Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 58. This section contained many mini-sections if you will where the Lord spoke on many different things to different people, but some were spoken to the whole. Those of you who attended seminary when you were younger will recognize two scripture masteries in this chapter.
The part of this section that actually stood out to me was a scripture mastery. I wanted to focus on verses 26 - 29. The Lord tells us that He does not want to command us in all things, that we should be anxiously engaged in a good cause. Lots of Latter-day Saints don't understand this principle. They want the Lord to tell them every single thing that He would have them do. Case in point, the Word of Wisdom. How many people have you heard complain that the Lord does not specifically state caffeine or how often we should be eating meat, etc? There is a reason it is called the Word of Wisdom. It is because it is a baseline and it ends with whatsoever is harmful to man should be avoided. That is not the actual wording but that is the gist of it. So, we are commanded to avoid caffeine in a sense because it is harmful to man. So are a lot of other things that are not explicitly spelled out.
I mentioned in yesterday's post that this past Sunday's Elder's Quorum lesson was on service. Our instructor read an old talk given by Dallin H. Oaks where he said we need to perform service or we will live a self centered life which is not pleasing to God. Providing service is another aspect of our lives that the Lord does not want to tell us every single time to do something for others. In fact, He prefers it if we do it on our own without His help or His prompting.
But there is a second aspect to this commandment, it is that we receive all His commandments in thanksgiving and with a cheerful heart. While the Lord does specifically state that we should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, He also states a little later that we should receive His commandments with a glad heart. The Lord tells us that if we receive them with a doubtful heart and keepeth them with slothfulness the same is damned. That's very strong language, but I don't think the Lord is trying to make us afraid, I think He is merely stating a fact. The true definition of the word damn, is to halt or stop. Think of it as a dam of water, the dams job is to stop the progress of the water and keep it in place. So if a person is damned, it means their progression is halted, or held back.
This goes right along with what Elder Bednar taught at our Stake Conference last September. He stated that the reward for living commandments were more commandments. That we should find joy in living the gospel. If we don't find joy in it, then we are not progressing, meaning that we are in fact, damned. So the Lord is not trying to say, "Do this or else", quite the opposite, He is merely trying to let us know that if we want to continue to grow and be like Him, we can't be that way.
I also think that there is an aspect of the statement the Lord makes here that we are not considering. The Lord states we should not be commanded or compelled in all things. Yet, we are often times told new things to do by our prophet, that is one of the duties of a prophet. However, if you will notice that over the past 100 years, the prophets have followed a pattern. They reveal to us God's will and tell us what would be a good idea for us to do, for example, keep a year supply of food storage, get out of debt, even the Word of Wisdom started out as a word of wisdom and not a commandment. But after enough time, they stopped being suggestions and started being commands. There will always be things the prophet tells us, but they sometimes will not start out as commandments. We will be left with our agency to choose for ourselves to obey or not to obey. That is another aspect of not being commanded in all things. When the prophet says it's a good idea, it's a GREAT idea and we should listen up. When the prophet tell us he doesn't do something, that's the time to listen and emulate accordingly. We should not have to hear the words, "Thus sayeth the Lord" or "A new commandment give I unto you" to know we are hearing something we should pay attention to.
The Lord is pleased when we use our agency appropriately and for good. As He said, we should be willing to do that which is good or right without having to be compelled. If we never do anything for others unless by way of command, it is time to reexamine our lives. The Savior during His mortal life, after He started His ministry, only did those things that were necessary to keep His body alive. Otherwise He was always doing things for others. If we want to one day be like Him, then we need to start now and emulate Him NOW. Start today, make a decision to follow the advice as well as the commands of the prophet. You won't be sorry you did. Until tomorrow.
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