I'm a blessed man. Downright spoiled right now, in fact. That's what I tell everyone. Beyond being blessed by the restored gospel and having a wonderful family, I have a good income and I'm able to pursue good professional opportunities. I have an extremely flexible schedule at the moment.
I have a lot of little things that bring me some measure of happiness, like books and movies. I'm able to chat with distant friends via text message. I'm in good health. I have clean water to drink and bathe in and access to a wide variety of food that is either healthy, good-tasting, or both. I have a comfortable home. (And carpet; my standard for being rich, on a global scale, is having carpet, so overall I'm doing really well.) I live in a land that values and preserves a great deal of personal liberty.
Being blessed as I am and being currently free from severe stress makes it easy to feel happy. I think that sometimes similar conditions have led people to overlook the source of true, lasting happiness and real, eternal peace.
What if I were to lose the things I have?
People experience loss. There is a limitless amount of precedent for misfortune and loss, and it's entirely plausible that I could lose almost all of the things I listed above, and much more. I doubt that I would lose them all together, like Job, but it's possible that any day I could experience significant loss on any given day. Tragedy sometimes occurs on a personal level, and sometimes with much larger scope. Nations fall. Natural disasters, war, and other problems displace thousands and millions. I could break a limb or get cancer or otherwise fall ill. My house could burn down, with all of my possessions in it. I sincerely hope it will not happen, but my wife or children could experience grave injury. But what if? What if I were to lose these things that bring me happiness?
I know that regardless of any particular blessing or the loss of it, no matter how much misfortune may come my way, I can still be right before God. No matter what I could lose, I could still dedicate myself to righteousness and service to God and others. And that would bring me peace, "not as the world giveth" (John 14:27), but as Jesus Christ gives to all those who earnestly follow Him.
To say this is the sort of thing that would have superstitious people knocking on wood. Indeed, I do not ask for trouble or loss to enter my life. But, having mentioned Job, I know that any of us can show the same commitment to following Christ that he showed, despite any loss.
Last thoughts for now:
It's easy to say that I could be committed like that. But I know it's possible. I know that we can make that kind of choice. In the meanwhile, I hope to make that kind of commitment without needing tragedy to spur me on. But if tragedy should befall me, I know that I can still receive the peace that our Savior brings.
Showing posts with label Job. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Job. Show all posts
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Strategy
I don't know if this strategy actually works, and the strategy for it's own sake would miss the point. However, I'm willing to keep going on the assumption that it does work to an extent.
Bear with me as I preface the strategy. I'll start with an age-old philosopher's question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Or, why do bad things happen to anybody? Why does God allow it?
Firstly, because ultimately bad things happening to people don't interfere with God's plan. That is, bad circumstances or events don't really harm them eternally.
In the classic passage of Moses 1:39, we read, "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." The immortality part has been taken care of via the resurrection. We're covered there. Eternal life is the part that remains. Eternal life is more than endless living; it's life like that of the Eternal One, with all the glory of God. It's exaltation. We can receive it only through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, continual reliance on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and being true to our covenants.
No outside force can stop us from receiving eternal life. Nothing short of our own choices can harm us eternally. No illness, injury, or loss, or even death, can take away our exaltation. Take Job for an example. He lost his wealth, his home, his family, his credibility with his friends, and maybe even more though I don't remember the whole story, but he stayed strong in his faith.
Hard times are painful for us, and our loving Heavenly Father surely doesn't enjoy seeing us experience that pain, but they don't impede His plan. (And frankly, no matter how rough the rough times are, they amount to little when viewed from an eternal perspective.)
Secondly, trials give us the opportunity to grow if we bear them well. We can very effectively gain patience, humility, sympathy, wisdom, purification, and strength through faithfully enduring trials. So, in addition to tribulations and trials not being really, eternally bad for us, they can be very good for us eternally if we handle them well.
So, to the strategy. Consider humility. That's a big one. I have certainly been humbled more than once by my trials and difficulties, particularly when I recognized that my own mistakes or immaturity brought those trials to me. Trials also bring purification, at least in the sense that they help us to filter out unimportant things from our life. However, I have also found that service brings humility, and it also helps us to let go of our selfish pursuits.
Consider, for example, that we go to care for someone who is suffering from a disablingly painful disease. As we do so, we realize that our own problems are relatively small, and that we have an easy life compared to the poor soul in the hospital bed. Instant and refreshing humility. Also, by dedicating our time to serving others, we drop less necessary things from our life. While attending to the sick person, we don't have time for watching sports, or playing online games, or even good and productive activities that are simply less important.
If I'm going to learn to be like God, as I've been commanded (Matthew 5:48), I need to learn humility and be willing to let go of selfish or unimportant pursuits. My strategy then is to gain that humility and purification through service, rather than having God feel it necessary to give me these things through trials.
Of course, that's not really my reason for dedicating myself to serving others. The real reason is charity, the pure love of Christ, and a desire to obey my God. At the same time, though, if I can reduce my personal need for trials, well, I'm all for it.
Last thoughts for now:
I don't know if our dedication to service really causes God to give us fewer trials in life, and I'm sure it won't prevent all of them. Perhaps, though, it's really a matter of changing the nature of some of our trials. Service, after all, is still a challenge, and there is plenty of room for sorrow and exhaustion in service, but how much better to experience the difficulties because we're helping others rather than because we're being unwise? Service to God and His children (Mosiah 2:17) brings us joy and helps us to forget our own problems, but it also helps us to become like Him. I hope to learn this lesson more and more.
Bear with me as I preface the strategy. I'll start with an age-old philosopher's question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Or, why do bad things happen to anybody? Why does God allow it?
Firstly, because ultimately bad things happening to people don't interfere with God's plan. That is, bad circumstances or events don't really harm them eternally.
In the classic passage of Moses 1:39, we read, "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." The immortality part has been taken care of via the resurrection. We're covered there. Eternal life is the part that remains. Eternal life is more than endless living; it's life like that of the Eternal One, with all the glory of God. It's exaltation. We can receive it only through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, continual reliance on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and being true to our covenants.
No outside force can stop us from receiving eternal life. Nothing short of our own choices can harm us eternally. No illness, injury, or loss, or even death, can take away our exaltation. Take Job for an example. He lost his wealth, his home, his family, his credibility with his friends, and maybe even more though I don't remember the whole story, but he stayed strong in his faith.
Hard times are painful for us, and our loving Heavenly Father surely doesn't enjoy seeing us experience that pain, but they don't impede His plan. (And frankly, no matter how rough the rough times are, they amount to little when viewed from an eternal perspective.)
Secondly, trials give us the opportunity to grow if we bear them well. We can very effectively gain patience, humility, sympathy, wisdom, purification, and strength through faithfully enduring trials. So, in addition to tribulations and trials not being really, eternally bad for us, they can be very good for us eternally if we handle them well.
So, to the strategy. Consider humility. That's a big one. I have certainly been humbled more than once by my trials and difficulties, particularly when I recognized that my own mistakes or immaturity brought those trials to me. Trials also bring purification, at least in the sense that they help us to filter out unimportant things from our life. However, I have also found that service brings humility, and it also helps us to let go of our selfish pursuits.
Consider, for example, that we go to care for someone who is suffering from a disablingly painful disease. As we do so, we realize that our own problems are relatively small, and that we have an easy life compared to the poor soul in the hospital bed. Instant and refreshing humility. Also, by dedicating our time to serving others, we drop less necessary things from our life. While attending to the sick person, we don't have time for watching sports, or playing online games, or even good and productive activities that are simply less important.
If I'm going to learn to be like God, as I've been commanded (Matthew 5:48), I need to learn humility and be willing to let go of selfish or unimportant pursuits. My strategy then is to gain that humility and purification through service, rather than having God feel it necessary to give me these things through trials.
Of course, that's not really my reason for dedicating myself to serving others. The real reason is charity, the pure love of Christ, and a desire to obey my God. At the same time, though, if I can reduce my personal need for trials, well, I'm all for it.
Last thoughts for now:
I don't know if our dedication to service really causes God to give us fewer trials in life, and I'm sure it won't prevent all of them. Perhaps, though, it's really a matter of changing the nature of some of our trials. Service, after all, is still a challenge, and there is plenty of room for sorrow and exhaustion in service, but how much better to experience the difficulties because we're helping others rather than because we're being unwise? Service to God and His children (Mosiah 2:17) brings us joy and helps us to forget our own problems, but it also helps us to become like Him. I hope to learn this lesson more and more.
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