May 9th
Hey guys.
This week I read the great "Beware of Pride" talk by Ezra Taft Benson. It's something everybody should read. He lays out the universal sin quite well. I especially like this section:
We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are. (See D&C 38:24; D&C 81:5; D&C 84:106.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement. (See Jacob 4:10; Hel. 15:3; D&C 63:55; D&C 101:4–5; D&C 108:1; D&C 124:61, 84; D&C 136:31; Prov. 9:8.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us. (See 3 Ne. 13:11, 14; D&C 64:10.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service. (See Mosiah 2:16–17.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others. (See Alma 4:19; Alma 31:5; Alma 48:20.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently.
We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God. (See D&C 58:43; Mosiah 27:25–26; Alma 5:7–14, 49.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives. (See 3 Ne. 11:11; 3 Ne. 13:33; Moro. 10:32.)
Let us choose to be humble. We can do it. I know we can.
It fits especially well when bookended with Elder Bednar's last talk on meekness, "Meek And Lowly of Heart". I recommend it as well.
A meek person is not easily provoked, pretentious, or overbearing and readily acknowledges the accomplishments of others.
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Meekness is the principal protection from the prideful blindness that often arises from prominence, position, power, wealth, and adulation.
I also read Brian K. Ashton's amazing talk, "The Doctrine of Christ". It's simple, effective, and powerful. One of my favorites ever.
The doctrine of Christ allows us to access the spiritual power that will lift us from our current spiritual state to a state where we can become perfected.
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[Repentance] is not just for big sins but is a daily process of self-evaluation and improvement that helps us to overcome our sins, our imperfections, our weaknesses, and our inadequacies. Repentance causes us to become “true followers” of Christ, which fills us with love and casts out our fears. Repentance is not a backup plan just in case our plan to live perfectly fails. Continual repentance is the only path that can bring us lasting joy and enable us to return to live with our Heavenly Father.
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Grace “is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ … to do good works that [we] otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to [our] own means.” Because repentance is really about becoming like the Savior, which is impossible on our own, we desperately need the Savior’s grace in order to make necessary changes in our lives.
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In the sacrament, we learn that this change is a step-by-step process, [where] little by little, week by week, we are transformed as we repent, covenant, and through increased endowments of the Spirit [become like the Savior].”
And THAT goes into my other favorite talk ever, "His Grace is Sufficient", which can be found in the September 2013 Ensign or on the internet. I try to remember that continually trying to follow the commandments and become more Christlike every day is how we use Christ's gift. It's what He wants for us. It's the whole point.
We will all be resurrected. We will all go back to God’s presence to be judged. What is left to be determined by our obedience is how comfortable we plan to be in God’s presence and what degree of glory we plan on receiving.”
Christ asks us to show faith in Him, repent, make and keep covenants, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. By complying, we are not paying the demands of justice—not even the smallest part. Instead, we are showing appreciation for what Jesus Christ did by using it to live a life like His.
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Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.
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Perfection may be his ultimate goal, but for now we can be content with progress in the right direction. Why is this perspective so easy to see in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of learning heaven?
Too many are giving up on the Church because they are tired of constantly feeling like they are falling short. They have tried in the past, but they continually feel like they are just not good enough. They don’t understand grace.
There should never be just two options: perfection or giving up. When learning the piano, are the only options performing at Carnegie Hall or quitting? No. Growth and development take time. Learning takes time. When we understand grace, we understand that God is long-suffering, that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives. When we understand grace, we understand that the blessings of Christ’s Atonement are continuous and His strength is perfect in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9).
Two issues that can sometimes bother me are the role of women in God's plan and the church's apparent cultural explanations for the priesthood ban. Luckily, the church addressed both those things, one in an lds.org blog article and the other in the latest Ensign.
"While the revelation extending priesthood and temple blessings was received 40 years ago, some of the past speculation on why the restriction existed still seems to affect the way some members of the Church look at me today. I don’t know why the priesthood restriction was put in place. Personally, I’m OK with not knowing, because I know that God loves all of His children. But occasionally some members still say really hurtful things about the faithfulness and capabilities (or lack thereof) of black members to try to explain it."
^I've definitely seen this. I don't know why there are some purely cultural explanations for the ban floating around Mormondom, but I hope this latest Ensign helps to quash some of them because 95% of the theories are completely non-doctrinal, unnecessary, and offensive. We do not have a clue as to the actual reason behind it and we should not pretend that we do. To me that's all part of being more Christlike.
A lot of people these days say you ought to be constantly evaluating yourself to see if you're unconsciously being racist. But I say you should consciously be attempting to be more Christlike. If you're Christlike you'll be meek. If you're meek you won't think or act in a way that looks down upon others for their culture or their race. If you do look down on others, you're not being Christlike.
Now I've got a question for you who may have answers. In my reading I happened to come across something in D&C 130 (apparently also in Rev. 2:17) about how a white stone with a new name upon it will be given to those in the Celestial Kingdom. I had never heard of this before. Is there more to understand about this and what it means or it is just one of those things we simply know nothing about?
I imagine some of you must wonder if I do any actual missionary work or if I just read the Ensign all day. (Hah.) Short answer: yes, I do lots more missionary work than I do reading. Do I get baptisms? Not yet. One day. Until then however I feel more motivated to write about the stuff I'm reading than the people we are teaching.
I was struck two days ago by a very powerful wave of old regrets. As I reflected on it I thought about how there was a period of time on my mission where I, for the first time in my life, somehow felt no regrets. Why had that ever happened to me--why had the regrets not mattered at one point? And why couldn't I feel that anymore?
Remembering a spiritual impression that I had felt earlier in the same day gave me an explanation. It was simple, but important: "You're doing the right thing."
I felt the power of the process of repentance at that point. By going on a mission I was repenting. By repenting I allowed the Atonement to perform its healing upon me. With that, I felt my regrets no more. Knowing that I'm doing the right thing is vastly important to keep in mind as I go about and share the message with a number of individuals here who think they already know who missionaries are and what we do. They really don't know. But they'll find out.
Be bold. Talk to everybody. That's what we (try to) do. I hope and need to get better at it.
Have a good week everyone.
Elder Gallagher
P.S. Apparently these pictures haven't actually been displaying in order for you all. Whoops. I think I'll leave you guys to make sense of them (or not) on your own.
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