Sometimes, in order for me to understand something, I need to hear it "in a nutshell." Break it down for me to the essential basics. In the Book of Mormon, The Lord does that for us. The prophet King Benjamin tells us what God wants us to do, in a nutshell:
"And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments;"
That's it.
Then the blessings we are promised:
"...and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye would prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you." (Mosiah 2:22)
There ya have it. That's all we're asked to do, in a nutshell. Be obedient.
Most of you who are reading this are probably familiar with missionary life, and know about all the rules we abide by. For those of you who are unfamiliar with missionary life, let me tell you a little bit about those rules. We have rules for everything. We're on a very precise schedule; we get up at 6:30, study at 8:00, go out and teach at 10:00, etc. We don't participate in worldly entertainment; no movies, no radio, no TV, and very limited use of the internet. We don't drive in reverse unless our companion is outside the car backing us up. We don't leave our assigned area without permission. We don't let our sideburns grow too long. The list goes on. I knew that I would be expected to be obedient to these rules before I became a missionary. In fact, one of the goals I set before my mission was to be 100% obedient to these rules.
Why is exact obedience so important?
"And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments;"
That's it.
Then the blessings we are promised:
"...and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye would prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you." (Mosiah 2:22)
There ya have it. That's all we're asked to do, in a nutshell. Be obedient.
Most of you who are reading this are probably familiar with missionary life, and know about all the rules we abide by. For those of you who are unfamiliar with missionary life, let me tell you a little bit about those rules. We have rules for everything. We're on a very precise schedule; we get up at 6:30, study at 8:00, go out and teach at 10:00, etc. We don't participate in worldly entertainment; no movies, no radio, no TV, and very limited use of the internet. We don't drive in reverse unless our companion is outside the car backing us up. We don't leave our assigned area without permission. We don't let our sideburns grow too long. The list goes on. I knew that I would be expected to be obedient to these rules before I became a missionary. In fact, one of the goals I set before my mission was to be 100% obedient to these rules.
Why is exact obedience so important?
I can tell you why it's important to me. I think there are two main reasons. Reason number one is that I know when I am obedient to God's commandments, He has promised that He will bless me. I know if I'm being exactly obedient, then I'm doing all I can. I know that if I'm being exactly obedient and something still doesn't go quite right, then I know it was beyond my control. On the other hand, if I'm NOT being obedient, and something doesn't go right, then I'm left to wonder if it would've gone right, had I been obedient.
As missionaries, we teach a LOT of people about the gospel. Most people we talk to don't end up getting baptized, and I understand that. But my goal with everyone I talk to is that if they don't get baptized, it won't be because of something I didn't do. That's why I strive to be obedient.
The second reason I strive to be obedient is because it makes me happy! Preach my Gospel puts it this way:
"God gives us commandments for our benefit. They are instructions from a loving Father in Heaven to help us have happy lives." (PMG pg 72)
This is truth. Usually keeping the commandments involves the principle of sacrificing a little bit of momentary pleasure now in order to receive more and greater happiness later. When you start doing this all the time, you'll find that your life is overall better. The difference between the life of someone who keeps the commandments and someone who doesn't is like night and day.
God wants us to be happy, so He's told us how. Now it's just up to us.
I have a very strong testimony of the principle of obedience. I know from experience that blessings, miracles and happiness come in greater measure when we're obeying every commandment, even when it's inconvenient. My invitation today is to have the courage to keep all of God's commandments, at all times. You'll never, ever regret it.
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