Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 71, a section where Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon are called to meet with the enemies of the church that they may answer the accusations of their enemies and confound them.
I thought it was interesting that in this revelation the Lord tells them to meet with the enemies so that they can answer the charges labeled against them. I know that in the scriptures the Lord tells us that if someone has offended us to take them aside just you and them and work it out together, but that is always counsel to you and another friend. I am not sure of any other place in the scriptures where the Lord tells the brethren to meet with their enemies to talk with them and answer their accusations.
I remember as a missionary we were counseled not to argue with people, or what some people colloquially refer to as Bible Bashing. For those of you not familiar with the term or with the concept, what happens is a person who is not a member of the LDS church challenges the fundamental beliefs of the church by quoting scriptures in the Bible that challenge the LDS beliefs, or seem to rather. It is a really pointless practice because as Joseph Smith himself says in his history, all the various churches can read the same passage of scripture but interpret it so differently.
The reason missionaries and even members, are encouraged to avoid this practice is because it is pointless and nothing good can come of it. I have often wondered if there are sports in the next life. I mean, it is entirely possible to play a sport with a friend and not care about the outcome and just play for the sheer joy of the sport. But let's be realistic here, how many people actually play like that? Maybe 1%? Sports are inherently competitive and invite the spirit of competition and I cannot imagine the Savior playing a pick up game of basketball for some reason. The reason I even bring it up is because when people try and disprove or prove the church's truthfulness in such a fashion, they are missing the point. A testimony cannot be gained by competition, just as it cannot be gained by miracles.
The only way to convince someone of the truthfulness of the restored gospel is to help them feel the Spirit and the best way to help them feel the Spirit is by bearing pure testimony. Unfortunately those who may have otherwise been receptive to the Spirit testimony brings have generally been warned by helpful friends that Latter-day Saints always talk about their feelings, etc. I have often wondered at the sheer absurdity of such statements. Who in this life does not trust their feelings? Who, when they have a gut instinct about something, doesn't follow through with it? And yet for some reason when it comes to religion we are not to trust our feelings. I just cannot understand such thought processes.
But regardless of the many ways the devil tries to trump the Lord, we all know that eventually the devil will receive his dues and the Lord will win. I remember a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave once where he said that life is the only game, if you will, that he knows of that we already know the outcome of the event but we are still trying to decide which team we want to play on! How true he is and how absurd it all seems when put into such context. We have nothing to fear so long as we are faithful in this life. The powers of hell may rise up against us and they may take everything from us as they did from Job of old and may even take away our life, but as long as we are true and faithful it doesn't matter. This life is but a fleeting moment and our true reward does not come in this life, but rather in the life to come.
Trust in the Lord and do not try to convert by attempting to "prove" the truthfulness of the restored gospel. Rather, bear pure testimony and trust to the Lord that He will prepare those who are put into your way and work with the Lord to know just who is prepared for you to help. He will tell you who He wants you to help. It is extremely important to Him and He will not leave you hanging. Until tomorrow.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Purpose of Stewardship
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 70. It is another section about stewardship and about the law of consecration of taking care of the temporal needs of the saints. As I read this I got to thinking about stewardship and a question occurred to me. Why does the Lord have us assist in stewardship anyway?
What is the purpose of us being entrusted to help out with the Lord in His mighty work of saving souls? He could obviously do a much better job of it than we could and would be 10 times more efficient at it. For an answer I think of an earthly parent. I was speaking to my parents a few months ago and they made the strangest statement, at the time. They said that when my siblings and I were growing up it was a lot of work for them to give us chores to do. Now, at the time I thought that was a really strange thing to say, after all with 6 kids my parents could easily ration out the household chores and hardly have anything to do themselves if they so chose.
But then I got to thinking about my childhood and teen years. When I did my chores they had to go behind me and inspect my work to make sure I got it done right. In the case of my older brothers, my parents had to argue and fight with them to even do the chore and suddenly my parents answer made a lot more sense. It was more work for them to give us the work to do, and make sure it was done right, because we obviously didn't want to do it. And being children we did our best to get out of it and we whined and complained and acted as if we were being tortured and I'm sure gave our parents lots of enjoyment.
But they knew the value of teaching us to work, and I am SO glad they stuck with it now that I am an adult. They knew that it was a sacrifice on their part to have the house the way they wanted it and as clean as they wanted it in order to teach us the value of work. It's a sacrifice lots of parents don't make these days under the severe misnomer of love. Parents are so confused and have bought into the garbage and lies that the world perpetrates of what love is these days that they think by "sparing" their children such tasks they are proving how much they love their children. Nothing could be further from the truth. Heavenly Father knows how to show genuine love for His children. He knows that if you love your children, you teach them.
Just with my, and probably all of yours too, parents Heavenly Father knows that if He has us help and do what He needs us to do we will grow. I love to ask Latter-day Saints what the purpose of life is. I get such varied results. Some say it's a test, some say a chance to get a body. Some say a chance to choose God or half a dozen other responses. It's rare that someone says we are here to grow. But it is just as much a true response as all the others people give me. A really big part of this life is to learn to overcome our weakness and to learn to be more like our Heavenly Father. Our goal is to one day be like He is and we can only do that if we do the things He does.
We are allowed to participate in the work of our Heavenly Father because He wants us to know what it is like so we can make a choice of what we want. Heavenly Father knows His is the only way to true and lasting happiness, but He is not going to force it on anyone. I know for a fact He could do it all SO much better than we can. I know He could do it faster and perhaps He even laughs at our attempts, but He knows that we will never learn if He does it all for us. Good parents know this too. So we are given small bits and pieces to work with at first. We are given stewardship over a few things to prove ourselves and see how we will conduct ourselves. As we prove ourselves worthy of His trust we are slowly given more responsibility, just like at a job. The difference is the reward for doing a good job with God is much better and desirable than any earthly job, I promise. Until tomorrow.
What is the purpose of us being entrusted to help out with the Lord in His mighty work of saving souls? He could obviously do a much better job of it than we could and would be 10 times more efficient at it. For an answer I think of an earthly parent. I was speaking to my parents a few months ago and they made the strangest statement, at the time. They said that when my siblings and I were growing up it was a lot of work for them to give us chores to do. Now, at the time I thought that was a really strange thing to say, after all with 6 kids my parents could easily ration out the household chores and hardly have anything to do themselves if they so chose.
But then I got to thinking about my childhood and teen years. When I did my chores they had to go behind me and inspect my work to make sure I got it done right. In the case of my older brothers, my parents had to argue and fight with them to even do the chore and suddenly my parents answer made a lot more sense. It was more work for them to give us the work to do, and make sure it was done right, because we obviously didn't want to do it. And being children we did our best to get out of it and we whined and complained and acted as if we were being tortured and I'm sure gave our parents lots of enjoyment.
But they knew the value of teaching us to work, and I am SO glad they stuck with it now that I am an adult. They knew that it was a sacrifice on their part to have the house the way they wanted it and as clean as they wanted it in order to teach us the value of work. It's a sacrifice lots of parents don't make these days under the severe misnomer of love. Parents are so confused and have bought into the garbage and lies that the world perpetrates of what love is these days that they think by "sparing" their children such tasks they are proving how much they love their children. Nothing could be further from the truth. Heavenly Father knows how to show genuine love for His children. He knows that if you love your children, you teach them.
Just with my, and probably all of yours too, parents Heavenly Father knows that if He has us help and do what He needs us to do we will grow. I love to ask Latter-day Saints what the purpose of life is. I get such varied results. Some say it's a test, some say a chance to get a body. Some say a chance to choose God or half a dozen other responses. It's rare that someone says we are here to grow. But it is just as much a true response as all the others people give me. A really big part of this life is to learn to overcome our weakness and to learn to be more like our Heavenly Father. Our goal is to one day be like He is and we can only do that if we do the things He does.
We are allowed to participate in the work of our Heavenly Father because He wants us to know what it is like so we can make a choice of what we want. Heavenly Father knows His is the only way to true and lasting happiness, but He is not going to force it on anyone. I know for a fact He could do it all SO much better than we can. I know He could do it faster and perhaps He even laughs at our attempts, but He knows that we will never learn if He does it all for us. Good parents know this too. So we are given small bits and pieces to work with at first. We are given stewardship over a few things to prove ourselves and see how we will conduct ourselves. As we prove ourselves worthy of His trust we are slowly given more responsibility, just like at a job. The difference is the reward for doing a good job with God is much better and desirable than any earthly job, I promise. Until tomorrow.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Learning is Pleasing to God
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 69. It is a very short section in the which John Whitmer was assigned as the traveling companion to Olive Cowdery as he traveled down to Independence, Missouri to publish the Book of Commandments and to bring some money to the Saints in that area.
The thought that came to me as I read this section actually has very little to do with this section at all. In verse 7 John Whitmer is commanded to travel from place to place so that he may more easily obtain knowledge. Now, I usually think about knowledge and the importance of obtaining it in section 130, which is another 2 months away for us at the pace we are reading. However, this just seems important to me to discuss today.
As I have mentioned before, I have a daughter. She actually turned 6 months old yesterday and she is an absolute treasure to watch and be around. She loves life and loves to explore her little world. It is so fun to watch her too. Some of the things she finds fascinating is SO strange. One of her favorite things is a decoration we have on the wall of our kitchen. It is a cast iron fork with 4 hooks on it with 4 cast iron cooking utensils hanging from it. It is purely decoration, but she LOVES that thing. As soon as we enter the kitchen her head immediately turns to where it is located to check and see if it is still there. And that's not even a 10th of the funny things she does. I remember one morning I was watching her to give my wife a break and I was eating cereal and she saw my mouth and started mimicking my mouth movements as I chewed my cereal. She is fascinated by everything around her and literally thirsts for knowledge. Anytime she is around something new, you can just see her little mind working and asking, "What is this and what is it for?"
All little children are like that. They love to learn new things. So what happens to us as we get early? Why do we stop learning? Why do we stop LOVING the art of learning? Part of me thinks it is because of the schools and institutions of learning. Now, I am most certainly pro-school but I think in a way, very unintentionally, schools tend to kill the fascination of learning for a lot of students. Partly because it is structure, which a lot of children don't like even though they need it I think, but they are also not allowed to learn the things they want to learn most of the times so they get bored with the things they ARE learning and it slowly kills the love of learning. Good parents will help supplement the schools and help the children keep that love of learning because it's hard to earn back as an adult.
Now, we are obviously not there yet, but Section 130 tells us that whatever level of knowledge we obtain to in this life will rise with us in the life to come and we will be that much further ahead. Another revelation tells us to seek out learning out of the best books. It is important to Heavenly Father that we learn all we can. Why do you suppose that is? Well, once again we have to examine our goals. Our goals are to become like God and be as He is one day. Well, we frequently say that God is omniscient, so if we are going to be like He is, then we are going to need to be omniscient as well. So we have our work cut out for us to learn all that there is to learn.
The good thing about learning though, is that the desire to learn is never entirely squelched. It's always there, sometimes it is buried really, really deep though. But everyone in this life will come across a concept or something new and will wonder to themselves, "Huh? I wonder how that works?" or "Why is that?". The problem is that is all most people will do, is wonder. Which is really sad because in this day and age of the internet, by some called the Information Age, information is EVERYWHERE and literally only a Google search away.
As with most everything else we talk about here, if you desire to increase in your love of learning, all you need to do is pray and the Lord will help you. Remember, if it is important to you, it is important to Him, as long as it is righteous. But in the case of learning, it is already important to Him and He wants it to be important to you too. Pray and ask that He help you to be more curious, more open minded, what ever your particular stumbling block against learning is and that it may be taken away. You will be glad you did. Until tomorrow.
The thought that came to me as I read this section actually has very little to do with this section at all. In verse 7 John Whitmer is commanded to travel from place to place so that he may more easily obtain knowledge. Now, I usually think about knowledge and the importance of obtaining it in section 130, which is another 2 months away for us at the pace we are reading. However, this just seems important to me to discuss today.
As I have mentioned before, I have a daughter. She actually turned 6 months old yesterday and she is an absolute treasure to watch and be around. She loves life and loves to explore her little world. It is so fun to watch her too. Some of the things she finds fascinating is SO strange. One of her favorite things is a decoration we have on the wall of our kitchen. It is a cast iron fork with 4 hooks on it with 4 cast iron cooking utensils hanging from it. It is purely decoration, but she LOVES that thing. As soon as we enter the kitchen her head immediately turns to where it is located to check and see if it is still there. And that's not even a 10th of the funny things she does. I remember one morning I was watching her to give my wife a break and I was eating cereal and she saw my mouth and started mimicking my mouth movements as I chewed my cereal. She is fascinated by everything around her and literally thirsts for knowledge. Anytime she is around something new, you can just see her little mind working and asking, "What is this and what is it for?"
All little children are like that. They love to learn new things. So what happens to us as we get early? Why do we stop learning? Why do we stop LOVING the art of learning? Part of me thinks it is because of the schools and institutions of learning. Now, I am most certainly pro-school but I think in a way, very unintentionally, schools tend to kill the fascination of learning for a lot of students. Partly because it is structure, which a lot of children don't like even though they need it I think, but they are also not allowed to learn the things they want to learn most of the times so they get bored with the things they ARE learning and it slowly kills the love of learning. Good parents will help supplement the schools and help the children keep that love of learning because it's hard to earn back as an adult.
Now, we are obviously not there yet, but Section 130 tells us that whatever level of knowledge we obtain to in this life will rise with us in the life to come and we will be that much further ahead. Another revelation tells us to seek out learning out of the best books. It is important to Heavenly Father that we learn all we can. Why do you suppose that is? Well, once again we have to examine our goals. Our goals are to become like God and be as He is one day. Well, we frequently say that God is omniscient, so if we are going to be like He is, then we are going to need to be omniscient as well. So we have our work cut out for us to learn all that there is to learn.
The good thing about learning though, is that the desire to learn is never entirely squelched. It's always there, sometimes it is buried really, really deep though. But everyone in this life will come across a concept or something new and will wonder to themselves, "Huh? I wonder how that works?" or "Why is that?". The problem is that is all most people will do, is wonder. Which is really sad because in this day and age of the internet, by some called the Information Age, information is EVERYWHERE and literally only a Google search away.
As with most everything else we talk about here, if you desire to increase in your love of learning, all you need to do is pray and the Lord will help you. Remember, if it is important to you, it is important to Him, as long as it is righteous. But in the case of learning, it is already important to Him and He wants it to be important to you too. Pray and ask that He help you to be more curious, more open minded, what ever your particular stumbling block against learning is and that it may be taken away. You will be glad you did. Until tomorrow.
Friday, March 4, 2011
The Holy Ghost teaches your Spirit
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 68. Most people will recognize this section I think. This is the section where the process of selecting a bishop is talked about. It is also the section where the age of baptism is set forth by the Lord.
But the part that stood out to me was verses 4 and 5. In these verses the Lord is telling Orson Hyde that when he is a missionary and he is impressed upon by the Holy Ghost to speak that he will be speaking scripture. I remember before I was a missionary and I read that verse I didn't understand it at all. How can someone who is not the prophet speak scripture? It just did not make sense to me at the time. However, now I understand that what the Lord is saying is that when someone speaks by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost teaches that person's spirit.
Have you ever been in a meeting where you felt the Spirit really strongly? Have you ever noticed that it is really easy to concentrate and at times you might even wish you had a pen and pad of paper so you could write something down? Did you have an Aha moment? That is because when a speaker is speaking by the Holy Ghost's influence, the Holy Ghost is able to teach your spirit directly and it is an amazing experience.
Most people who have served a mission before have been on teaching end of such an experience and it is simply amazing. I remember teaching people that I didn't think were even understanding what I was saying to them because to some of the people I taught on my mission Jesus Christ was a very foreign concept to them. And then they would ask a question that would just let me know instantly that they not only were understanding what I was saying, but were hungry for more! It was one of the best feelings in my entire life!
I imagine teaching my children will be a very similar experience but of course I do not know for a fact since my only child is only 6 months old. But when the Spirit teaches directly to another spirit, it leaves an impression that is not easily shaken. If you are an adult who was baptized when they were 8, think back to your own baptism. What do you remember about it? Anything? I remember I was baptized on the same day as 2 girls and that it was REALLY cold outside but the water was very warm. That's it! However, I can describe in detail how I felt about the experience. I bet you are the same. Why is that? Think back to another childhood experience, maybe even one you can remember. Can you recall how you felt? It's not nearly as clear if you can recall it at all is it? That is because in the spiritual experience you are remembering what the Holy Ghost taught you where as in the other non-spiritual experience it's just your own feelings you are trying to recall.
My Father loves to quote an Apostle he once heard or read, I am not sure which. But when I was young he told me that the Holy Ghost speaking to you has a greater impact and lasting impression than a visual revelation. He stated that when you receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon by the Holy Ghost that will stay with you in a way that it would not if an angel had appeared to you and declared the truthfulness of it to you. Now, I have not seen an angel so I cannot test the validity of such a statement, but it sparks of truthfulness and I have not doubted that such a statement is true.
I have often wondered if the reason the Holy Ghost teaching your Spirit is so effective is because your Spirit is not fallible and thus its memory will not fade in time like our earthly memory and brain will. Just a fun little aside. But this is one of those sections that I don't really have the time to discuss all of what it talks about in depth like it deserves so I invite you to read it yourself with the Spirit as your companion and see what the Spirit has to teach you about it. You'll not be disappointed. Until tomorrow.
But the part that stood out to me was verses 4 and 5. In these verses the Lord is telling Orson Hyde that when he is a missionary and he is impressed upon by the Holy Ghost to speak that he will be speaking scripture. I remember before I was a missionary and I read that verse I didn't understand it at all. How can someone who is not the prophet speak scripture? It just did not make sense to me at the time. However, now I understand that what the Lord is saying is that when someone speaks by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost teaches that person's spirit.
Have you ever been in a meeting where you felt the Spirit really strongly? Have you ever noticed that it is really easy to concentrate and at times you might even wish you had a pen and pad of paper so you could write something down? Did you have an Aha moment? That is because when a speaker is speaking by the Holy Ghost's influence, the Holy Ghost is able to teach your spirit directly and it is an amazing experience.
Most people who have served a mission before have been on teaching end of such an experience and it is simply amazing. I remember teaching people that I didn't think were even understanding what I was saying to them because to some of the people I taught on my mission Jesus Christ was a very foreign concept to them. And then they would ask a question that would just let me know instantly that they not only were understanding what I was saying, but were hungry for more! It was one of the best feelings in my entire life!
I imagine teaching my children will be a very similar experience but of course I do not know for a fact since my only child is only 6 months old. But when the Spirit teaches directly to another spirit, it leaves an impression that is not easily shaken. If you are an adult who was baptized when they were 8, think back to your own baptism. What do you remember about it? Anything? I remember I was baptized on the same day as 2 girls and that it was REALLY cold outside but the water was very warm. That's it! However, I can describe in detail how I felt about the experience. I bet you are the same. Why is that? Think back to another childhood experience, maybe even one you can remember. Can you recall how you felt? It's not nearly as clear if you can recall it at all is it? That is because in the spiritual experience you are remembering what the Holy Ghost taught you where as in the other non-spiritual experience it's just your own feelings you are trying to recall.
My Father loves to quote an Apostle he once heard or read, I am not sure which. But when I was young he told me that the Holy Ghost speaking to you has a greater impact and lasting impression than a visual revelation. He stated that when you receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon by the Holy Ghost that will stay with you in a way that it would not if an angel had appeared to you and declared the truthfulness of it to you. Now, I have not seen an angel so I cannot test the validity of such a statement, but it sparks of truthfulness and I have not doubted that such a statement is true.
I have often wondered if the reason the Holy Ghost teaching your Spirit is so effective is because your Spirit is not fallible and thus its memory will not fade in time like our earthly memory and brain will. Just a fun little aside. But this is one of those sections that I don't really have the time to discuss all of what it talks about in depth like it deserves so I invite you to read it yourself with the Spirit as your companion and see what the Spirit has to teach you about it. You'll not be disappointed. Until tomorrow.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
The Lord Challenges the Elders
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 67. This revelation always amuses me when I read it. It probably should not, but I am fallible as are all men and women and prone to mistakes. The reason this section always amuses me is because it is the Lord's challenge to the elders of the church.
This section is just before they published the revelations prior to this one that they had received. However, according to the preface, some of the elders were a little harsh in regards to the language used and were critical of Joseph Smith. So the Lord challenges them. He throws down the gauntlet if you will.
He tells them to take the wisest among them and see if they can come up with anything even close to the "least of these" meaning the revelations. I'm not sure what criteria is used to determine what the least of the revelations is by any means. But I think it's really funny that the Lord really puts them in their place with this revelation. But I can also understand how the Lord is probably feeling when the people complain about the revelations He has given them. I'm sure most of you have actually had a similar experience where someone of your acquaintance was criticizing something you did and you felt like, or maybe did, tell them, "Can you do it better? No? Then be quiet!" I know I have. I'm not very tolerant of such people, which is maybe why I keep running into them now that I think about it.
But there is another phrase that I found interesting in this section. The Lord tells them that as they currently are they are not able to abide the presence of God, nor are they worthy of the ministering of angels at this time. I find that really strange since I wasn't aware there was a worthiness requirement for the ministering of angels since in the scriptures I can name an instance or two where unworthy men were visited by an angel. Alma the Younger immediately springs to mind. However, it occurs to me that perhaps the Lord is referring to use of the priesthood in regards to the ministering of angels. After all, the ministering of angels is a function of the Aaronic Priesthood so perhaps the Lord is referring to the need for worthiness in regards to the ministering of angels in the capacity of the Aaronic Priesthood. It was interesting to me to think about though.
So if there is anything this section has taught me is to not criticize the Lord because the answer is a big, emphatic, NO, I cannot do it better than He can. I can't believe there are people who are dumb enough to directly criticize what the Lord has done anyway, but the world has all kinds of people I suppose. I just know that of myself, I am thankful we have these revelations and glad that Joseph Smith was diligent in the task the Lord set him and faithful to the end. Until tomorrow.
This section is just before they published the revelations prior to this one that they had received. However, according to the preface, some of the elders were a little harsh in regards to the language used and were critical of Joseph Smith. So the Lord challenges them. He throws down the gauntlet if you will.
He tells them to take the wisest among them and see if they can come up with anything even close to the "least of these" meaning the revelations. I'm not sure what criteria is used to determine what the least of the revelations is by any means. But I think it's really funny that the Lord really puts them in their place with this revelation. But I can also understand how the Lord is probably feeling when the people complain about the revelations He has given them. I'm sure most of you have actually had a similar experience where someone of your acquaintance was criticizing something you did and you felt like, or maybe did, tell them, "Can you do it better? No? Then be quiet!" I know I have. I'm not very tolerant of such people, which is maybe why I keep running into them now that I think about it.
But there is another phrase that I found interesting in this section. The Lord tells them that as they currently are they are not able to abide the presence of God, nor are they worthy of the ministering of angels at this time. I find that really strange since I wasn't aware there was a worthiness requirement for the ministering of angels since in the scriptures I can name an instance or two where unworthy men were visited by an angel. Alma the Younger immediately springs to mind. However, it occurs to me that perhaps the Lord is referring to use of the priesthood in regards to the ministering of angels. After all, the ministering of angels is a function of the Aaronic Priesthood so perhaps the Lord is referring to the need for worthiness in regards to the ministering of angels in the capacity of the Aaronic Priesthood. It was interesting to me to think about though.
So if there is anything this section has taught me is to not criticize the Lord because the answer is a big, emphatic, NO, I cannot do it better than He can. I can't believe there are people who are dumb enough to directly criticize what the Lord has done anyway, but the world has all kinds of people I suppose. I just know that of myself, I am thankful we have these revelations and glad that Joseph Smith was diligent in the task the Lord set him and faithful to the end. Until tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Be Patient in thine Afflictions
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 66. It is a revelation that was personalized to William E. McLellin about what he should be doing to further the work of the kingdom. As with most people of the time, he was told to do missionary work and to spread the good news of the gospel to the people.
The last few verses of the section contain some very personal commands from the Lord to William and one of them stood out to me. The Lord tells him to be patient in his affliction. It is a given in this life that we will all have affliction, but it is never a good sign when the Lord tells you to be patient in your affliction because it usually means you are going to have a lot of challenges.
Every mission is filled with challenges to one degree or another. I personally think my mission was pretty tame by comparison to most that I have heard of. I had a man open his car door into me as I was biking past, my bike was stolen, I had a bottle of beer thrown at my head as I was biking along one day, I was cursed at, had a dog sic'd on me 3 separate times, went through what felt like a monsoon without any kind of rain gear, had people, including a couple of preachers, tells me that they hated me, was in a car accident, 2 of them actually, and more flat bike tires than I can count. And that's all that I can recall. But there were people in my mission that were robbed, had their bikes set on fire, were physically attacked and more. I feel that I had a really calm mission experience and I have heard of all kinds of challenges other missionaries face when on a mission.
But we also have challenges and trials when we are not missionaries don't we? For example I have been sick for the past 6 days but have only missed 1 and a half days of work. My daughter was born with a condition that makes it hard for her to breathe. People lose their homes, their transportation, their health and the lives of loved ones. But it is all designed to make us stronger and more able to face the trials ahead. I have been thinking a lot lately as I read the scriptures and write in this blog about why we need to be so strong and why we need to rise above the world. I think it is because our ultimate design is to be like God is one day.
Think about it, all is before God, the beginning and the end. We have talked about this in the past, but always in the sense of overcoming addictions to pornography and in a sexual connotation. However, the Lord also sees all the sufferings of His people. And in most cases He cannot do anything to alleviate it. But He has been there before too and knows what we need and how to succor us. Think about it. If you had a friend lose their parent or child, would you know what to say to them? I wouldn't. But if YOU had lost a parent or a child, you would know exactly what to say to maybe help them, or you could at the very least offer suggestions on what worked for you since we of course cannot know for certain what will help some people and what won't.
We will all face trials in this life, that is a given and is unavoidable. We cannot choose what trials we will face. All we can do is decide how we will react to those trials. That is why the Lord counsels us to be patient in our afflictions. As we learn to handle our trials with grace and patience they will not be quite so burdensome to us and we can progress and become a little better than we were before. For that is the goal, or should be for all of us. Each day should be a little better than it was in the past. I know that is my goal. Until tomorrow.
The last few verses of the section contain some very personal commands from the Lord to William and one of them stood out to me. The Lord tells him to be patient in his affliction. It is a given in this life that we will all have affliction, but it is never a good sign when the Lord tells you to be patient in your affliction because it usually means you are going to have a lot of challenges.
Every mission is filled with challenges to one degree or another. I personally think my mission was pretty tame by comparison to most that I have heard of. I had a man open his car door into me as I was biking past, my bike was stolen, I had a bottle of beer thrown at my head as I was biking along one day, I was cursed at, had a dog sic'd on me 3 separate times, went through what felt like a monsoon without any kind of rain gear, had people, including a couple of preachers, tells me that they hated me, was in a car accident, 2 of them actually, and more flat bike tires than I can count. And that's all that I can recall. But there were people in my mission that were robbed, had their bikes set on fire, were physically attacked and more. I feel that I had a really calm mission experience and I have heard of all kinds of challenges other missionaries face when on a mission.
But we also have challenges and trials when we are not missionaries don't we? For example I have been sick for the past 6 days but have only missed 1 and a half days of work. My daughter was born with a condition that makes it hard for her to breathe. People lose their homes, their transportation, their health and the lives of loved ones. But it is all designed to make us stronger and more able to face the trials ahead. I have been thinking a lot lately as I read the scriptures and write in this blog about why we need to be so strong and why we need to rise above the world. I think it is because our ultimate design is to be like God is one day.
Think about it, all is before God, the beginning and the end. We have talked about this in the past, but always in the sense of overcoming addictions to pornography and in a sexual connotation. However, the Lord also sees all the sufferings of His people. And in most cases He cannot do anything to alleviate it. But He has been there before too and knows what we need and how to succor us. Think about it. If you had a friend lose their parent or child, would you know what to say to them? I wouldn't. But if YOU had lost a parent or a child, you would know exactly what to say to maybe help them, or you could at the very least offer suggestions on what worked for you since we of course cannot know for certain what will help some people and what won't.
We will all face trials in this life, that is a given and is unavoidable. We cannot choose what trials we will face. All we can do is decide how we will react to those trials. That is why the Lord counsels us to be patient in our afflictions. As we learn to handle our trials with grace and patience they will not be quite so burdensome to us and we can progress and become a little better than we were before. For that is the goal, or should be for all of us. Each day should be a little better than it was in the past. I know that is my goal. Until tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Missionary Work is a Duty and a Blessing
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 65. This section is not very long and mostly has to do with praising the Lord and the building up of the kingdom in His name. It quotes from the book of Daniel in the Bible about the stone cut without hands out of the mountain that rolls until it has filled the entire earth.
I've always felt that was an extremely unique analogy. If an actual stone did fall out of a mountain and proceeded to roll downhill, I would expect it to get smaller as it went along, not larger. As it strikes objects and chips away the rough edges it becomes smaller but smoother. But this stone representing the Lord's church is just the opposite. Despite the opposition it faces, it increases in size and beauty until it will one day fill the entire earth.
In a way that is a comfort if you think about it. The Lord is going to triumph in the end. Nothing Satan will do will be of any good in the long run. His victories are temporal only and he has no real power save that which we give him. He is bound by laws that the Lord has set. We are protected by Him who is mighty to serve as long as we do not transgress His laws. We will of course still be tempted and tried and bad things will most definitely still happen to us, but in the long run, we will be ok and the Lord will take care of our spiritual needs when we put our trust in Him.
We can also be part of this mighty work and do what little we can to assist the Lord in building the kingdom of Zion here on the earth. As a matter of fact we are required to if you are baptized. We will read in a later section, section 88, that who ever has been warned must needs warn his neighbor. Missionary work is very much a duty we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have. And it is a very rewarding duty too. It is very fulfilling to have a friend or family member change their life for the better and either enter the waters of baptism or repent and return to full fellowship. Few things in life can match such feelings. It is a blessing that we are allowed to help in such a mighty work. I urge each of us to now squander our opportunities to help the Lord but to embrace this duty and see it for the wonderful blessing it truly is. Until tomorrow.
I've always felt that was an extremely unique analogy. If an actual stone did fall out of a mountain and proceeded to roll downhill, I would expect it to get smaller as it went along, not larger. As it strikes objects and chips away the rough edges it becomes smaller but smoother. But this stone representing the Lord's church is just the opposite. Despite the opposition it faces, it increases in size and beauty until it will one day fill the entire earth.
In a way that is a comfort if you think about it. The Lord is going to triumph in the end. Nothing Satan will do will be of any good in the long run. His victories are temporal only and he has no real power save that which we give him. He is bound by laws that the Lord has set. We are protected by Him who is mighty to serve as long as we do not transgress His laws. We will of course still be tempted and tried and bad things will most definitely still happen to us, but in the long run, we will be ok and the Lord will take care of our spiritual needs when we put our trust in Him.
We can also be part of this mighty work and do what little we can to assist the Lord in building the kingdom of Zion here on the earth. As a matter of fact we are required to if you are baptized. We will read in a later section, section 88, that who ever has been warned must needs warn his neighbor. Missionary work is very much a duty we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have. And it is a very rewarding duty too. It is very fulfilling to have a friend or family member change their life for the better and either enter the waters of baptism or repent and return to full fellowship. Few things in life can match such feelings. It is a blessing that we are allowed to help in such a mighty work. I urge each of us to now squander our opportunities to help the Lord but to embrace this duty and see it for the wonderful blessing it truly is. Until tomorrow.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Of you it is required to forgive all men
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 64. Scriptorians will recognize several famous scriptures in this section. The scripture most people think about tithing is found in this section. In the beginning of the section the Lord reaffirms the calling of Joseph Smith and tells the Saints to not find fault with him because of his weaknesses.
The part that stood out to me is also quite well known. In verse 10 the Lord says, "I the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." I have been lucky all my life to have a gift to easily forgive others. Even as a child and later a teenager, I literally found it impossible to hold grudges. I can remember multiple instances where my mother or father had made me angry and I went to bed nursing my anger and promising myself retribution and how I would never talk to them again. But when I would wake up the following morning, while I would remember what they had done to upset me, the angry feelings were always entirely gone.
Since I have had this gift all of my life it has been hard for me to understand why others would hold on to grudges and the hurt they feel. Like many other negative emotions, being unwilling to forgive others damns you. It may or may not affect the one who has wronged you to withhold your forgiveness, but it most certainly WILL hurt you and your eternal progression. It is very hard for me to understand the thought process behind most people's unwillingness to forgive or their need for certain criteria to be met.
I, of course, love my wife dearly. She however does not have my gift to forgive quite as easily as I do, but she does forgive a lot easier than most people I have met. We once took on a border to help with expenses and he ruined one of my wife's pots. When I spoke to him about it he denied ruining the pot and it only made my wife more angry. I tried my best to keep the peace telling our border that things like this happen and to not worry about it but my wife was still quite angry. When I spoke to her of forgiving him she replied that in order to forgive him, he had to acknowledge his wrong. I reminded her that acknowleding what we have done wrong is part of the repentance process and is not a prerequisite to being forgiven. The scriptures do not say forgive only those who are contrite or repentant or who seek your forgiveness. No! It says to forgive ALL men.
Thankfully my wife took my advice to heart and forgave our border and she was able to move on, but I have met SO many people who hold her outlook on things. I hear things like, "He needs to acknowledge to me what he has done wrong!". Or, "She didn't apologize to me.", or dozens of other phrases that indicate anger is being held on to inappropriately. Now on the flip side, there are those who have done things that are wrong who will not let go of the guilt, because they will not repent. I am a firm believer that guilt is a feeling to help us know that we have done something wrong so we can repent, but it serves no other purpose. I do not get guilted into doing things by others because I try and live my life in keeping with the gospel. Typically if someone tries to guilt me into doing something it only serves to anger me and cause me to dig my feet in more. I'm pretty stubborn that way.
But when we have done something wrong, it is indeed up to us to try and make restitution for what we have done. It is not a requirement for them to forgive us, but it is part of the repentance process and needs to be followed so that the Lord will forgive us our sins and we can move past the transgression we have committed. Sometimes it is just not possible for us to make restitution or perhaps so much time has passed that we feel we can't be fully forgiven of our sins. But Enos in the Book of Mormon teaches us that through the Atonement our guilt can be swept away. I have a friend. He stopped being active in the church around the time he was 15 years old and he started sinning in diverse ways. 20 years later he was ready to come back to church but was so far behind and had forgotten so much that he decided to take the missionary lessons. He really struggled with letting go of the guilt from all the wrongs he had done in those 20 years of sin. I am happy to say though that he did let go of it and is a fully active member and has been for many years now!
If you struggle with forgiving those who have wronged you, may I suggest you make it a matter of prayer. I seem to suggest that a lot for many diverse things, but the reason for that is because most of these things that we need to correct are things that the Lord can and will help us overcome. The Lord is the one who helps us overcome the natural man and become better than we are. It is through His help that we can change our very nature and learn to forgive more easily, as He does. Until tomorrow.
The part that stood out to me is also quite well known. In verse 10 the Lord says, "I the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." I have been lucky all my life to have a gift to easily forgive others. Even as a child and later a teenager, I literally found it impossible to hold grudges. I can remember multiple instances where my mother or father had made me angry and I went to bed nursing my anger and promising myself retribution and how I would never talk to them again. But when I would wake up the following morning, while I would remember what they had done to upset me, the angry feelings were always entirely gone.
Since I have had this gift all of my life it has been hard for me to understand why others would hold on to grudges and the hurt they feel. Like many other negative emotions, being unwilling to forgive others damns you. It may or may not affect the one who has wronged you to withhold your forgiveness, but it most certainly WILL hurt you and your eternal progression. It is very hard for me to understand the thought process behind most people's unwillingness to forgive or their need for certain criteria to be met.
I, of course, love my wife dearly. She however does not have my gift to forgive quite as easily as I do, but she does forgive a lot easier than most people I have met. We once took on a border to help with expenses and he ruined one of my wife's pots. When I spoke to him about it he denied ruining the pot and it only made my wife more angry. I tried my best to keep the peace telling our border that things like this happen and to not worry about it but my wife was still quite angry. When I spoke to her of forgiving him she replied that in order to forgive him, he had to acknowledge his wrong. I reminded her that acknowleding what we have done wrong is part of the repentance process and is not a prerequisite to being forgiven. The scriptures do not say forgive only those who are contrite or repentant or who seek your forgiveness. No! It says to forgive ALL men.
Thankfully my wife took my advice to heart and forgave our border and she was able to move on, but I have met SO many people who hold her outlook on things. I hear things like, "He needs to acknowledge to me what he has done wrong!". Or, "She didn't apologize to me.", or dozens of other phrases that indicate anger is being held on to inappropriately. Now on the flip side, there are those who have done things that are wrong who will not let go of the guilt, because they will not repent. I am a firm believer that guilt is a feeling to help us know that we have done something wrong so we can repent, but it serves no other purpose. I do not get guilted into doing things by others because I try and live my life in keeping with the gospel. Typically if someone tries to guilt me into doing something it only serves to anger me and cause me to dig my feet in more. I'm pretty stubborn that way.
But when we have done something wrong, it is indeed up to us to try and make restitution for what we have done. It is not a requirement for them to forgive us, but it is part of the repentance process and needs to be followed so that the Lord will forgive us our sins and we can move past the transgression we have committed. Sometimes it is just not possible for us to make restitution or perhaps so much time has passed that we feel we can't be fully forgiven of our sins. But Enos in the Book of Mormon teaches us that through the Atonement our guilt can be swept away. I have a friend. He stopped being active in the church around the time he was 15 years old and he started sinning in diverse ways. 20 years later he was ready to come back to church but was so far behind and had forgotten so much that he decided to take the missionary lessons. He really struggled with letting go of the guilt from all the wrongs he had done in those 20 years of sin. I am happy to say though that he did let go of it and is a fully active member and has been for many years now!
If you struggle with forgiving those who have wronged you, may I suggest you make it a matter of prayer. I seem to suggest that a lot for many diverse things, but the reason for that is because most of these things that we need to correct are things that the Lord can and will help us overcome. The Lord is the one who helps us overcome the natural man and become better than we are. It is through His help that we can change our very nature and learn to forgive more easily, as He does. Until tomorrow.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Personal Revelation is Sacred
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 63. As I have been saying about the Doctrine and Covenants, it was the practice of the Saints in those days to inquire of the Lord concerning all things pertaining to their salvation according to the preface to this section given by Joseph Smith.
Most of this section has to do with things we've been told before. Things such as obeying the Lord's commandments and controlling our thoughts so that we do not lust after a woman. Things that the Lord has been saying for thousands of years. The Lord also spends a good portion of this section directing the Saints on their temporal needs and wants.
The part that struck me and stayed with me though is from verse 64 where the Lord says that which cometh from above is sacred and must be spoken with care. I have heard this before, as I am sure many of you have also. Personal revelation given from the Lord, is not always meant to be shared. Sometimes it is meant to be kept close to the heart. Personal revelation is just that, it is personal and meant to be kept close to the heart and only shared with a select few. It is very similar to your patriarchal blessing in that sense. But I think it also has to do with the concept of milk before meat. A lot of people do not understand the things of the Spirit very well. They hear something on TV, or from a friend or from any number of sources and just assume it is true and it tarnishes their opinion of Latter-day Saints.
Just the other day I was talking with a friend of mine and the subject of Latter-day Saints came up and a change came over her face and she mentioned that she thought Mormons were dumb and there was no way I could possibly be one of them. I was shocked and asked what I could do to prove I was a Latter-day Saint. Her reply was to marry another woman. I then laughed and was able to explain that we do not practice plural marriage and haven't since around 1898. She was a little hesitant to believe at first since media has portrayed otherwise and I explained that while some might claim to be Latter-day Saint, any Latter-day Saint who practices plural marriage is excommunicated from the church. She was fine with it after that and I introduced her to Mormon.org and she was fine after that. But this is a classic example of why it is important to talk about the simple first and work your way up to the complex.
Are Latter-day Saints ashamed that once upon a time we practiced plural marriage? We shouldn't be, after all it was a commandment of the Lord. It was also a commandment of the Lord to stop. Does there need to be any more explanation than that, no, not really. Remember, we do not answer to man, we answer to God. Just as with other aspects of the Gospel in the past, all we really know is that is the way the Lord wished it done at that time and now He doesn't. There are theories enough to fill a warehouse but the fact of the matter is, we do as God directs us.
But getting back on track with our original topic, the Lord needs to know He can trust us. Or perhaps more accurately, WE need to know we can trust ourselves with the Lord's revelations. The Lord knows all about us and knows if we will keep that which is sacred to ourselves or if we will go blabbing willy nilly to every person we meet. Just as with Abraham being commanded to sacrifice his only son, Abraham needed to learn that he would do anything the Lord asked of Him. The Lord already knows how we are going to react. It truly is us that needs to learn how we will react when push comes to shove.
But as we grow closer to our goal and try our best to do that which is right in the Lord's sight, we will learn some amazing things and become more like Him. Our minds will be opened to understand the kingdom of God even further and we will have His confidence and trust like never before. He will also help us forsake the things of the world as we strive and struggle to overcome our temptations. Remember He loves us and wants us to return to Him so He will help us in anyway we will allow Him to. It's really up to us to accept that help and to decide what we want to do, if we would rather be with Him, or the world. Until tomorrow.
Most of this section has to do with things we've been told before. Things such as obeying the Lord's commandments and controlling our thoughts so that we do not lust after a woman. Things that the Lord has been saying for thousands of years. The Lord also spends a good portion of this section directing the Saints on their temporal needs and wants.
The part that struck me and stayed with me though is from verse 64 where the Lord says that which cometh from above is sacred and must be spoken with care. I have heard this before, as I am sure many of you have also. Personal revelation given from the Lord, is not always meant to be shared. Sometimes it is meant to be kept close to the heart. Personal revelation is just that, it is personal and meant to be kept close to the heart and only shared with a select few. It is very similar to your patriarchal blessing in that sense. But I think it also has to do with the concept of milk before meat. A lot of people do not understand the things of the Spirit very well. They hear something on TV, or from a friend or from any number of sources and just assume it is true and it tarnishes their opinion of Latter-day Saints.
Just the other day I was talking with a friend of mine and the subject of Latter-day Saints came up and a change came over her face and she mentioned that she thought Mormons were dumb and there was no way I could possibly be one of them. I was shocked and asked what I could do to prove I was a Latter-day Saint. Her reply was to marry another woman. I then laughed and was able to explain that we do not practice plural marriage and haven't since around 1898. She was a little hesitant to believe at first since media has portrayed otherwise and I explained that while some might claim to be Latter-day Saint, any Latter-day Saint who practices plural marriage is excommunicated from the church. She was fine with it after that and I introduced her to Mormon.org and she was fine after that. But this is a classic example of why it is important to talk about the simple first and work your way up to the complex.
Are Latter-day Saints ashamed that once upon a time we practiced plural marriage? We shouldn't be, after all it was a commandment of the Lord. It was also a commandment of the Lord to stop. Does there need to be any more explanation than that, no, not really. Remember, we do not answer to man, we answer to God. Just as with other aspects of the Gospel in the past, all we really know is that is the way the Lord wished it done at that time and now He doesn't. There are theories enough to fill a warehouse but the fact of the matter is, we do as God directs us.
But getting back on track with our original topic, the Lord needs to know He can trust us. Or perhaps more accurately, WE need to know we can trust ourselves with the Lord's revelations. The Lord knows all about us and knows if we will keep that which is sacred to ourselves or if we will go blabbing willy nilly to every person we meet. Just as with Abraham being commanded to sacrifice his only son, Abraham needed to learn that he would do anything the Lord asked of Him. The Lord already knows how we are going to react. It truly is us that needs to learn how we will react when push comes to shove.
But as we grow closer to our goal and try our best to do that which is right in the Lord's sight, we will learn some amazing things and become more like Him. Our minds will be opened to understand the kingdom of God even further and we will have His confidence and trust like never before. He will also help us forsake the things of the world as we strive and struggle to overcome our temptations. Remember He loves us and wants us to return to Him so He will help us in anyway we will allow Him to. It's really up to us to accept that help and to decide what we want to do, if we would rather be with Him, or the world. Until tomorrow.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
An Attitude of Gratitude
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 62. This period of time for the early Saints seems to be an interesting time. Several of the revelations cover the exact same topics and items. It sometimes makes it a challenge to find new things to talk about on here. Today I was struck by a phrase the Lord has said many times before and repeated in this section.
In verse 7 the Lord tells the brethren that He does not care how they return home, so long as if the Lord blesses them they receive the blessing with thankfulness in their hearts. I knew a song when I was a child and I cannot remember how it goes anymore except for one line and the accompanying tune. The words that always run through my mind are "An attitude of gratitude". I have no idea how the rest of that song went but I sure do remember that line.
I have a very good friend at work that sits next to me and she and I talk everyday. Sometimes we stick to work topics, other times we talk about stuff outside of work, and sometimes we like to complain ABOUT work. Let's face it, no matter how much you love your job, everyone has bad days or days where things go wrong or employees just seem to not want to work, etc and it can make for a bad day or a bitter you. Well, like most of you I am sure, I work in the customer service industry and not only do I have to worry about my employees, I also have to worry about my customers.
My friend at work likes to describe it as "the microwave generation". They want what they want and they don't want to have to wait for it! It is a very apt description indeed. The strange/sad thing is it does not just affect those of the rising or current generation. It has infested some of the people in every generation that are on the earth. You could also describe it as a general spirit of ingratitude. I have NEVER in my life come face to face with a people so ungrateful for what they have. Now, to be fair it is not everyone at work and certainly not all of my customers, but it does seem to be a disproportionate amount!
I even find myself falling into this trap at times. What's worse, is the person I seem to have the most trouble saying thanks to for something, is my wife! Can you believe that? The person I should be saying thanks to the most in this life, besides God, and she's the one person I consistently have an issue thanking for. Now my wife and I both make a conscious effort to say thank you more often than we have in the past and it has helped tremendously and I have found myself saying thank you more often to the people who are a little less important in my life.
But it has me thinking because usually the things that I have noticed with my wife and I though is I really don't have a reason for not being more grateful to her. The times I have a problem saying thank you, it is almost physically hard or difficult, I can think of no other way to explain it honestly. But the natural man in me, I guess, takes so strong control that it is almost like trying to wade through jelly. Maybe it's like that for others? Maybe when they think that they should say thank you the natural man kicks in and feeds them lies like they deserve it anyway so they shouldn't have to say thank you, or something similar. But the fact of the matter is, we all need to say thank you.
Oddly enough the people who seem to have the hardest time saying thank you are the prideful and the rich. Generally speaking of course, I have known many wealthy people in my time that were very humble and full of gratitude. But it is strange that the prideful would have such a hard time saying thank you. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the prideful don't want to admit that they need the help? I'm not really sure. The Lord has made it clear though that He will not only have a humble people, but He will have a grateful people on top of it! But most humble people are a thankful people. I say most because I have met humble people who are not full of gratitude, although it is rare.
When is the last time you said a prayer and only thanked God for what you have? It is REALLY hard surprisingly. But it also really forces you to think about what the Lord has done for you. A final thought that I think most people may not think about too. Have you ever been late for a meeting and need to find a parking space so you say a little prayer. Then as if by magic you find one right next to you. How many in that instance will then say, "Don't worry God, I found one"? Rather shouldn't you say, "Thank you, Heavenly Father, for answering my prayer so immediately! I really appreciate it." Remember God is upset when we confess not His hand in ALL things! Food for thought. Until tomorrow.
In verse 7 the Lord tells the brethren that He does not care how they return home, so long as if the Lord blesses them they receive the blessing with thankfulness in their hearts. I knew a song when I was a child and I cannot remember how it goes anymore except for one line and the accompanying tune. The words that always run through my mind are "An attitude of gratitude". I have no idea how the rest of that song went but I sure do remember that line.
I have a very good friend at work that sits next to me and she and I talk everyday. Sometimes we stick to work topics, other times we talk about stuff outside of work, and sometimes we like to complain ABOUT work. Let's face it, no matter how much you love your job, everyone has bad days or days where things go wrong or employees just seem to not want to work, etc and it can make for a bad day or a bitter you. Well, like most of you I am sure, I work in the customer service industry and not only do I have to worry about my employees, I also have to worry about my customers.
My friend at work likes to describe it as "the microwave generation". They want what they want and they don't want to have to wait for it! It is a very apt description indeed. The strange/sad thing is it does not just affect those of the rising or current generation. It has infested some of the people in every generation that are on the earth. You could also describe it as a general spirit of ingratitude. I have NEVER in my life come face to face with a people so ungrateful for what they have. Now, to be fair it is not everyone at work and certainly not all of my customers, but it does seem to be a disproportionate amount!
I even find myself falling into this trap at times. What's worse, is the person I seem to have the most trouble saying thanks to for something, is my wife! Can you believe that? The person I should be saying thanks to the most in this life, besides God, and she's the one person I consistently have an issue thanking for. Now my wife and I both make a conscious effort to say thank you more often than we have in the past and it has helped tremendously and I have found myself saying thank you more often to the people who are a little less important in my life.
But it has me thinking because usually the things that I have noticed with my wife and I though is I really don't have a reason for not being more grateful to her. The times I have a problem saying thank you, it is almost physically hard or difficult, I can think of no other way to explain it honestly. But the natural man in me, I guess, takes so strong control that it is almost like trying to wade through jelly. Maybe it's like that for others? Maybe when they think that they should say thank you the natural man kicks in and feeds them lies like they deserve it anyway so they shouldn't have to say thank you, or something similar. But the fact of the matter is, we all need to say thank you.
Oddly enough the people who seem to have the hardest time saying thank you are the prideful and the rich. Generally speaking of course, I have known many wealthy people in my time that were very humble and full of gratitude. But it is strange that the prideful would have such a hard time saying thank you. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the prideful don't want to admit that they need the help? I'm not really sure. The Lord has made it clear though that He will not only have a humble people, but He will have a grateful people on top of it! But most humble people are a thankful people. I say most because I have met humble people who are not full of gratitude, although it is rare.
When is the last time you said a prayer and only thanked God for what you have? It is REALLY hard surprisingly. But it also really forces you to think about what the Lord has done for you. A final thought that I think most people may not think about too. Have you ever been late for a meeting and need to find a parking space so you say a little prayer. Then as if by magic you find one right next to you. How many in that instance will then say, "Don't worry God, I found one"? Rather shouldn't you say, "Thank you, Heavenly Father, for answering my prayer so immediately! I really appreciate it." Remember God is upset when we confess not His hand in ALL things! Food for thought. Until tomorrow.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Missionary Work is our Responsibility
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 61. This section has always made me scratch my head and wonder at the same time. The heading where it says W. W. Phelps sees a vision of Satan riding in power upon the waters. That is just creepy to me. I also find it interesting that the Lord says through John the waters were cursed. It is true that many, many people drown each and every year, however I have never attributed it to the power of the devil.
However, the Lord uses this opportunity to teach His servants a valuable lesson: you are ALWAYS on the Lord's errand. He asks them if it is expedient that they should ride down the river when people on each side of it are perishing in unbelief? How many stories have you heard of missionaries going home who even though their mission is over an they are no longer in their field take the time to teach a missionary lesson on the plane? My wife is one of them. When she was traveling home from her mission she taught 2 first discussions to passengers on the plane she was on.
But, even for those of us not on a full time mission, we promised at our baptism to stand as witnesses for Christ at all times and in all places. To me, like Paul, that means not being ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I probably could, but I don't go shouting from the rooftops that I am a Latter-day Saint. But I also make no secret of the fact that I live different than those around me. When it comes up and is appropriate I make no secret that unlike my co-workers, I do not drink coffee, or tea, or the big one, alcohol. The alcohol statement is pretty funny because these day a lot of people will follow up my statement with, "Yeah I really don't drink much either". I always smile and let them know they misunderstood me, that I don't drink ever and never have and then I smile wider as they look at me incredulously. It never fails to amuse me that people react to me not drinking alcohol the same way as if I said that I sacrifice small animals for amusement. They just can't even wrap their minds around it. It's like I have suddenly become a foreign entity in their minds.
And perhaps I have at that. Peter, at least I'm pretty sure it was Peter, said we are a peculiar people. We are meant to stand out, it's one of the best ways to share the gospel without even having to do very much. Sharing the gospel really is as easy as living it. As most of you will also know, there are few things that feel as good as sharing the gospel with a friend and having them accept it. I've had several friends in my time listen to the missionaries and gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel. And as the scriptures say if ou only bring one soul unto the Lord through all your efforts, your job with that person in the kingdom of God will be great. And if your joy will be great with one soul, just imagine how wonderful it will be with many. I had a friend once tell me to not pray for missionary moments, because they are already out there and we just have to take advantage of them. Rather pray that when they come, you will have the courage to open your mouth, and the wisdom to fill it. I've always found it to be good advice and I pass it along to all of you now. Missionary work is very important to the Lord and He will help us if we ask Him for it. Just make sure you are ready when yu do. Until tomorrow.
However, the Lord uses this opportunity to teach His servants a valuable lesson: you are ALWAYS on the Lord's errand. He asks them if it is expedient that they should ride down the river when people on each side of it are perishing in unbelief? How many stories have you heard of missionaries going home who even though their mission is over an they are no longer in their field take the time to teach a missionary lesson on the plane? My wife is one of them. When she was traveling home from her mission she taught 2 first discussions to passengers on the plane she was on.
But, even for those of us not on a full time mission, we promised at our baptism to stand as witnesses for Christ at all times and in all places. To me, like Paul, that means not being ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I probably could, but I don't go shouting from the rooftops that I am a Latter-day Saint. But I also make no secret of the fact that I live different than those around me. When it comes up and is appropriate I make no secret that unlike my co-workers, I do not drink coffee, or tea, or the big one, alcohol. The alcohol statement is pretty funny because these day a lot of people will follow up my statement with, "Yeah I really don't drink much either". I always smile and let them know they misunderstood me, that I don't drink ever and never have and then I smile wider as they look at me incredulously. It never fails to amuse me that people react to me not drinking alcohol the same way as if I said that I sacrifice small animals for amusement. They just can't even wrap their minds around it. It's like I have suddenly become a foreign entity in their minds.
And perhaps I have at that. Peter, at least I'm pretty sure it was Peter, said we are a peculiar people. We are meant to stand out, it's one of the best ways to share the gospel without even having to do very much. Sharing the gospel really is as easy as living it. As most of you will also know, there are few things that feel as good as sharing the gospel with a friend and having them accept it. I've had several friends in my time listen to the missionaries and gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel. And as the scriptures say if ou only bring one soul unto the Lord through all your efforts, your job with that person in the kingdom of God will be great. And if your joy will be great with one soul, just imagine how wonderful it will be with many. I had a friend once tell me to not pray for missionary moments, because they are already out there and we just have to take advantage of them. Rather pray that when they come, you will have the courage to open your mouth, and the wisdom to fill it. I've always found it to be good advice and I pass it along to all of you now. Missionary work is very important to the Lord and He will help us if we ask Him for it. Just make sure you are ready when yu do. Until tomorrow.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Talents
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 60, a section given to the elders who had been sent to preach the gospel and were coming home. I was really intrigued by the part of the section where the Lord tells the elders to not hide their talents and to preach the gospel the way they had been commanded to and not to fear man.
The law of consecration is defined as using all your talents and everything the Lord has blessed you with to build up the kingdom of God. I'm also reminded of the parable of the talents. The parable of the talents is recorded in the New Testament and in it we are told by the Savior that we should not be ashamed or afraid to show our talents. Now in the story the Savior tells the talents are money, but even the Savior has told us that it is the same principle.
Everyone in this life is blessed with talents. Some are able to speak with eloquence, some are able to sing, some have a knowledge of the scriptures, and many others. Some are blessed with many talents and some with only a few. How ever everyone has at least one talent they are blessed with. Some are ashamed of their talents and try and hide them. However, the Lord is not pleased with such actions. In fact He equates it with fearing man more than God.
I have often wondered about some talents and how they can be used to build up the kingdom of God. For example, for a long time I used to wonder what the talent of singing well was for and how it could be used to build up the kingdom. However, the church frequently puts on concerts that have, in the past, touched some people's hearts so that they joined the church as a result. The Mormon Tabernacle choir comes to mind also. Some are gifted with the ability to write well and as a result should use those talents to spread the gospel through the written word. Others are gifted with the silver tongue and should use it to talk about the gospel.
There are other spiritual talents too. There is the talent to interpret scripture. There's a talent to interpret the promptings of the Spirit, I don't think I have that one. I have had many instances in my life where I have had a spiritual prompting to do something and even though I have done it, I have not recognized it as a prompting from the Spirit until much later. But there are talents to teach by the Spirit, to talk by the Spirit, by that I mean there are people who are in tune with the Spirit that the Lord can use them to teach others what the Lord would have them know without being in a formal teaching setting.
As in all other things, the Lord uses us as His instruments here on the earth to accomplish His work. We are given talents so that we can do what He needs us to do in His name. It can also enrich and bless our lives. Music is a huge part of all of our lives and all those who are blessed with a sweet sounding voice can bless the lives of all those who hear their voices. All talents are meant to be used and cultivated and used to build up the kingdom of God. As we strive to discover our talents we should work with the Lord to determine just what we can use it for to help do His work and His will. Until tomorrow.
The law of consecration is defined as using all your talents and everything the Lord has blessed you with to build up the kingdom of God. I'm also reminded of the parable of the talents. The parable of the talents is recorded in the New Testament and in it we are told by the Savior that we should not be ashamed or afraid to show our talents. Now in the story the Savior tells the talents are money, but even the Savior has told us that it is the same principle.
Everyone in this life is blessed with talents. Some are able to speak with eloquence, some are able to sing, some have a knowledge of the scriptures, and many others. Some are blessed with many talents and some with only a few. How ever everyone has at least one talent they are blessed with. Some are ashamed of their talents and try and hide them. However, the Lord is not pleased with such actions. In fact He equates it with fearing man more than God.
I have often wondered about some talents and how they can be used to build up the kingdom of God. For example, for a long time I used to wonder what the talent of singing well was for and how it could be used to build up the kingdom. However, the church frequently puts on concerts that have, in the past, touched some people's hearts so that they joined the church as a result. The Mormon Tabernacle choir comes to mind also. Some are gifted with the ability to write well and as a result should use those talents to spread the gospel through the written word. Others are gifted with the silver tongue and should use it to talk about the gospel.
There are other spiritual talents too. There is the talent to interpret scripture. There's a talent to interpret the promptings of the Spirit, I don't think I have that one. I have had many instances in my life where I have had a spiritual prompting to do something and even though I have done it, I have not recognized it as a prompting from the Spirit until much later. But there are talents to teach by the Spirit, to talk by the Spirit, by that I mean there are people who are in tune with the Spirit that the Lord can use them to teach others what the Lord would have them know without being in a formal teaching setting.
As in all other things, the Lord uses us as His instruments here on the earth to accomplish His work. We are given talents so that we can do what He needs us to do in His name. It can also enrich and bless our lives. Music is a huge part of all of our lives and all those who are blessed with a sweet sounding voice can bless the lives of all those who hear their voices. All talents are meant to be used and cultivated and used to build up the kingdom of God. As we strive to discover our talents we should work with the Lord to determine just what we can use it for to help do His work and His will. Until tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Sabbath Day and Confessing the Lord's Hand in all Things
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 59 and I have no idea where to start. This section starting at verse 7 has almost every single verse highlighted and there is SO much we could talk about. Some of what the Lord is saying we have talked about before so I don't think I will touch on it today.
The part of this section that I don't think we have dwelt on very much is the part about keeping the Sabbath day holy. I once had a friend give a talk in Sacrament meeting about the Sabbath day and he said something that has always stayed with me. He said that in our great-grandfather's time it was called the Holy Sabbath. In our grandfather's time it was the Sabbath. In our father's day it was called Sunday. And in our day it's called the weekend. We have lost our reverence for the Sabbath as a culture.
I think it is interesting that the Lord says in verse 9 that one of the purposes of the Sabbath and keeping it holy is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. And truly in this day and age of self pleasure and total disregard for the Lord and His commandments, keeping the Sabbath day holy certainly does make us different from the rest of the world. When I tell my friends, even those that go to church on Sundays, that I don't go out to eat, that I don't go out to parties, etc they look at me like I am crazy. But you know what? I really like not doing anything besides the Lord's work on Sundays. It's very relaxing.
The Lord also points out that Sunday should not be the only day we speak with the Lord. He reminds us that should be praying to Him and doing His work everyday of the week, but that the Sabbath day is the day appointed unto us to especially go to church and pay our devotions to Him and to rest from our labors. Another neat point in this section is the fact that the Lord equates fasting with rejoicing. Now that is really interesting to me. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't usually equate not eating or drinking for two straight meals with rejoicing. However, if you think about it, the opportunity to sacrifice on behalf of another, perhaps even a family member, is really unique and awesome. Talk about acting as a savior on Mount Zion! While yes we always can pray and we can promise God everything on the other person's behalf and we can hope and plead, but that's usually as far as it goes with most people. But to fast in behalf of someone, to go without sustaining fuel of the body. That is true sacrifice and that takes real love and compassion to do for someone else.
The final point I want to make from this section is one of my favorite verses in all the scriptures. In verse 21 the Lord tell us that against none is His wrath kindled save against those who confess not His hand in all things. The Lord is very big on making sure we do not take credit unto ourselves when we do something in the Lord's name. I had a discussion on Sunday with the Elder's Quorum presidency in my ward, I am the secretary for the Elder's Quorum. We were discussing if the faith of a sick person is necessary for them to be healed, what is the purpose of a priesthood blessing. We came to a consensus that the priesthood blessing is more about revealing the will of the Lord in the matter. Also, as long as he person is in tune with the Spirit, it can help tremendously in having the person get better. I told a story where I was once an instrument in God's hands with a friend of mine who had been sick for over a year and was losing all hope. My friend asked me for a blessing and the Lord was able to use me to describe the exact problem with their body to the person so that they could tell the doctor and within a matter of 3 months they were completely cured of their ailment! Now, I had no idea what the medical term for my friend's condition at the time was, I know it now, but I was able to describe it perfectly and give such a clear picture that my friend asked the doctor to look for it and sure enough it was there! But we all know it was not me. I was a conduit for the Lord in speaking to my friend, no more. How could I know what it was when I had never even heard of the condition?
The Lord allows us to assist in the salvation of others but that is all we are doing, assisting. How can we help others in their eternal journey? All that we are and can become is due to the Lord. We have done nothing and can do nothing save it is by the power of the Lord. Our very life comes from Him. It is sheer folly to think that we can do anything of ourselves. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, an Apostle, once said that the only true sacrifice we can offer up to the Lord is our will, our agency. It is the only thing that is uniquely ours. EVERYTHING else we have and are, are gifts from our Heavenly Father. Our natural talents, our intelligence, our bodies, all belong to Him and are gifts to us from Him. Only our will is wholly our own. How can we not confess His ways are just and we are nothing without Him? We are told that in time all will acknowledge His ways are just and His judgments righteous, why not start now since He asks it of us? Can we, should we, do any less that what He, our creator, has asked of us? Until tomorrow.
The part of this section that I don't think we have dwelt on very much is the part about keeping the Sabbath day holy. I once had a friend give a talk in Sacrament meeting about the Sabbath day and he said something that has always stayed with me. He said that in our great-grandfather's time it was called the Holy Sabbath. In our grandfather's time it was the Sabbath. In our father's day it was called Sunday. And in our day it's called the weekend. We have lost our reverence for the Sabbath as a culture.
I think it is interesting that the Lord says in verse 9 that one of the purposes of the Sabbath and keeping it holy is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. And truly in this day and age of self pleasure and total disregard for the Lord and His commandments, keeping the Sabbath day holy certainly does make us different from the rest of the world. When I tell my friends, even those that go to church on Sundays, that I don't go out to eat, that I don't go out to parties, etc they look at me like I am crazy. But you know what? I really like not doing anything besides the Lord's work on Sundays. It's very relaxing.
The Lord also points out that Sunday should not be the only day we speak with the Lord. He reminds us that should be praying to Him and doing His work everyday of the week, but that the Sabbath day is the day appointed unto us to especially go to church and pay our devotions to Him and to rest from our labors. Another neat point in this section is the fact that the Lord equates fasting with rejoicing. Now that is really interesting to me. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't usually equate not eating or drinking for two straight meals with rejoicing. However, if you think about it, the opportunity to sacrifice on behalf of another, perhaps even a family member, is really unique and awesome. Talk about acting as a savior on Mount Zion! While yes we always can pray and we can promise God everything on the other person's behalf and we can hope and plead, but that's usually as far as it goes with most people. But to fast in behalf of someone, to go without sustaining fuel of the body. That is true sacrifice and that takes real love and compassion to do for someone else.
The final point I want to make from this section is one of my favorite verses in all the scriptures. In verse 21 the Lord tell us that against none is His wrath kindled save against those who confess not His hand in all things. The Lord is very big on making sure we do not take credit unto ourselves when we do something in the Lord's name. I had a discussion on Sunday with the Elder's Quorum presidency in my ward, I am the secretary for the Elder's Quorum. We were discussing if the faith of a sick person is necessary for them to be healed, what is the purpose of a priesthood blessing. We came to a consensus that the priesthood blessing is more about revealing the will of the Lord in the matter. Also, as long as he person is in tune with the Spirit, it can help tremendously in having the person get better. I told a story where I was once an instrument in God's hands with a friend of mine who had been sick for over a year and was losing all hope. My friend asked me for a blessing and the Lord was able to use me to describe the exact problem with their body to the person so that they could tell the doctor and within a matter of 3 months they were completely cured of their ailment! Now, I had no idea what the medical term for my friend's condition at the time was, I know it now, but I was able to describe it perfectly and give such a clear picture that my friend asked the doctor to look for it and sure enough it was there! But we all know it was not me. I was a conduit for the Lord in speaking to my friend, no more. How could I know what it was when I had never even heard of the condition?
The Lord allows us to assist in the salvation of others but that is all we are doing, assisting. How can we help others in their eternal journey? All that we are and can become is due to the Lord. We have done nothing and can do nothing save it is by the power of the Lord. Our very life comes from Him. It is sheer folly to think that we can do anything of ourselves. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, an Apostle, once said that the only true sacrifice we can offer up to the Lord is our will, our agency. It is the only thing that is uniquely ours. EVERYTHING else we have and are, are gifts from our Heavenly Father. Our natural talents, our intelligence, our bodies, all belong to Him and are gifts to us from Him. Only our will is wholly our own. How can we not confess His ways are just and we are nothing without Him? We are told that in time all will acknowledge His ways are just and His judgments righteous, why not start now since He asks it of us? Can we, should we, do any less that what He, our creator, has asked of us? Until tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Be not Compelled in all Things
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.
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.
Monday, February 21, 2011
No Man is an Island
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 57, which contains commands for several of the brethren for the building up of Zion. As I was reading this section I was thinking about several things. I was thinking about the literal gathering of Israel, how people in this last dispensation, when the church was young, were gathered together for their protection. And it surely was needed. This revelation was given in 1831 and in less than 10 years, the Saints would be driven out at gun point from the state of Missouri.
I also thought while reading this section how much the early Saints relied upon the Lord. We have already spoken on this subject and I don't really wish to expound further on it, but it never ceases to amaze me when I read the Doctrine and Covenants just how much the Lord helped the early Saints.
But what stood out most to me in this section was the phrase "no man is an island". I have no idea what the originator of that sentence means, but I have always took it to mean that we are not alone and we cannot survive on our own. We need others to help us on our way. In this section, all the people who are given commands are told to do things for reasons other than to get gain. Sidney Gilbert was commanded to open a store to raise money. W. W. Phelps was commanded to open a printing press. Now, both professions could be quite lucrative if they were to open those places of business for the purpose to get gain. But both men were commanded to do these things with the intent to further the work of the Lord.
Yesterday in Elders Quorum meeting, we had a lesson on service. The instructor started out by listing on the board who do we serve. He next asked how do we serve and finally why do we serve. As you can imagine we had all kinds of reasons up on the board. He also read a talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, the first talk he gave as a general authority in the church according to the instructor, wherein he listed 6 reasons that we serve. It was a really good lesson but we never really covered how if we serve we will grow to love the people we are serving. It always blows my mind when I read horrible news stories, or more often than not, headlines, of mothers doing evil things to their children, especially infants and toddlers because they spend all their time serving the child they should be growing to love the child. Of course in this day and age where lifesyle is more important than quality of life and the mother leaves the home to work, perhaps the all important bond of mother and child is not being formed like it should be.
The reason I bring this up is because the Lord is asking these brethren to perform a great service for others. It's no different than if you were a car mechanic to the Lord telling you to open up a garage and give all your proceeds to the church. Or any other number of professions. It would be really hard to do I think. And yet that is what these men did. It's a little hard to disregard a direct commandment from the Lord. But it brings up another thought, no man, or woman, can make it on their own. Going back to our no man is an island statement, mankind needs fellow human beings to help. Just as a brand new baby needs his/her parents to assist and get through life, so too do we need other human beings to help and assist us. Despite the misnomer of "self made man", there is not a single person on this planet that has done everything for themselves. Everyone has had some kind of assistance at one point or another. But that is all part of God's plan. That is why it feels so nice to perform service for others.
As we lose ourselves in service to others, we stop worrying about the cost, both monetary and otherwise, of providing that service. We instead start worrying about the welfare of those we are serving, we start looking at them more like Christ does. And that's the way it should be since we are all working towards becoming more Christlike. After all, if you think about it, does God do anything for himself? Perhaps He does, but we don't know about it. As we grow to be more Christlike, we will want to give more and more service to those around us and we will grow in love for those we do serve too. We will grow to love them more too. Until tomorrow.
I also thought while reading this section how much the early Saints relied upon the Lord. We have already spoken on this subject and I don't really wish to expound further on it, but it never ceases to amaze me when I read the Doctrine and Covenants just how much the Lord helped the early Saints.
But what stood out most to me in this section was the phrase "no man is an island". I have no idea what the originator of that sentence means, but I have always took it to mean that we are not alone and we cannot survive on our own. We need others to help us on our way. In this section, all the people who are given commands are told to do things for reasons other than to get gain. Sidney Gilbert was commanded to open a store to raise money. W. W. Phelps was commanded to open a printing press. Now, both professions could be quite lucrative if they were to open those places of business for the purpose to get gain. But both men were commanded to do these things with the intent to further the work of the Lord.
Yesterday in Elders Quorum meeting, we had a lesson on service. The instructor started out by listing on the board who do we serve. He next asked how do we serve and finally why do we serve. As you can imagine we had all kinds of reasons up on the board. He also read a talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, the first talk he gave as a general authority in the church according to the instructor, wherein he listed 6 reasons that we serve. It was a really good lesson but we never really covered how if we serve we will grow to love the people we are serving. It always blows my mind when I read horrible news stories, or more often than not, headlines, of mothers doing evil things to their children, especially infants and toddlers because they spend all their time serving the child they should be growing to love the child. Of course in this day and age where lifesyle is more important than quality of life and the mother leaves the home to work, perhaps the all important bond of mother and child is not being formed like it should be.
The reason I bring this up is because the Lord is asking these brethren to perform a great service for others. It's no different than if you were a car mechanic to the Lord telling you to open up a garage and give all your proceeds to the church. Or any other number of professions. It would be really hard to do I think. And yet that is what these men did. It's a little hard to disregard a direct commandment from the Lord. But it brings up another thought, no man, or woman, can make it on their own. Going back to our no man is an island statement, mankind needs fellow human beings to help. Just as a brand new baby needs his/her parents to assist and get through life, so too do we need other human beings to help and assist us. Despite the misnomer of "self made man", there is not a single person on this planet that has done everything for themselves. Everyone has had some kind of assistance at one point or another. But that is all part of God's plan. That is why it feels so nice to perform service for others.
As we lose ourselves in service to others, we stop worrying about the cost, both monetary and otherwise, of providing that service. We instead start worrying about the welfare of those we are serving, we start looking at them more like Christ does. And that's the way it should be since we are all working towards becoming more Christlike. After all, if you think about it, does God do anything for himself? Perhaps He does, but we don't know about it. As we grow to be more Christlike, we will want to give more and more service to those around us and we will grow in love for those we do serve too. We will grow to love them more too. Until tomorrow.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Profess vs. Confess
Today I read Docrtine and Covenants section 56. I was immediately struck by the tone of the section as soon as I started reading it. The very first line was powerful, "Hearken, O ye that profess my name, saith the Lord your God". Even before the next phrase where the Lord declared He was angry I got the feeling He was not pleased with the people. It was the word profess. I got a strong feeling that the Lord feels that the people are not sincere in their devotion to Him.
It got me thinking of the difference between the word profess and confess. Because have been told in the scriptures that every tongue will confess that the Lord is God among other things. But the word profess just gives a whole different meaning/conotation compared to confess. I looked up both words and they were very similar in definition with one exception. With the word profess, the very first definition had a negative conatation. Specifically of being insincere.
Which led to other thoughts. I served my mission in California among the Chinese speaking population as I believe I have mentioned in the past. I'm a little ashamed to admit that as missionaries when we would meet someone who said they were a Buddhist, we basically reacted as if someone had told us they were Catholic. By that I mean we assumed that they had a basic belief in God but never went to church and did not really adhere to the tennents of their belief. Now, my intent is not to bash anyone's religion. I have met good, wonderful people who attend Catholic church every single week and live the teaches of their church, but I think even they would agree with me that they are the minority.
We unfortunately live in a day and age where "being religious" does not really hold much weight anymore. Most people will tell you that they are religious, but they do not attend church. I will say though that I think it is different based on geography. Since moving down to Alabama, I have met more non-LDS people who really do attend church every Sunday. It's kinda nice actually. There are many, many more people though that consider themselves close to God and feel they are religious that would be hard pressed to tell you the last time they stepped foot into a church building and do not follow their own church's beliefs. I am by no means an expert on other church's beliefs, but I know for fact that we are not the only church that teaches no sex before marriage or not drinking to excess if at all. And yet, the LDS church is not without it's members who do not adhere to the rules although I do feel we have a higher percentage of people following the rules than average or is the new norm.
The point to all this though, is I feel that when God looks at such people if He were to describe them, I think He would use the word profess instead of confess in regards to their belief in Him. God does not want people who are idle in their worship of Him. God requires certain things from His followers and I suspect that when we do not hold up our end of the bargain, He views it as a mockery. We of course do not perceive it that way, but put yourself in His shoes. Say you had a friend, and you needed that friend's help. You ask and he says yes he will be there to help out. On the given day at the given time your friend does not show up. What's worse, when you finally catch up him, he does not feel remorse in the slightest and wonders why you are upset with him. This same friend as time goes on start's doing things that you and he promised each other you would never do, starts using bad languge, sleeping around and using drugs. Does it really sound like this person is your friend? You can't really blame Heavenly Father for getting upset with us and saying that we are professing his name instead of confessing it.
This is the reason that God proclaimed to Joseph Smith that the people drew near unto God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. As He said, as recorded in the book of John in the New Testament, if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Other scriptures urge us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. It should be no surprise if Heavenly Father does not take our commitment to Him seriously. He has already spelled out for us what it means to be true disciples to Him and if we don't do it, we should not be surprised if He does not feel we are sincere in our faith to Him. As we strive to live our lives in accordance with His teachings and true principles, I hope that you will strive to confess your belief in Him and not just profess it. Until tomorrow.
It got me thinking of the difference between the word profess and confess. Because have been told in the scriptures that every tongue will confess that the Lord is God among other things. But the word profess just gives a whole different meaning/conotation compared to confess. I looked up both words and they were very similar in definition with one exception. With the word profess, the very first definition had a negative conatation. Specifically of being insincere.
Which led to other thoughts. I served my mission in California among the Chinese speaking population as I believe I have mentioned in the past. I'm a little ashamed to admit that as missionaries when we would meet someone who said they were a Buddhist, we basically reacted as if someone had told us they were Catholic. By that I mean we assumed that they had a basic belief in God but never went to church and did not really adhere to the tennents of their belief. Now, my intent is not to bash anyone's religion. I have met good, wonderful people who attend Catholic church every single week and live the teaches of their church, but I think even they would agree with me that they are the minority.
We unfortunately live in a day and age where "being religious" does not really hold much weight anymore. Most people will tell you that they are religious, but they do not attend church. I will say though that I think it is different based on geography. Since moving down to Alabama, I have met more non-LDS people who really do attend church every Sunday. It's kinda nice actually. There are many, many more people though that consider themselves close to God and feel they are religious that would be hard pressed to tell you the last time they stepped foot into a church building and do not follow their own church's beliefs. I am by no means an expert on other church's beliefs, but I know for fact that we are not the only church that teaches no sex before marriage or not drinking to excess if at all. And yet, the LDS church is not without it's members who do not adhere to the rules although I do feel we have a higher percentage of people following the rules than average or is the new norm.
The point to all this though, is I feel that when God looks at such people if He were to describe them, I think He would use the word profess instead of confess in regards to their belief in Him. God does not want people who are idle in their worship of Him. God requires certain things from His followers and I suspect that when we do not hold up our end of the bargain, He views it as a mockery. We of course do not perceive it that way, but put yourself in His shoes. Say you had a friend, and you needed that friend's help. You ask and he says yes he will be there to help out. On the given day at the given time your friend does not show up. What's worse, when you finally catch up him, he does not feel remorse in the slightest and wonders why you are upset with him. This same friend as time goes on start's doing things that you and he promised each other you would never do, starts using bad languge, sleeping around and using drugs. Does it really sound like this person is your friend? You can't really blame Heavenly Father for getting upset with us and saying that we are professing his name instead of confessing it.
This is the reason that God proclaimed to Joseph Smith that the people drew near unto God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. As He said, as recorded in the book of John in the New Testament, if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Other scriptures urge us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. It should be no surprise if Heavenly Father does not take our commitment to Him seriously. He has already spelled out for us what it means to be true disciples to Him and if we don't do it, we should not be surprised if He does not feel we are sincere in our faith to Him. As we strive to live our lives in accordance with His teachings and true principles, I hope that you will strive to confess your belief in Him and not just profess it. Until tomorrow.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Little Children are Precious in His Sight
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 55, a section given to W. W. Phelps upon his arrival to Kirtland. I don't know about you, but every time I think about W. W. Phelps I think of the hymn "Praise to the Man" which he wrote the words to. Like so many before him, or it may have been Joseph it isn't very clear, he sought the will of the Lord concerning him.
It is sections like this that make me very glad I live in this day and age when I know what is expected of me. I already know that the Lord needs me to live a good and righteous life and to share the gospel with those around me. It is also a huge blessing to live in this day and age of technology where if there is something the Lord needs to tell His people He can tell the prophet who can then disseminate the information in a matter of a few hours if need be. For the most part though, we are asked to do the same things we have always been asked to do. When Elder Bednar visited our stake for stake conference last year, he said the reason we do not hear new things at General Conference, is because we have not yet mastered the current things being talked about. Just like with building a home, if we have not mastered the basics and built a good home for ourselves, we cannot add onto that home.
W.W. Phelps in this section is basically commanded to build up the kingdom to the Lord. He is commanded to preach, baptize, give the gift of the Holy Ghost and to teach little children in the church. I never really thought about it before, so I cannot say I have wondered, but prior to having my own daughter, I'm not sure I understood why the Lord was so concerned with teaching the little children and why he would use them in His analogies so often. Now that I have a daughter of my own, I can't imagine not raising her up to be a righteous woman. Every time I see her sweet smile and listen to her laughter I think again to myself what a blessing it is to be able to raise children unto the Lord. Most people I find do not enjoy serving in the primary. I think it's because they feel isolated, I'm not sure really. I served for a year teaching the sunbeams though and it was wonderful and rewarding at the same time. To every week feel the sweet spirits of those 3 - 4 year olds was a true blessing.
I some times wonder how Heavenly Father can behold all the horrors this world has to offer. How can he watch the world with how evil it is becoming? I sometimes feel like crying at the limited things I am exposed to, when children are abused, killed for sport or drugs, when people are treated poorly and spouses abuse spouses, etc. I don't want to paint a vivid picture because I think like me you do not wish to have such scenes placed before you. But God sees it all. How does He do it? How can He view such horrors? It also gives a new appreciation for the Atonement and just what the Savior went through on our behalf. The scriptures say He felt all of our pain and our suffering.
I personally like to think that God can handle all of it, because He chooses to focus on the wonderful and the good in the world. Yes He is aware that bad things are happening, but perhaps, like us, He does not dwell on it and instead focuses on the happy. Little children are precious to the Lord and are the true treasures of the world. This is why when someone does not care for them appropriately, the Lord is so angered I think. I was talking with my wife the other day. We had met one of our neighbors and they had 3 dogs and 2 of them were rescued from families that were abusing them. I had asked my wife how someone can just treat another living thing like that? I also said that I think some people were going to be shocked when they stand before their God and are asked why they treated their pets and children the way they did. I think lots of people are going to be horrified when they see how they have lived their lives through the lens of our Lord.
If you are lucky enough to have little children entrusted to your care, treasure them and teach them the paths they should walk int his life. Remember that no lessons you teach your children will be learned so well as those taught by your actions. A child may remember that you told them to read their scriptures every day, but they will never forget that YOU read your scriptures every day. Remember that all children are the Lord's and they have been entrusted to our care for a short while, and with all our stewardship, we will be accountable for what we did during that time. Make sure you treat them well and teach them the right things. Until tomorrow.
It is sections like this that make me very glad I live in this day and age when I know what is expected of me. I already know that the Lord needs me to live a good and righteous life and to share the gospel with those around me. It is also a huge blessing to live in this day and age of technology where if there is something the Lord needs to tell His people He can tell the prophet who can then disseminate the information in a matter of a few hours if need be. For the most part though, we are asked to do the same things we have always been asked to do. When Elder Bednar visited our stake for stake conference last year, he said the reason we do not hear new things at General Conference, is because we have not yet mastered the current things being talked about. Just like with building a home, if we have not mastered the basics and built a good home for ourselves, we cannot add onto that home.
W.W. Phelps in this section is basically commanded to build up the kingdom to the Lord. He is commanded to preach, baptize, give the gift of the Holy Ghost and to teach little children in the church. I never really thought about it before, so I cannot say I have wondered, but prior to having my own daughter, I'm not sure I understood why the Lord was so concerned with teaching the little children and why he would use them in His analogies so often. Now that I have a daughter of my own, I can't imagine not raising her up to be a righteous woman. Every time I see her sweet smile and listen to her laughter I think again to myself what a blessing it is to be able to raise children unto the Lord. Most people I find do not enjoy serving in the primary. I think it's because they feel isolated, I'm not sure really. I served for a year teaching the sunbeams though and it was wonderful and rewarding at the same time. To every week feel the sweet spirits of those 3 - 4 year olds was a true blessing.
I some times wonder how Heavenly Father can behold all the horrors this world has to offer. How can he watch the world with how evil it is becoming? I sometimes feel like crying at the limited things I am exposed to, when children are abused, killed for sport or drugs, when people are treated poorly and spouses abuse spouses, etc. I don't want to paint a vivid picture because I think like me you do not wish to have such scenes placed before you. But God sees it all. How does He do it? How can He view such horrors? It also gives a new appreciation for the Atonement and just what the Savior went through on our behalf. The scriptures say He felt all of our pain and our suffering.
I personally like to think that God can handle all of it, because He chooses to focus on the wonderful and the good in the world. Yes He is aware that bad things are happening, but perhaps, like us, He does not dwell on it and instead focuses on the happy. Little children are precious to the Lord and are the true treasures of the world. This is why when someone does not care for them appropriately, the Lord is so angered I think. I was talking with my wife the other day. We had met one of our neighbors and they had 3 dogs and 2 of them were rescued from families that were abusing them. I had asked my wife how someone can just treat another living thing like that? I also said that I think some people were going to be shocked when they stand before their God and are asked why they treated their pets and children the way they did. I think lots of people are going to be horrified when they see how they have lived their lives through the lens of our Lord.
If you are lucky enough to have little children entrusted to your care, treasure them and teach them the paths they should walk int his life. Remember that no lessons you teach your children will be learned so well as those taught by your actions. A child may remember that you told them to read their scriptures every day, but they will never forget that YOU read your scriptures every day. Remember that all children are the Lord's and they have been entrusted to our care for a short while, and with all our stewardship, we will be accountable for what we did during that time. Make sure you treat them well and teach them the right things. Until tomorrow.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Obtaining Answers from the Lord
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 54, which was given because of Saints in the early days of the church not keeping the law of consecration and breaking their covenants with the Lord. It must have been tough in the early days of the church, constantly encountering new things and not sure how to handle them. It reminds me of Alma the Elder when he first encountered people breaking the commandments of the Lord and not desiring to repent. But just like prophets of old, he took his question to the Lord and asked him what he should do. Joseph Smith does the same and that of course should be our pattern to.
The phrase counsel with the Lord in all thy doings comes to mind in situations like this. Have you ever prayed and talked to the Lord like He was right there in front of you listening attentively? Have you ever stopped to listen to what He might have to say back to you? We are told that we should counsel with our Father in Heaven the same way we would counsel with our earthly father. We would not call him up and then rattle on with what we wanted and not take the time to listen to a response, but for some reason when we are talking to the one being who DOES have all the answers, that's exactly what we do.
Now, the Lord does want us to come to a decision on our own. Elder Dallin H. Oaks has a wonderful book entitled "The Lord's Way" where he talks about this very thing. It is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it. In the book he talks about the fact that God gave us intelligence to reason for ourselves and we should use it. It is very inappropriate for us to always go to the Lord first with a problem. We should first take some time to decide how WE want to proceed with our issue and then come to Him and discuss our decision. Now, you can of course work with the Lord in discussing the issue at hand while you are working it out, but remember that when we do not follow His pattern, He reserves the right to not answer in the way we want Him to. Figure it out for yourself is an answer, just not the one we may want.
Also, answers will not always come right away. I have heard it said before that if you want to talk to God, you pray. If you want God to talk to you, you read the scriptures or listen to our modern prophets. It is really hard to obtain an answer from the Lord if you are not doing what you should be doing to get that answer. Now it is possible to get an answer without living the commandments, but it is really hard. Remember Doctrine and Covenants section 82:10 which says "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, you have no promise". Until I was an adult I took that to mean that if we were not living the commandments, we would not be blessed. But a wise college professor pointed out the error in my thinking. He said the scriptures do not say that. What they do say is that when we follow God's word, He has to help us. But when we don't it's at His discretion whether to help us or not, He doesn't have to.
The key to receiving help from the Lord most easily I feel is to first and foremost be sure what you want. There is a reason that He wants us to work it out in our minds first. That old adage be careful what you wish for because you just might get it, it is so true! I dated a wonderful girl in college but I knew almost from the start that it wasn't going to go anywhere. But I was already in love with her by that point so I kept dating her knowing I was only going to cause myself pain. When the inevitable break up came, I was really hurt. I cried for days and to make matters worse, all my friends moved away because the semester had ended. Finally I said a prayer one night telling Heavenly Father that I never wanted to feel this type of pain again and to not let me date another woman until I met my wife.
And He answered that prayer! Oh boy did He ever. From that time until I met my wife I tried to date no less than 3 girls. In all 3 cases I knew that the women had feelings for me just like I did for them, but something ALWAYS got in the way that prevented us from dating. It wasn't until I met my wife that I was able to finally date a girl again. That is why the Lord wants us to work it out first. Because He will give us our desires. So be sure it really is what you desire.
As you seek to obtain the answers from the Lord you seek, make sure you are following the established patterns the Lord has set forth and make sure that you are living a good and righteous life so that you can hear the answer that comes. Remember, the Lord WANTS to help us and 90% of the time, WE are the ones standing in the way. Until tomorrow.
The phrase counsel with the Lord in all thy doings comes to mind in situations like this. Have you ever prayed and talked to the Lord like He was right there in front of you listening attentively? Have you ever stopped to listen to what He might have to say back to you? We are told that we should counsel with our Father in Heaven the same way we would counsel with our earthly father. We would not call him up and then rattle on with what we wanted and not take the time to listen to a response, but for some reason when we are talking to the one being who DOES have all the answers, that's exactly what we do.
Now, the Lord does want us to come to a decision on our own. Elder Dallin H. Oaks has a wonderful book entitled "The Lord's Way" where he talks about this very thing. It is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it. In the book he talks about the fact that God gave us intelligence to reason for ourselves and we should use it. It is very inappropriate for us to always go to the Lord first with a problem. We should first take some time to decide how WE want to proceed with our issue and then come to Him and discuss our decision. Now, you can of course work with the Lord in discussing the issue at hand while you are working it out, but remember that when we do not follow His pattern, He reserves the right to not answer in the way we want Him to. Figure it out for yourself is an answer, just not the one we may want.
Also, answers will not always come right away. I have heard it said before that if you want to talk to God, you pray. If you want God to talk to you, you read the scriptures or listen to our modern prophets. It is really hard to obtain an answer from the Lord if you are not doing what you should be doing to get that answer. Now it is possible to get an answer without living the commandments, but it is really hard. Remember Doctrine and Covenants section 82:10 which says "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, you have no promise". Until I was an adult I took that to mean that if we were not living the commandments, we would not be blessed. But a wise college professor pointed out the error in my thinking. He said the scriptures do not say that. What they do say is that when we follow God's word, He has to help us. But when we don't it's at His discretion whether to help us or not, He doesn't have to.
The key to receiving help from the Lord most easily I feel is to first and foremost be sure what you want. There is a reason that He wants us to work it out in our minds first. That old adage be careful what you wish for because you just might get it, it is so true! I dated a wonderful girl in college but I knew almost from the start that it wasn't going to go anywhere. But I was already in love with her by that point so I kept dating her knowing I was only going to cause myself pain. When the inevitable break up came, I was really hurt. I cried for days and to make matters worse, all my friends moved away because the semester had ended. Finally I said a prayer one night telling Heavenly Father that I never wanted to feel this type of pain again and to not let me date another woman until I met my wife.
And He answered that prayer! Oh boy did He ever. From that time until I met my wife I tried to date no less than 3 girls. In all 3 cases I knew that the women had feelings for me just like I did for them, but something ALWAYS got in the way that prevented us from dating. It wasn't until I met my wife that I was able to finally date a girl again. That is why the Lord wants us to work it out first. Because He will give us our desires. So be sure it really is what you desire.
As you seek to obtain the answers from the Lord you seek, make sure you are following the established patterns the Lord has set forth and make sure that you are living a good and righteous life so that you can hear the answer that comes. Remember, the Lord WANTS to help us and 90% of the time, WE are the ones standing in the way. Until tomorrow.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Forsake the World
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 53, a very short revelation given to Sidney Gilbert in letting him know what he should be doing. As with so many others, the Lord tells him that the best thing he can do is to preach unto the people of this generation. And just like He does to all the rest of us, the Lord promises him that the rest will come in time once he has been able to live these first commandments.
There is a line that stood out to me though from verse 2. In this verse the Lord tells Sidney to forsake the world. That phrase hit me like a ton of bricks. I immediately asked myself, what does it mean to forsake the world? It certainly does not mean to become a hermit because the very next verse tells him to go forth and preach the gospel to mankind. So what does it mean to forsake the world?
Well I think we can answer that with another commandment that all Latter-day Saints are familiar with, the commandment to be in the world but not of the world. Last night I had a conversation with a co-worker about losing weight. I mentioned that my weakness was that I just enjoyed all the wrong things, pasta, bread, cheese and things like that. She said that she does too but that she limits them during the week and only has 1 day where she splurges on them. I then replied that I didn't have the willpower to not do that. She laughed and replied that she didn't believe me because my "don't" list is the longest she has ever seen. She is of course referring to my living the gospel. But those are easy to forsake, I have never had alcohol, coffee or tea before so in a sense I don't know what I am missing. Whether she realized it or not, she was pointing out just how different I am from the rest of the world.
We all know there is much evil in the world, things that in and of themselves are bad and have no purpose other than to lead people to do that which is wrong, things like pornography and drugs. There are also things that are not inherently evil or bad but that mankind has perverted such as alcohol or tobacco. A funny side note, I remember once talking with a friend of mine that used tobacco dip and we were talking about why was tobacco put on this earth if not for smoking and when I informed him it was a product meant to help with bruises especially with cattle he had no idea. It's just amazing how uninformed we are as a people. However, I digress.
But despite how bad these things are, they are the norm, at least here in a America. And the fact that we don't do these horrible things and aren't destroying our bodies with them, makes us different. However, forsaking the world doesn't just mean forgoing the bad things in this life, the things we have specifically been commanded not to partake of. It means to forgo ALL things that would drive away the Spirit. Certain types of music, books, TV shows, movies, conversations with others, certain friends, ANYTHING that would drive away the Spirit of the Lord, and there is a lot out there that will. And the things don't even have to necessarily have to be bad, they can just distract you. I read an article in the February Ensign where the author comments that a friend stated that if he were the devil he wouldn't bother trying to get the Latter-day Saints to commit big sins, he would just keep them busy. And he was right. The world is very appealing to the natural man and if we are not constantly on our guard, we will distract ourselves right out of the kingdom. Brigham Young is credited with saying something along the lines of that he was worried the Saints could not handle luxury.
We live in a world where there are so many options for our time and that without even really trying we can fill our days/time with so much waste. Every morning when I wake up the first thing I do is read my scriptures and post the latest post on this blog. But after that the next thing I look forward to most is playing with my 5 month old daughter and spending time with my wife. Yes there are other things I enjoy and sometimes will even be more pressing than spending time with them such as video games or reading a good book, but for the more part, I really enjoy spending time with them. But with very little effort on my part, I could easily lose sight of being a part of my daughter's childhood and spend too much time at work, or playing a video game or even reading a book in her presence instead of getting on the floor and just rolling around with her. Forsaking the world is a conscious choice we have to make each and every time a distraction comes along. Now eventually after long enough it will not be a choice anymore and will be a habit, but we have to build up to that and for whatever reason, the really great habits seem to take a LOT longer than 28 days to form! More like 28 years and it's shocking how quickly you can get rid of them for less savory ones.
Now, this life is meant to be enjoyable. Nephi taught his people that men are that they might have joy and he meant it. But our lives should not be consumed with traveling from one joy to the next. We must have all things in temperance and in the right quantities. And it's also about priorities. If you work, when you come home from work what is the first thing you do? For me it's give my wife, and daughter if she is awake, a big hug and a kiss and then clean up the house since my wife has a 5 month old and not a lot of time to pick up. Only after I make sure my girls needs are met do I start to do things for myself. On Sunday's do you prioritize going to church and doing your calling afterwards? On Super Bowl Sunday do you make Home Teaching a priority if you know your family is only available for you to visit that day that month, or do you just report you weren't able to see them?
Forsaking the world is, just like the rest of the gospel, a lifestyle. We have to consciously want to forsake the world and be a better Latter-day Saint. As we strive to overcome the world it will get easier. Remember that the Lord WANTS you to forsake the world and as such will do all in His considerable power to help you. He can even help you gain the desire to start. Remember, Alma teaches us that we only need to desire to desire in the beginning and it is enough, the Lord will make up the rest. I am living proof of how true that is. It's hard in the beginning, but like Christ said before me, it is SO worth it! Until tomorrow.
There is a line that stood out to me though from verse 2. In this verse the Lord tells Sidney to forsake the world. That phrase hit me like a ton of bricks. I immediately asked myself, what does it mean to forsake the world? It certainly does not mean to become a hermit because the very next verse tells him to go forth and preach the gospel to mankind. So what does it mean to forsake the world?
Well I think we can answer that with another commandment that all Latter-day Saints are familiar with, the commandment to be in the world but not of the world. Last night I had a conversation with a co-worker about losing weight. I mentioned that my weakness was that I just enjoyed all the wrong things, pasta, bread, cheese and things like that. She said that she does too but that she limits them during the week and only has 1 day where she splurges on them. I then replied that I didn't have the willpower to not do that. She laughed and replied that she didn't believe me because my "don't" list is the longest she has ever seen. She is of course referring to my living the gospel. But those are easy to forsake, I have never had alcohol, coffee or tea before so in a sense I don't know what I am missing. Whether she realized it or not, she was pointing out just how different I am from the rest of the world.
We all know there is much evil in the world, things that in and of themselves are bad and have no purpose other than to lead people to do that which is wrong, things like pornography and drugs. There are also things that are not inherently evil or bad but that mankind has perverted such as alcohol or tobacco. A funny side note, I remember once talking with a friend of mine that used tobacco dip and we were talking about why was tobacco put on this earth if not for smoking and when I informed him it was a product meant to help with bruises especially with cattle he had no idea. It's just amazing how uninformed we are as a people. However, I digress.
But despite how bad these things are, they are the norm, at least here in a America. And the fact that we don't do these horrible things and aren't destroying our bodies with them, makes us different. However, forsaking the world doesn't just mean forgoing the bad things in this life, the things we have specifically been commanded not to partake of. It means to forgo ALL things that would drive away the Spirit. Certain types of music, books, TV shows, movies, conversations with others, certain friends, ANYTHING that would drive away the Spirit of the Lord, and there is a lot out there that will. And the things don't even have to necessarily have to be bad, they can just distract you. I read an article in the February Ensign where the author comments that a friend stated that if he were the devil he wouldn't bother trying to get the Latter-day Saints to commit big sins, he would just keep them busy. And he was right. The world is very appealing to the natural man and if we are not constantly on our guard, we will distract ourselves right out of the kingdom. Brigham Young is credited with saying something along the lines of that he was worried the Saints could not handle luxury.
We live in a world where there are so many options for our time and that without even really trying we can fill our days/time with so much waste. Every morning when I wake up the first thing I do is read my scriptures and post the latest post on this blog. But after that the next thing I look forward to most is playing with my 5 month old daughter and spending time with my wife. Yes there are other things I enjoy and sometimes will even be more pressing than spending time with them such as video games or reading a good book, but for the more part, I really enjoy spending time with them. But with very little effort on my part, I could easily lose sight of being a part of my daughter's childhood and spend too much time at work, or playing a video game or even reading a book in her presence instead of getting on the floor and just rolling around with her. Forsaking the world is a conscious choice we have to make each and every time a distraction comes along. Now eventually after long enough it will not be a choice anymore and will be a habit, but we have to build up to that and for whatever reason, the really great habits seem to take a LOT longer than 28 days to form! More like 28 years and it's shocking how quickly you can get rid of them for less savory ones.
Now, this life is meant to be enjoyable. Nephi taught his people that men are that they might have joy and he meant it. But our lives should not be consumed with traveling from one joy to the next. We must have all things in temperance and in the right quantities. And it's also about priorities. If you work, when you come home from work what is the first thing you do? For me it's give my wife, and daughter if she is awake, a big hug and a kiss and then clean up the house since my wife has a 5 month old and not a lot of time to pick up. Only after I make sure my girls needs are met do I start to do things for myself. On Sunday's do you prioritize going to church and doing your calling afterwards? On Super Bowl Sunday do you make Home Teaching a priority if you know your family is only available for you to visit that day that month, or do you just report you weren't able to see them?
Forsaking the world is, just like the rest of the gospel, a lifestyle. We have to consciously want to forsake the world and be a better Latter-day Saint. As we strive to overcome the world it will get easier. Remember that the Lord WANTS you to forsake the world and as such will do all in His considerable power to help you. He can even help you gain the desire to start. Remember, Alma teaches us that we only need to desire to desire in the beginning and it is enough, the Lord will make up the rest. I am living proof of how true that is. It's hard in the beginning, but like Christ said before me, it is SO worth it! Until tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The Lord is at the Helm
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 52, a section that is mostly the Lord giving instructions to the saints about who should go on a mission where. There were a couple of things I took away from this section. The first is that the Lord is in charge of His church. He is at the helm and that is a comforting thought, at least it is to me.
It's really an amazing thing if you think about it that while President Monson, on the earth, is the head of this church, but really he is taking his direction from our Heavenly Father. The Lord is in charge of His church and He makes sure that His spokesperson, the prophet, passes along the messages that we need to be hearing. It is a comfort that our salvation is important the Lord. I know that we are told it is His work and His glory, but being human, mortal and a natural man, it is so easy to forget that God is NOT like us. And so it is a comfort to me to remember that the Lord cares whether or not I am living the gospel and whether or not living the gospel makes me happy.
On that same vein of caring about our salvation, the Lord has always been concerned with missionary work it would seem. In ancient days, the meridian of time, the early days of the church and now, He is very concerned that the message is being taught, that it is taught correctly and that His messengers go to the right places. When I was a missionary, half way through my mission we got a new mission president. In one of the first zone conferences we had after they came out to the field, they told us how missionaries are chosen as they heard it directly from, then Elder, Henry B. Eyring. It was a comfort to know that missionaries are so important that almost daily, an Apostle of the Lord spends time deciding where missionaries are going to serve. I have often wondered which Apostle looked at my picture and my application and decided I would serve a Mandarin speaking mission in Arcadia California. I suppose I will never know.
The final thought I had with this section is the Lord is once again arming His saints on how to detect unrighteous spirits and distinguish them from righteous ones. I often wonder just why the devil was so active in trying to deceive the early saints by sending spirits to impersonate angels. The conclusion I most often come to is that it is because the early saints did not know any better and he would be able to get the most bang for his buck. If he were to send unrighteous spirits now, the saints are armed with knowledge and would most likely be able to detect them fairly easily. But not only that, it was a different time back then. Just from reading the histories and the stories back then, it would seem that heavenly visitations were a very common occurrence at the time. They most certainly are not now and if a heavenly, or otherwise, messenger appeared to someone, it would be a big deal and the person might not be able to mentally take it.
I know I would be scared out of my mind if suddenly someone was in a room with me and they glowed. Although, if you notice that most of the time when an angel appears to someone, the first thing they say is "Fear not" so maybe even back then it was a very frightening experience. I'm not sure I would enjoy the experience myself, but I won't really know unless it happens to me one day.
That's all that really stood out to me today. As I have said though it is a comfort to know that the Lord is very concerned with the welfare of His children and that He wants them to all return to Him some day. I know that we all really know that, but it is easy to forget and it is nice to remember that the Lord is in charge and he cares. Try and remember that the next time you have a concern about something a Priesthood Leader has said. It could make all the difference in the world. Until tomorrow.
It's really an amazing thing if you think about it that while President Monson, on the earth, is the head of this church, but really he is taking his direction from our Heavenly Father. The Lord is in charge of His church and He makes sure that His spokesperson, the prophet, passes along the messages that we need to be hearing. It is a comfort that our salvation is important the Lord. I know that we are told it is His work and His glory, but being human, mortal and a natural man, it is so easy to forget that God is NOT like us. And so it is a comfort to me to remember that the Lord cares whether or not I am living the gospel and whether or not living the gospel makes me happy.
On that same vein of caring about our salvation, the Lord has always been concerned with missionary work it would seem. In ancient days, the meridian of time, the early days of the church and now, He is very concerned that the message is being taught, that it is taught correctly and that His messengers go to the right places. When I was a missionary, half way through my mission we got a new mission president. In one of the first zone conferences we had after they came out to the field, they told us how missionaries are chosen as they heard it directly from, then Elder, Henry B. Eyring. It was a comfort to know that missionaries are so important that almost daily, an Apostle of the Lord spends time deciding where missionaries are going to serve. I have often wondered which Apostle looked at my picture and my application and decided I would serve a Mandarin speaking mission in Arcadia California. I suppose I will never know.
The final thought I had with this section is the Lord is once again arming His saints on how to detect unrighteous spirits and distinguish them from righteous ones. I often wonder just why the devil was so active in trying to deceive the early saints by sending spirits to impersonate angels. The conclusion I most often come to is that it is because the early saints did not know any better and he would be able to get the most bang for his buck. If he were to send unrighteous spirits now, the saints are armed with knowledge and would most likely be able to detect them fairly easily. But not only that, it was a different time back then. Just from reading the histories and the stories back then, it would seem that heavenly visitations were a very common occurrence at the time. They most certainly are not now and if a heavenly, or otherwise, messenger appeared to someone, it would be a big deal and the person might not be able to mentally take it.
I know I would be scared out of my mind if suddenly someone was in a room with me and they glowed. Although, if you notice that most of the time when an angel appears to someone, the first thing they say is "Fear not" so maybe even back then it was a very frightening experience. I'm not sure I would enjoy the experience myself, but I won't really know unless it happens to me one day.
That's all that really stood out to me today. As I have said though it is a comfort to know that the Lord is very concerned with the welfare of His children and that He wants them to all return to Him some day. I know that we all really know that, but it is easy to forget and it is nice to remember that the Lord is in charge and he cares. Try and remember that the next time you have a concern about something a Priesthood Leader has said. It could make all the difference in the world. Until tomorrow.
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