Part 2
In this post I want to share my approach to life and the
gospel, it allows me to control what I can control. Whether others are right or
wrong in their decisions is between them and the Lord. This is the approach I've taken in trying to
seek the Lord and honor the rites, ordinances, and sustain men to callings they
have within the church organization. I don't believe they're mutually
exclusive, but complementary. Men and organizations will stray and can make
mistakes from time to time, but again, I'll explain my role and approach to
that:
In D&C 93:19-20 it says, "I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to
worship, and know what you worship, that you come unto the Father in my name,
and in due time receive of his fullness. For if you keep MY
commandments you SHALL receive of his fullness, and be glorified in ME as I
am in the Father, therefore, I say unto you , you shall receive GRACE for
GRACE." All those who are
begotten THROUGH ME are partakers of the glory of the same, and are of the
Church of the Firstborn."
I sat on a beautiful green hilltop one morning and watched
the brilliant sun crest the horizon. I pondered these verses when I was taught
something beautiful and this is what I was taught:
One of the keys in those verses is when he says, "MY
commandments." What became clear to me is that to truly worship the Father
and come unto him, through his Son, there are really two types of commandments:
Those commandments asked of everyone and PERSONAL commandments. If we expect to
draw near to the Lord and be redeemed by him, we must be able to live and
adhere to both types.
1) General Commandments. If we raise our hand to sustain the First
Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve then we also agree to pay tithing, obey the
Word of Wisdom, serve in church callings, hometeach and visit families to whom
we're assigned, speak or participate when asked to do so, and participate in
temple work. This has been an enormous
blessing throughout my life. What I've learned serving in callings and the
associations made have changed me and helped me become a better person. I could
start listing names of those I've associated with inside the church and it
would get extensively long, I've been blessed by each name on that list. Often
times it was working with an "inactive young man" or assigned to home
teach someone who's life was in shambles and hadn't associated with the church
for years. I could write pages about experiences and blessings that have come
through the church and serving in the church.
These are the general commandments and things we've
committed to do if we sustain our leadership by common consent. These are
foundational commandments and, in many cases, a predecessor to the greater
commandments or personal commandments.
2) Personal Commandments: I believe this next type of commandment is
the greater type of commandment and comes to us when we are able to follow the
foundational commandments discussed previously and when we humbly seek the Lord
with full purpose of heart. Following these commandments will help your power
in the priesthood grow. In D&C 93,
the promise is to those who keep "MY commandments." This is a much
higher form of communication than the most basic commandments. This is when we
begin to receive personal direction from the Lord on a daily basis. We learn to
follow that direction and the communication and revelatory experiences increase
to the measure we keep those personal directives or commandments. In a general conference address, Elder Scott
gave a talk titled To
Acquire Spiritual Guidance. In it he said, "Communication with our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter.
It is a sacred privilege." He then goes on to share his thoughts on
personal revelation or receiving personal guidance. He shares a story of sitting
in a Sunday School class when he received personal direction from the Lord,
wrote it down, pondered, prayed, and then
received more direction. This process continued and I'll just share the last part
of his story (I would encourage you to read the whole talk). He says, "Subsequently I prayed, reviewing with
the Lord what I thought I had been taught by the Spirit. When a feeling of
peace came, I thanked Him for the guidance given. I was then impressed to
ask, “Was there yet more to be given?” I received further impressions, and
the process of writing down the impressions, pondering, and praying for
confirmation was repeated. Again I was prompted to ask, “Is there more I
should know?” And there was. When that last, most sacred experience was
concluded, I had received some of the most precious, specific, personal
direction one could hope to obtain in this life. Had I not responded to the
first impressions and recorded them, I would not have received the last,
most precious guidance."
This is my witness: When we receive guidance from the Lord,
write it down, ponder it, pray for confirmation and then ask "Lord, what else is there or
what more...?", we will grow in light and intelligence. We will draw near to the Lord and he will
bless us with rich and personal experiences in which an environment is created
where all that's promised in Section 93 might be fulfilled. The key is not
simply living just the basic commandments, but then learning to be a
"disciple" and live the personal commandments given to us by
revelation. The Lord will change the
heart of an individual who follows this course and, as the potter's clay, will
mold that person into what he wants them to become.
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