No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.
When Christ appeared in the Americas, He had to teach an important aspect of agency to both the Nephites and the Lamanites. The lesson was just as important when he taught it to the Jews. Inasmuch as we have been given moral agency, we are free to choose who we will serve: God or Mammon (or rather, Satan).
Sometimes we are prone to looking at agency as choosing whether to give up our agency to follow God or keeping our agency and doing what we want. What Jesus wanted us to learn is that we can use our agency to follow God, or we can use our agency to follow Satan. Our agency is not the right to choose an unlisted third option - it is to choose God or Satan.
As the prophet Alma taught, "And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child of the devil" (Alma 5:39). In simpler terms, if we try to persuade ourselves that choosing to not follow God's commandments is following our own path and not Satan's, we our lying to ourselves and are already under Satan's command. Satan's purpose is clearly stated: "to destroy the agency of man" (Moses 4:3).
As discussed in part one, when we follow God, we do not give up our agency. Rather, we receive additional freedoms. For example, as we follow President Gordon B. Hinckley's counsel to "be smart" by getting a good education, our ability to find a job and increase our income grows. This opens us up to countless more opportunities. However, if we follow Satan's counsel to just do whatever feels good at the time, we are less likely obtain a decent education because we will be less likely to persevere when challenges arise. We may even give up before graduating from high school. This will result in fewer opportunities.
Using our agency to choose to follow God will bring us great joy. However, in choosing right from wrong, should we look to the spirit of the law or the letter of the law? For example, the letter of the law says to not kill (see Exodus 20:13). The spirit of the law, as taught by Christ, is to not even be angry with one another (see Matthew 5:21-22). Jesus would not want us to cause any harm, which would include not hitting our siblings!
Christ, through His teachings and example, has drawn the line for our obedience to God's commandments. We should not be living in such a way so as to find out how close we can get to the line without going over. Boyd K. Packer said, "it is a mistake to assume that anything not specifically prohibited in the 'letter of the law' is somehow approved of the Lord. All the Lord approves is not detailed in the scriptures, neither is all that is forbidden. The Word of Wisdom, for instance, makes no specific warning against taking arsenic. Surely we don’t need a revelation to tell us that!"
God has told us "it is not meet that I should command in all things." Rather, we should be "anxiously engaged in a good cause" (D&C 58:26-27). We must determine for ourselves how closely we will keep God's commandments. In so doing, we should strive to follow the spirit of the law, not just the letter of the law.
As an example, I would like to share a story that is often attributed to Winston Churchill, though it is not for certain who first shared the story. Winston Churchill was speaking with a woman when he asked, "Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?" The woman took some time to think about the proposition and finally agreed to it. Mr. Churchill then asked, "Would you sleep with me for five pounds?" The woman was irate and shouted, "What kind of woman do you think I am?!" Winston Churchill's clever reply was, "Madam, we've already established what kind of woman you are. Now we simply haggling over the price."
Elder Richard G. Scott taught, "Decide what you will do and will not do. When temptation comes, do not change your standards. Do not abandon them when circumstances seem to justify an exception. That is Satan’s way to hurt you by making it seem that sometimes God’s law does not apply. There are no exceptions."
If we have not made up our minds before hand, then Satan will be trying to find out what our price is. He is cunning and will find your weakness and exploit it. Make decisions right now about proper conduct. If you decide now how you will act in tempting situations, you will be more likely to act righteously when a real situation arises.
Sometimes the price Satan will use is our friends. It may be our friends asking us to watch an R-rated movie. We must determine if our friends are helping us in the right direction. If not, we may need to abandon them. While such a decision will surely be difficult, do not worry about it too much - the Lord will compensate you for your sacrifice.
One Sunday, my father taught my priests quorum a valuable lesson regarding who we follow. He asked one of my classmates to point to where he believed north was. It is important to understand that the building where I attended church as a youth was on a street that, for the most part, went east to west. However, where our church was constructed, the road angled slightly. Also, our building was situated on an angle. This resulted in some confusion about which way was north when we sat in the building.
My father then asked who trusted this one youth's opinion. A few did, but most did not. However, there was no consensus to which way true north pointed. My father then asked if it would help to have a compass. We all agreed it was the best solution.
In life, we have been provided a compass. The Savior is our compass. Our friends may try to lead us in many different directions. Before we act, however, we must first figure out who has the compass. We will always be guided in the right direction as we read our scriptures, heed the words of our prophets, and pray for guidance.
There will be some who may say you can do things your own way instead of God's. What they are really saying is that there is no harm in a little sin. Their teachings are nothing new. Nephi warned us there would be people who would say, God "will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this" (2 Nephi 28:8).
Jesus taught that the entrance to Heaven is like entering through the head of a needle (seeMatthew 19:24). The head of a needle is very small. Even a slight deviation will put you far off course in the end (see Elder L. Tom Perry).
I have heard a saying many times from members of the Church: "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it." While this is attributed often to Christ, it appears no place in the scriptures. What does Christ say? "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30). In fact, "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (1 Nephi 3:7)
Usually when we view life as difficult, it is generally because life is not turning out the way we had planned for it to go. I have found that, if we focus on what God wants for us and make that our goal, life is infinitely easier. We can see a great example of this from the life of Joseph Smith.
In D&C 121, Joseph Smith has been imprisoned in jail in Liberty, Missouri for many months. He is understandably frustrated about the situation. In verse 1, he states, "O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?" In other words, Joseph wants to know why the Lord is not bailing him out. However, God, in His infinite wisdom explained, "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment" (D&C 121:7).
Joseph's difficulty in coping with his situation arose from it not going according to his plan, rather than God's plan. Fortunately, we can see that Joseph Smith learned his lesson. In going to Carthage, to his death, he said, "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning" (D&C 135:4). He knew God's will for him and he made that his own will. When we make God's will our will, we will find peace in our trials.
You may feel that, upon keeping God's commandments, you should always be blessed with no hardships. But that would not help you become what God knows you have the potential to be.Elder D. Todd Christofferson explained, "The Lord’s promise is not to spare us the conflict but to preserve and console us in our afflictions and to consecrate them for our gain" (see 2 Nephi 2:2;4:19-26; Jacob 3:1).
We must be obedient, regardless of the difficulties we face. Elder David A. Bednar related the following story:
Sister Bednar and I are acquainted with a returned missionary who had dated a special young woman for a period of time. He cared for her very much, and he was desirous of making his relationship with her more serious. He was considering and hoping for engagement and marriage. This relationship was developing during the time that President Hinckley counseled the Relief Society sisters and young women of the Church to wear only one earring in each ear.The young man waited patiently over a period of time for the young woman to remove her extra earrings, but she did not take them out. This was a valuable piece of information for this young man, and he felt unsettled about her nonresponsiveness to a prophet’s pleading. For this and other reasons, he ultimately stopped dating the young woman, because he was looking for an eternal companion who had the courage to promptly and quietly obey the counsel of the prophet in all things and at all times.
You may think, what a minor issue to break up with someone over - just two earrings. However, the young man might say the same thing to the young woman - would you skip out on exaltation, just for two earrings? In reality, the issue has very little to do with earrings, and more to do with heeding the prophets. If we cannot follow God in small and simple things, how do we expect to handle more significant teachings?
Remember the example of the compass earlier. Even a slight deviation from the correct path can lead us far away in the end. We must align ourselves with God's will.
How do we do this? President George Q. Cannon taught the key. He suggests the mentality we should have as we attend our meetings: "I should enter that assembly with my mind entirely free from all influence that would prevent the operation of the Spirit of God upon me. I should go in a prayerful spirit, asking God to write upon my heart His will; not with my own will already prepared, and determined to carry out my will..., regardless of everyone else’s views. If I were to go, and all the rest were to go, with this spirit, then the Spirit of God would be felt in our midst, and that which we would decide upon would be the mind and will of God, because God would reveal it to us. We would see light in the direction where we should go, and we would behold darkness in the direction we should not go" (as quoted by Elder Henry B. Eyring).
We must be humble in order to learn God's will for us. It may take a great deal work on our part to align yourself with the Lord's will. "For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" (Mosiah 5:13).
I believe it is difficult for us to obey someone we do not know. For example, if you were jaywalking and a random stranger told you not to, it probably would not mean much to you. However, if that stranger were to pull out a badge and show he was a police officer, you might pay more attention.
Likewise, I believe that if you knew you were a child of God - really knew - then you would be more likely to obey his commandments, as they help bring you closer to Him. However, your obedience would not be out of fear (as it might be with the police officer), but out of love.
In order to learn for yourself of your Heavenly Father's love for you, I would like to challenge you to pray. As you pray, ask God the following four things:
1) "Are you there?" Sometimes when you pray you may feel like you are going through the motions and no one is really listening. Asking God if he is there, and receiving an answer helps you know that God cares about you enough that he is ready to take time to listen to you.
2) "Is Jesus Christ your son?" Receiving an answer to this question establishes that God loves us enough to send His Son to die for our sins. It also establishes that Christ did live and showed us example of how we should live.
3) "Do you know my name?" You are not just a number. Billions are living, have lived, and will live, but God knows you individually.
4) "Do you love me?" It is easy to feel alone when you are not getting along with parents or friend, or especially when you have sinned. Nevertheless, God loves you anyway. He knows your name, He sent His son to die for you, and he is listening to your prayers. God loves you.
I promise you that, if you will pray to God and ask him these four questions, He will answer you will a feeling of peace, comfort, and joy. I first heard about this from a friend who reportedly learned it from a professor at Brigham Young University.
When you know that you are a child of your Heavenly Father, and that He loves you, you will have a desire to change for the better.
It is easy to say, "I can change whenever I want to" Well, if you can change then do it now. Do not wait! The prophet Elijah challenged us, "If the Lord be God, follow him" (1 Kings 18:21). Do not be wishy-washy. God has given you agency. You will find infinitely more freedom by following His commandments than by following Satan’s commandments.
President Ezra Taft Benson explained it best when he said, "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power" (as quoted byElder Donald L. Staheli).
As you pray to your Heavenly Father and seek His will, you will find greater power and more joy than you know now.
Goals for this week:
- Pray to know God's will in major, and even minor, life decisions. Have the strength to follow the Spirit's guidance, making the Lord's will your own.
- Live worthily to receive your Patriarchal Blessing. It will be a guide to you in understanding God's will for you and a help in planning your future.
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