Focus on the Weightier Matters

Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 116 and 117. Section 116 is only 1 verse long and it names a place called Spring Hill as Adam-ondi-Ahman, a place where Adam will come to visit his people. There is not much I can say about that really so I decided that I would just briefly mention it and focus on section 117.

Section 117 is directed at a few individuals, but as usual, has lessons for everyone as well. Have you ever noticed a lot of things get blamed on the natural man? I've often wondered if maybe we sometimes blame too much on the natural man in each of us. It is true that we each have the natural man in us, and he is an enemy unto God, but surely some of our tendencies to disobey God are our own weakness and we would have had them even before the Fall. As we discussed almost a year ago now in Alma 13, even in the pre-mortal life, there were people who disobeyed God, even then.

The reason I bring this up is because the section admonishes the brethren to not neglect the weightier matters and to repent of their covetous desires, specifically property. Now the Lord is most likely referring to land in this sense, but I think it is appropriate to expand it to include all material things. Jacob counseled his people over 2500 years ago to first seek after the kingdom of God, then afterwards you can seek after riches if you so desire.

Now, in this life it is very easy to fall prey to the desire to accumulate "stuff" or wealth or property or whatever your desire is. But I wonder if the natural man were to be taken away, how many of us would still have that stumbling block? How many of us have a weakness and it is their trial to overcome in this life? Regardless of if it's just the natural man, or an actual weakness, it is something we all need to overcome. Love of money and stuff is probably the biggest hindrance to charity in this life. When we have charity, or the pure love of Christ, we will desire to help those around us, even at the detriment to ourselves. When our desire is wealth, or power, or property, we want to get ahead and all too frequently it does not matter who we trample under our feet to achieve it.

The rest of the section goes hand in hand with this. The Lord tells the brethren in this section to forsake their littleness of soul and to focus on the weightier matters. Littleness of soul reminds me of the Chinese term, "small man" or the term pettiness. It calls to mind someone who is not humble but instead is full of pride and does not wish to forgive and forget. Instead they desire to "get even" or get revenge. They lose the Spirit of the Lord because they focus on the hurt and won't forgive the offending person in their hearts. There are way too many people like this in this life and it is not a pleasant thing because of it. If more of us would swallow our pride and would forgive more readily, the world would be a lot of more pleasant.

And when we focus on the small things and do not focus on the weightier matters, our progression is slowed. It may not be downright halted like it would be with other sins, but we for sure are not growing in the way we should be. In order to be truly comfortable in Heavenly Father's presence some day, we need to become like He is, enjoy the things He enjoys. And what He enjoys the most is bettering people. Helping them reach their potential and helping them overcome their challenges and trials. We need to be working towards the same if we truly hope for exaltation.

It can be challenging to overcome the desire for more stuff. But really there is nothing in this life we can take with us except our knowledge so we may as well overcome that desire when we are young because it truly will not do us any good in the long run. Until tomorrow.