Showing posts with label Commandments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Commandments. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Polluted with Pride
Pollution is a hot political keyword. Politicians and activists like to talk about all the different types of pollution we have in this world--groundwater, ocean, air. People complain about the brown haze over the horizon, the effect of plastic bags that pollute the ocean, and groundwater that's being polluted by oil and gas wells.
Pollution is a dirty word. It conjures up images of grease and grime. I remember an oil spill when I lived in CA and how it affected the birds. I remember seeing images of birds covered in tar and how that oil spill had killed so much sea-life.
In my own experience, we clean along a stretch of our highway twice a year. I've seen plenty of pollution: beer bottles, beer cans, liquor bottles, cigarette butts, fast food bags and wrappers, diapers, trash. People toss it out their windows without a thought of how that will affect the environment and who will eventually have to clean up after them.
No matter how you slice it, pollution is a bad thing.
Pride can also be, and many times it is, a bad thing. I believe it's acceptable to be proud of your children for making good choices or to be proud of them for receiving a good grade after studying for a test or to be proud of them for playing a piano piece they practiced or performing in a play. But, pride can take other forms that make it undesirable. There are obvious definitions of pride: thinking you are better than someone else, not being willing to listen to others because you think you are right, taking pride in your possessions, thinking you are smarter than God, etc. There are also other ways of being prideful, like being rebellious or considering yourself better because you have a higher education or thinking that commandments don't apply to you.
When you combine pride with pollution it's a powerful image. Being polluted with pride puts it in perspective. Am I polluted with pride? Do I let my pride get in the way of serving others or allowing them to serve me? Do I allow my pride to prevent me from experiencing things? Do I miss out on opportunities because of my pride?
Pride can pollute us if we aren't careful. It can canker our souls and make us miss out on important life experiences. It can separate us from our loved ones and from God.
I'm going to try to not let my pride pollute me. I don't want to be like one of those birds in the oil spill and be covered with the grime of pride. I think the best way to prevent myself from becoming polluted with pride is to be grateful, to remember that everything I have and everything I am comes from God. I need to have a grateful heart every day. In having that gratitude, I hope I will be able to avoid being polluted with pride.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Smack that Camel's Nose
In my previous post, I wrote that we usually don’t commit a serious sin without having first invited Satan into our lives one step at a time—just like the camel in the story.
Satan is so subtle and tricky. He knows that if he presents the idea of committing sin all at once we’d see it for what it is and we wouldn’t succumb. He tempts and tantalizes us with seemingly small indiscretions until, sometimes before we even realize it, we are neck deep in transgression.
I know of a primary president and bishop who began sharing rides to leadership meetings. They visited on the way to the meetings and struck up a close friendship. Soon they were confiding in each other and finding reasons to spend time together. Eventually, they both left their families and ran off together. The first step, sharing a ride to leadership meetings seemed innocent enough. After all, they were doing their callings. But, Satan knows how to reach us if we let him. Letting down our guard, even for a moment, can result in disastrous consequences.
How can we smack that camel on the nose and tell him to get the heck out of our tent?
Pray
Prayer is our opportunity to converse with Heavenly Father. We can pour out our hearts, ask for strength to overcome our weaknesses, and listen for his promptings.
We are counseled in the scriptures to always have a prayer in our hearts. If we are consistently praying each day, at least morning and night, we will be sensitive to the Spirit and will be able to hear the still small voice when it warns us of spiritual, or even physical, danger.
Study the Scriptures
We have been blessed with prophets’ words and direct counsel from the Lord in the scriptures. For most of life’s problems, we can find answers in the scriptures. The more we read and study them, the more we’ll rely on them to solve our problems and comfort us through trials. Regular, consistent, daily scripture study will bring us closer to God and strengthen our testimonies.
People who fall away from the gospel usually begin by neglecting their daily prayers and eliminating scripture study. The combination of praying and scripture study will do more to keep us close to the Lord on a daily basis than anything else.
Keep the Commandments
Of course, consistently trying to keep the commandments will keep Satan at bay. It won’t stop his attempts to thwart us on our journey back to Heavenly Father, but it will give us the ability to see his attempts more clearly and the strength to shun his temptations.
Attend the Temple
When we take the time to attend the temple and participate in temple work for the deceased, we are performing a service that is closest to what the Savior has done for us. He took upon him our sins and brought about the atonement because none of us has the power to do that for ourselves. We needed him to be our Savior. It is the same with temple work. Those that have died do not have the ability or power to participate in these saving ordinances, they need someone, a savior, who can do for them what they cannot do for themselves.
The service that we render in the temple combined with the peace that the world cannot duplicate, will give us added strength to turn from Satan and follow the only path that leads to God and eternal happiness.
It may take some strong muscles to smack that camel, but when we’re empowered with prayer, scripture study, keeping the commandments, and temple attendance we’ll flex our spiritual muscles and send that camel flying every time he sticks his nose inside our tent.
Return to the neighborhood.
And while you're there, subscribe to our fantastic newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, our newsletter brings you articles, products, services, resources and interviews from around the world—all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
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Satan is so subtle and tricky. He knows that if he presents the idea of committing sin all at once we’d see it for what it is and we wouldn’t succumb. He tempts and tantalizes us with seemingly small indiscretions until, sometimes before we even realize it, we are neck deep in transgression.
I know of a primary president and bishop who began sharing rides to leadership meetings. They visited on the way to the meetings and struck up a close friendship. Soon they were confiding in each other and finding reasons to spend time together. Eventually, they both left their families and ran off together. The first step, sharing a ride to leadership meetings seemed innocent enough. After all, they were doing their callings. But, Satan knows how to reach us if we let him. Letting down our guard, even for a moment, can result in disastrous consequences.
How can we smack that camel on the nose and tell him to get the heck out of our tent?
Pray
Prayer is our opportunity to converse with Heavenly Father. We can pour out our hearts, ask for strength to overcome our weaknesses, and listen for his promptings.
We are counseled in the scriptures to always have a prayer in our hearts. If we are consistently praying each day, at least morning and night, we will be sensitive to the Spirit and will be able to hear the still small voice when it warns us of spiritual, or even physical, danger.
Study the Scriptures
We have been blessed with prophets’ words and direct counsel from the Lord in the scriptures. For most of life’s problems, we can find answers in the scriptures. The more we read and study them, the more we’ll rely on them to solve our problems and comfort us through trials. Regular, consistent, daily scripture study will bring us closer to God and strengthen our testimonies.
People who fall away from the gospel usually begin by neglecting their daily prayers and eliminating scripture study. The combination of praying and scripture study will do more to keep us close to the Lord on a daily basis than anything else.
Keep the Commandments
Of course, consistently trying to keep the commandments will keep Satan at bay. It won’t stop his attempts to thwart us on our journey back to Heavenly Father, but it will give us the ability to see his attempts more clearly and the strength to shun his temptations.
Attend the Temple
When we take the time to attend the temple and participate in temple work for the deceased, we are performing a service that is closest to what the Savior has done for us. He took upon him our sins and brought about the atonement because none of us has the power to do that for ourselves. We needed him to be our Savior. It is the same with temple work. Those that have died do not have the ability or power to participate in these saving ordinances, they need someone, a savior, who can do for them what they cannot do for themselves.
The service that we render in the temple combined with the peace that the world cannot duplicate, will give us added strength to turn from Satan and follow the only path that leads to God and eternal happiness.
It may take some strong muscles to smack that camel, but when we’re empowered with prayer, scripture study, keeping the commandments, and temple attendance we’ll flex our spiritual muscles and send that camel flying every time he sticks his nose inside our tent.
Return to the neighborhood.
And while you're there, subscribe to our fantastic newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, our newsletter brings you articles, products, services, resources and interviews from around the world—all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Neighborhood Newsletter Subscriptions are FREE, and joining is easy.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Righteous Judgment
The greatest gift, next to that of life itself, is the ability to choose what to do with that life. The war in heaven was all about allowing us to come to mortality to make our own choices, rather than being compelled to make certain choices. We are all endowed with the ability to choose for ourselves.
Sometimes, our choices are good ones and other times they aren’t. As we go through our lives making choices, we determine whether we will follow God’s plan of happiness or venture down another path.
It’s important to remember that despite our choices, we are all Heavenly Father’s children and He desires that each of us return to live with Him. He has given us the road map that we need to follow throughout our life’s journey if our intended destination is with Him. We can either choose to follow His guidelines, or commandments, or not. It’s up to each of us to decide if we will follow Him.
Even as members of the Church, we sometimes mistakenly see people as their choices, rather than seeing them separate from their choices. We may be guilty of judging a person instead of that person’s choice.
Only the Lord can judge a person. However, we are required to judge behaviors and actions and to judge between choices. This kind of judgment is righteous and we not only have the right to exercise righteous judgment, we are responsible to do so. We are constantly faced with choices and we have to decide which choices will bring us closer to God and which will lead us away from Him.
“For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance” (D&C 1:31) 1Nephi 15:34 teaches us that no unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of God. Some choices are not acceptable to God and are sins. While we are not to judge the person who commits the sin, we are to judge whether or not a specific choice will be considered a sin by God. If we want to live with Him again, we must repent of our sins and be cleansed by the power of the atonement.
When the woman was caught in the very act of adultery and brought before the Savior (John 8:3-11), He told her accusers to not cast judgment on her, but he then turned to her and said, “Go and sin no more.” Clearly, the Savior taught that adultery was a sin and was wrong, yet the woman was still a daughter of God.
We are not to decide that because someone does something he or she will be cast out of heaven, but we must decide what choices are acceptable unto God. We are to love the sinner, but abhor the sin. We should take courage in teaching and defending the laws of God. We should never feel bad for standing up for truth and righteousness and should stand as witnesses of God in all things, in all places, and at all times.
Return to the neighborhood.
And while you're there, subscribe to our fantastic newsletter. Welcome to the yourLDSneighborhood newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the LDS newsletter brings you LDS articles, LDS products, LDS services, LDS resources and LDS interviews from around the world—all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. LDS Newsletter Subscriptions are FREE, and joining is easy.
Sometimes, our choices are good ones and other times they aren’t. As we go through our lives making choices, we determine whether we will follow God’s plan of happiness or venture down another path.
It’s important to remember that despite our choices, we are all Heavenly Father’s children and He desires that each of us return to live with Him. He has given us the road map that we need to follow throughout our life’s journey if our intended destination is with Him. We can either choose to follow His guidelines, or commandments, or not. It’s up to each of us to decide if we will follow Him.
Even as members of the Church, we sometimes mistakenly see people as their choices, rather than seeing them separate from their choices. We may be guilty of judging a person instead of that person’s choice.
Only the Lord can judge a person. However, we are required to judge behaviors and actions and to judge between choices. This kind of judgment is righteous and we not only have the right to exercise righteous judgment, we are responsible to do so. We are constantly faced with choices and we have to decide which choices will bring us closer to God and which will lead us away from Him.
“For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance” (D&C 1:31) 1Nephi 15:34 teaches us that no unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of God. Some choices are not acceptable to God and are sins. While we are not to judge the person who commits the sin, we are to judge whether or not a specific choice will be considered a sin by God. If we want to live with Him again, we must repent of our sins and be cleansed by the power of the atonement.
When the woman was caught in the very act of adultery and brought before the Savior (John 8:3-11), He told her accusers to not cast judgment on her, but he then turned to her and said, “Go and sin no more.” Clearly, the Savior taught that adultery was a sin and was wrong, yet the woman was still a daughter of God.
We are not to decide that because someone does something he or she will be cast out of heaven, but we must decide what choices are acceptable unto God. We are to love the sinner, but abhor the sin. We should take courage in teaching and defending the laws of God. We should never feel bad for standing up for truth and righteousness and should stand as witnesses of God in all things, in all places, and at all times.
Return to the neighborhood.
And while you're there, subscribe to our fantastic newsletter. Welcome to the yourLDSneighborhood newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the LDS newsletter brings you LDS articles, LDS products, LDS services, LDS resources and LDS interviews from around the world—all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. LDS Newsletter Subscriptions are FREE, and joining is easy.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Keeping the Commandments Brings Happiness
When I was a child, I didn’t have the gospel. I found it after my parents both passed away and I went to live with my grandparents. Even then, we didn’t read scriptures, have family home evening, or pray except to bless the food. I did not
have the blessings of the priesthood in my home.
I had a choice to make as I became an adult. I could continue to live as I’d been taught or choose to fully embrace the gospel. I chose the latter. Though my testimony was like the tiniest of mustard seeds, I had to desire to learn more and live better.
As I’ve lived my life, I’ve come to learn the fundamental truth that true happiness comes from keeping the commandments. We’ve all been endowed with the ability to make our own choices, right or wrong. We can choose to follow the Savior or not. We can choose to go to church, read our scriptures, and say our prayers. We can choose if we want to follow the Word of Wisdom or the Law of Chastity. We can decide for ourselves if we want to attend the temple or not. No one compels us to do any of this; it is up to us to each make our own individual choices.
I’ve lived without the gospel and I’ve lived with it. I’ve broken commandments and I’ve kept commandments. I’ve lived without the priesthood and with it. I’ve seen the effects of living without the gospel and the effects of living with it. I choose to live with it because I know it’s what brings peace and joy.
I’ve chosen my life on purpose. I didn’t fall into Mormonism by accident nor do I feel obligated to live its teachings. I, with full knowledge and purpose, choose to live this way. I wish I did it better. I wish I were a better example of a disciple of Christ. I wish I didn’t make mistakes, say the wrong thing, or offend people. I wish I constantly had the Spirit with me 24 hours a day. But, this I know, when I break the commandments, I am unhappy and when I keep them I am happy.
I can’t prove that God exists. I can’t prove that keeping the commandments makes people happy, I can only see the effects of doing so. To me it’s like the principle of gravity. I can’t see gravity or hold it in my hands. I can only see the effects of it on objects. I can clearly see that a car doesn’t float up into the sky because gravity holds it to earth. When I let go of a plate, it doesn’t stay suspended in the air, it drops to the ground. Again, it’s the effect of gravity.
The effect of keeping the commandments, or rather the desire to keep the commandments, is happiness. It is not freedom from trial and tribulation. Commitment to keeping the commandments does not prevent us from experiencing heartache, but even during dark times, we can have the peace and happiness that comes from keeping the commandments. We can still find joy even when we are dealing with tragedy. We can still feel the love and comfort of the Savior as we traverse the tumultuous waves of life and know that as we put our faith and trust in Him and keep His commandments, He will be there to steady us.
I have no doubt that keeping the commandments brings happiness.
Return to the neighborhood.
And while you're there, subscribe to our fantastic newsletter. Welcome to the yourLDSneighborhood newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the LDS newsletter brings you LDS articles, LDS products, LDS services, LDS resources and LDS interviews from around the world—all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. LDS Newsletter Subscriptions are FREE, and joining is easy.
have the blessings of the priesthood in my home.
I had a choice to make as I became an adult. I could continue to live as I’d been taught or choose to fully embrace the gospel. I chose the latter. Though my testimony was like the tiniest of mustard seeds, I had to desire to learn more and live better.
As I’ve lived my life, I’ve come to learn the fundamental truth that true happiness comes from keeping the commandments. We’ve all been endowed with the ability to make our own choices, right or wrong. We can choose to follow the Savior or not. We can choose to go to church, read our scriptures, and say our prayers. We can choose if we want to follow the Word of Wisdom or the Law of Chastity. We can decide for ourselves if we want to attend the temple or not. No one compels us to do any of this; it is up to us to each make our own individual choices.
I’ve lived without the gospel and I’ve lived with it. I’ve broken commandments and I’ve kept commandments. I’ve lived without the priesthood and with it. I’ve seen the effects of living without the gospel and the effects of living with it. I choose to live with it because I know it’s what brings peace and joy.
I’ve chosen my life on purpose. I didn’t fall into Mormonism by accident nor do I feel obligated to live its teachings. I, with full knowledge and purpose, choose to live this way. I wish I did it better. I wish I were a better example of a disciple of Christ. I wish I didn’t make mistakes, say the wrong thing, or offend people. I wish I constantly had the Spirit with me 24 hours a day. But, this I know, when I break the commandments, I am unhappy and when I keep them I am happy.
I can’t prove that God exists. I can’t prove that keeping the commandments makes people happy, I can only see the effects of doing so. To me it’s like the principle of gravity. I can’t see gravity or hold it in my hands. I can only see the effects of it on objects. I can clearly see that a car doesn’t float up into the sky because gravity holds it to earth. When I let go of a plate, it doesn’t stay suspended in the air, it drops to the ground. Again, it’s the effect of gravity.
The effect of keeping the commandments, or rather the desire to keep the commandments, is happiness. It is not freedom from trial and tribulation. Commitment to keeping the commandments does not prevent us from experiencing heartache, but even during dark times, we can have the peace and happiness that comes from keeping the commandments. We can still find joy even when we are dealing with tragedy. We can still feel the love and comfort of the Savior as we traverse the tumultuous waves of life and know that as we put our faith and trust in Him and keep His commandments, He will be there to steady us.
I have no doubt that keeping the commandments brings happiness.
Return to the neighborhood.
And while you're there, subscribe to our fantastic newsletter. Welcome to the yourLDSneighborhood newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the LDS newsletter brings you LDS articles, LDS products, LDS services, LDS resources and LDS interviews from around the world—all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. LDS Newsletter Subscriptions are FREE, and joining is easy.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
We Need Not Fear
Seems like the world is getting scarier by the day. Where we live the bottom has fallen out for those in the construction industry. No new building permits were issued for the entire month of June in my county. Not one. That's never happened. People in the construction field are scrambling. Home sales have plummeted. People are over-extended and living on credit cards. We are still engaged in a war. Fuel costs are out of control and affecting the cost of living, especially where I live because everything has to be trucked in to us.
Without the gospel, I'd be tempted to panic. But, the fact is, Heavenly Father is well aware of the state of our society. Things are bad, but what about during the time of Noah, things were pretty bad then. Those who listened to Noah, the prophet, were protected and saved. What about Sodom and Gomorrah? I'd have to say things were bad there, but again the Lord protected those who would listen.
Today we have a prophet of God. We need to listen to him. We need to heed his counsel. We need to follow the commandments. There is safety in obedience.
When we put our trust and faith in the Lord, he will bless us. We need not fear.
Without the gospel, I'd be tempted to panic. But, the fact is, Heavenly Father is well aware of the state of our society. Things are bad, but what about during the time of Noah, things were pretty bad then. Those who listened to Noah, the prophet, were protected and saved. What about Sodom and Gomorrah? I'd have to say things were bad there, but again the Lord protected those who would listen.
Today we have a prophet of God. We need to listen to him. We need to heed his counsel. We need to follow the commandments. There is safety in obedience.
When we put our trust and faith in the Lord, he will bless us. We need not fear.
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