And behold, ye shall meet together oft; and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not;

But ye shall pray for them, and shall not cast them out; and if it so be that they come unto you oft ye shall pray for them unto the Father, in my name.

Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.

And ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world; and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation.

3 Nephi 18:22-25

Jesus is the light that we hold up. We hold Jesus up as our light by following his example and loving others. Jesus invites everyone to come to him. It doesn’t matter if you are broken or what you have done. Jesus welcomes each of us with open arms. He offers the light of his love to everyone. As children of Christ, Jesus has commanded us to also love, invite, and welcome others. Jesus commanded that we:

• Meet together often (love is about connection and being with others)
• Do not reject anyone from worshiping with us and experiencing God’s love with us and through us
• Pray for and bless those that meet with us (to increase our love and connection with them)
• Follow Jesus’ example in these things. This is how we let our light shine and how we hold up Jesus’ love.

It’s humbling to think that Jesus loves us despite our brokenness and weakness. He welcomes each of us with his arms wide open on the cross. He invites us to him so that he can heal us. Like a branch that is cut and grafted into a tree, we are bonded through our wounds to the tree of Jesus. Once grafted, we are healed and the tree of Jesus allows us to live and bear fruit. The fruit of Jesus is love, hope, and faith. Jesus prayed, prays, and will continue to pray for us! There is no limit to his love for us. He wants to be eternally connected and bound to us. He bled and died because he loves us. Let us follow his example and love everyone. Let us turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies, and even love them with the love of Jesus. Jesus loves them and died for them too!

Jesus warned that if we don’t follow his commandment in these things, that we will suffer ourselves to be led into temptation. By withholding our love and excluding others, we will ultimately exclude ourselves and the love of God within us.