hourly and sometimes minute by minute. And because of this prayerful focus on Christ, miracles have come.”

3. Keep the Covenants Made With God

“The Lord invites us to take His yoke upon us … so that He can ease our burdens and lend His matchless strength to our daily life,” Elder Nash said. “We yoke ourselves to Him by receiving sacred ordinances and keeping the associated covenants. … Keeping these covenants creates an intimate, personal relationship with God, in which He will never cease to reach out to lift and bless us.”

While on a hike years ago with his then 12-year-old son, they reached a part of the trail that went along the edge of a sheer cliff that dropped a few hundred feet.

Elder Nash said his son was terrified to go any further, but he was able to lead his son by the hand, and they slowly crossed that section of the trail. He likened this to how one may be scared, but God wants to help and patiently extends His hand to help one when scared or concerned.

“Metaphorically speaking, we take His hand by participating in sacred ordinances and making covenants with Him,” he said. “When we keep those covenants, we strengthen our grip on His hand. In so doing, we receive His strength, His lifting steadying influence.”

In order to keep covenants with God, Elder Nash said, one must keep His commandments, serve the Lord and live the doctrine of Christ.

“Do this, and Jesus Christ will direct you, empower you, heal you, comfort you and fill you with hope, the expectation of good things to come,” he said.

Elder Nash was joined on the stand by his wife, Shelley; BYU–Hawaii President John S.K. Kauwe III and his wife, Monica; Kelly Haws, assistant to the commissioner of the Church Educational System; and student Lixin Cui. President Kauwe, Haws and Cui also spoke.

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