The word strive means something slightly different from the word try. To strive suggests purposeful effort. To try, on the other hand, connotes something a little less certain. You try something when you’re still exploring whether success is possible or even desirable. If it doesn’t work out, well, at least you tried. But when you strive, you keep going, no matter what. In the effort to overcome our weaknesses and change for the better, we don’t just try; we strive.
In our striving, we’re blessed to have exemplary people around us—people we can look up to—who are also striving and succeeding. We notice how they solve problems, face difficulties, and get through tough times. We might admire their hard work and grit, their generosity and integrity. Imposing mountains seem easier to scale when someone we trust has gone even just a few steps before us, blazing a trial.
Sometimes the mentor we emulate is a colleague, a friend, or a family member. It might be an ancestor whose story has been passed down for generations. But if we could strive to be like anyone, to look to anyone for the embodiment of goodness and grace, the best practice is to emulate the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave us the perfect example to follow.
It may seem unrealistic, even absurd, to strive to emulate perfection, but it was Jesus Himself who invited us to follow Him. “I have given you an example,” He said, “that ye should do as I have done” (John 13:15). That’s a pursuit that will take a lifetime of striving—maybe even longer. Where do we start? The best approach might be to begin with the attribute Jesus said would identify His followers: “As I have loved you, … love one another. By this shall all [people] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34–35).
This is the trail that the Lord blazed for us. Whenever we show love and compassion, whenever we are kind and forgiving and fair-minded, we are following Him. We are helping to bring His light into our lives and into the world. That is a goal worth striving for.
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November 06, 2022
Broadcast Number 4,860
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Brian Mathias
Host
Lloyd Newell
Antiphon, from Five Mystical Songs
Ralph Vaughan Williams
How Bright Is the Day
American folk hymn; Arr. Mack Wilberg
The Ash Grove
Welsh melody; Arr. John Longhurst
I Think the World Is Glorious
Alexander Schreiner; Arr. Mack Wilberg
Hosanna in excelsis
Johann Pachelbel; Arr. Mack Wilberg
May We Be More Like Thee
Mack Wilberg
Press Forward, Saints
Vanja Y. Watkins; Arr. Mack Wilberg