One by one

There are few words that are as powerful as a few written about Christ's appearance in 3 Nephi 11. Three words, to be exact. "One by one" is how the Nephites approached Christ. Each of them had a sacred, face-to-face, personal experience with Jesus Christ. Even though Christ is not with us here on earth, we can have the same relationship that they had. Christ is our Savior. He knows each of us personally. He atoned for each one of us, one by one, and so knows exactly how we feel when we are going through hard times. He is, by the way, the only one that truly understands us.

I remember reading this chapter with investigators and members on my mission. I always, however, stopped the reading at this verse that we could talk a little more about how the Nephites came up to Christ one by one. We would explain that Christ's church is a church of individuals. To illustrate this, we would often talk about how the saving ordinances, like baptism, are done individually. We could easily get a large pool and baptize a whole hoard of people at the same time. Both the investigators and members, when we described this to them, would agree that the idea of mass baptism was a bit strange. It is an interesting way to look at it, but it does make a point. Christ knows us all, individually. "One by one" is His way.

This "one by one" phrase is something that we need to remember today. It can be hard to feel that Christ loves each one of us individually. Prayer and study is a good way to feel Christ's love for us. It can help us feel, every last one of us, that He is our personal Savior.