Do We Truly Follow the Prophet?

Last week, while visiting another ward, someone from their elders quorum mentioned that the next general conference is approaching.  I'd been contemplating President Nelson's talk from the last general conference (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives?lang=eng) and what I should be teaching about it today.  It was an unusual lesson in that I taught the same thing roughly a couple of months ago and the quorum president felt that we should review it again.  As I heard, last week, that the next conference was approaching, it occurred to me that we have little time left to obey President Nelson's instruction to us before he gives us more.

I did take his counsel to heart.  In fact, one of his remarks has struck me possibly more than any other from any general conference in my lifetime: "In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost."  I believe it easily, as I've already seen people I love fall and lose the blessings of their testimony.  But there's a difference between hearing God's word through His prophets, and obeying that word.

I counted the number of direct instructions President Nelson gave us, starting about two thirds of the way into his talk.  By my count, he gave fourteen direct instructions and implicitly directed us to act another seven times.  Specifically, he told us to do the following: "Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart.  And then listen!  Write the thoughts that come to your mind.  Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take."  He then suggested that it should be a daily activity: "As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will 'grow into the principle of revelation.'"

Pray.
Listen!
Write our thoughts.
Record our feelings.
Follow through with actions.

Does our religion mean something?  Does our claim to discipleship mean something?  One method for gauging this would be to ask: are we following the direction of the prophet of God?  Are we seeking revelation from God and then writing down what we receive and acting upon it?

I write this with a bit less focus on just myself, partly because President Nelson's counsel was directed to everyone living on the earth.  Some of us, and likely many of us, are not already doing what he directed us to do.

If not, what are we to do?  The answer is simple: we are to obey.  If we're not doing all that we should, we still have an opportunity.  He told us to "stretch beyond [our] current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation" and again to "increase [our] spiritual capacity to receive revelation."

So we should get some paper and a pen, or open a new computer file where we record revelation regularly.  We should "choose to do the spiritual work required".

Naturally, President Nelson told us of promised blessings, but he also gave a very direct warning, letting us know that some of us will not survive spiritually in the modern world.  That's a thought that merits concern, and his counsel merits the obedience of true discipleship.

Last thoughts for now:
We have a little less than a month left to obey the prophet's counsel before we receive more.  Granted, late obedience will still bring blessings, but by not following the counsel now we risk not following it ever, and God is only telling us these things so that out lives can be better for it.  A while back I picked up a small, fat notebook and began recording what I believe are inspired thoughts and feelings.  I haven't been seeking revelation daily yet, but I know I can improve, and I know that as I follow President Nelson's counsel by seeking revelation I will be better prepared for what God has to give us in the next general conference.

Alternatives to Obeying the Law

This thought starts with something not spiritual at all.  I drive according to the speed limit.  Admittedly, I used to be more careful, but I still consider it personally unacceptable to exceed that limit.  This means that I tend to drive slower than most people around me.  I don't mind that.  People tend to be polite and don't tell me I should drive faster, yet as with everything else, there is always a subtle pressure to conform to what everyone else is doing.  There are surely those who would look down on me for restricting myself to obeying a law that most people don't obey, especially in light of countless reasons to drive faster.  This was on my mind the other day, so I asked myself if I didn't follow the speed limit, what else would I do?

One of my options would be to match the speed of those around me, or, if I didn't happen to be in much traffic, to try to go as fast as I thought other people would drive if they were there.  I don't like this idea because I believe in acting out of principle.  I have a good mind that can think through problems and come up with reasons for taking any particular action, and I can use it when determining my driving speed rather than just going with the flow.  Sure, there are a lot of social conventions that are harmless to follow, where it would be more trouble than it's worth to defy, but if it comes to social pressure vs. principle, principle will always be more important for me.

Another option would be to increase my speed but limit myself to only going five miles per hour over the speed limit.  This is a pretty common practice, because people (like me) often want to take as little time as possible to get somewhere, but are content to get away with breaking the law a little bit when they know they won't get in trouble for it (which is not much like me).  In this case, people driving five-over are still constrained by the law without respecting it.  I don't like that.  To undermine one law is to undermine the rule of law in general, and I believe in law.  I believe that the commandments of God and usually the laws of the land are there for our benefit, and I don't want to undermine them.

I could also go flying down the road at very high speeds.  I see people do this commonly, and I always think poorly of their actions.  Not only would such an action show blatant disrespect for the law, but it can be very dangerous.  It also sends a clear message to everyone that the driver considers himself or herself to be more important than everyone else, because there's no practical way that everyone could drive recklessly on the road.  Even if I knew that there were no police officers or cameras on a given stretch of road, I wouldn't want to do this.

So the alternatives to obeying the law aren't acceptable to me.

I made the distinction between God's commandments and the laws of men.  In matters such as the payment of tithing, no one is going to fine me or imprison me for not obeying the law.  If I were to openly break the Word of Wisdom I wouldn't get tossed in jail either.  So when I choose to obey the commandments, it's because I know the value of the law and the blessing I receive from obeying it.

As with man-made laws, people tend to have social conventions regarding obedience to the laws of God.  The social pressure in a given context may be to obey the commandments or to disobey them.  I don't ever want to obey commandments only because it's the socially acceptable thing to do, and I do want to obey them even if it's not popular.  I'm not immune to social pressure; I do worry about being too concerned with what people think of me, and there have surely been times when social pressure has led me to do the right thing when I wouldn't have otherwise, but I believe in doing what is right just because it is right.

As a disclaimer, when my baby was born recently I sped while driving from an airport to the hospital.  I bear in mind President Monson's words that "it is easier to keep the commandments 100 percent of the time than it is 98 percent of the time."  But especially after missing the birth of my last child, I wanted to be there for this one.  So my obedience to law is evidently not perfect, but after this experience I've continued in my regular driving habits.

Last thoughts for now:
I believe in obeying the commandments because they are God's will and He loves us and knows what is best for us.  I believe in doing the right thing out of principle.  What's really most important to me is knowing that I stand well with God and with myself.  I will need the mercy of Jesus Christ, but I want to merit it by truly being His disciple.

Same Old, Same Old

Sometimes people complain that they always hear the same thing in church, or they don't want to watch General Conference because "they always say the same stuff". I've known people who didn't see the need to read scripture more than once.

Well, yes, we do hear the same thing over and over again. I know of five reasons why:

1. Each time we receive a particular message, we may learn more if we invite the Holy Ghost's influence and have readied ourselves by practicing more basic principles. Many people have had the experience of learning something new from a passage of scripture they've read multiple times before. We hear things repeated because there is deeper knowledge to gain.

2. Simply hearing the truth from the prophets will bring us the Holy Ghost and ready us for personal revelation on any topic. Many people have listened to a witness of Christ and received personal revelation for something that is important but unrelated to what is being spoken.

3. We haven't really listened yet. So often we hear the standard answers: pray, read your scriptures, go to church. Are we doing these things? I tend to think I'm a good person, but I know that I have often forgotten to pray in the morning and I sometimes struggle to read my scriptures. (It's been pretty bad recently. I wake up early and go to work, leaving the house at 6:00 am at the latest. I haven't made it a habit recently to read my scriptures in the morning, and then I don't get to them later. Then, in my Gospel Doctrine class, I know I don't have as much to contribute because I haven't done enough studying.) Anyway, we hear things repeated because we often haven't obeyed yet.

4. There are other people listening who haven't heard it yet. So many people are only hearing the restored Gospel for the first time. We can be patient as they are enlightened by glorious truth, particularly since it's still good for us.

5. Repetition reinforces ideas. Truth ought to be reinforced in our lives (especially to counteract the falsehoods that come to us over and over again).

Beyond that, we actually do hear some new things in General Conference sometimes, and it can be thrilling. I should give a list of my favorite conference talks some time.

Last thoughts for now:
It's okay to hear a good thing again. Heavenly Father knows what He's doing.