The Lesson of the Tree of Life

            Many people, including various General Authorities, have interpreted Lehi's vision found in the eighth chapter of 1 Nephi for talks and other speaking arraignments.  All of these interpretations are valuable and most are based on true principles.  However, the purpose of this post is to discuss the original interpretation of the vision of the tree of life given to Nephi.  This interpretation is the key to understanding how to develop charity, the pure love of Christ.

            First of all, many people assume that the tree of life represents eternal life.  There is value in looking at it that way, but it is not the original interpretation.   

1 Nephi 11:21-22:

21 And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?

 22 And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men;

            It doesn't say anything about eternal life in these verses!  Nephi, inspired by the Spirit, declares that the tree represents the love of God or, in other words, the pure love of Christ.  We don't think of the vision of the tree of life as a guidebook to qualify for charity, but that is exactly what the scriptures describe it as.  Later on the vision depicts people who partake of the fruit of the tree of life and later fall away.  If the tree of life represented eternal life, an eternal gift, then why would the vision portray the possibility of gaining, and then losing it?  Further, the cause of the personal apostasy was the pride of the world.  After judgment day, there will be no worldly influences trying to make us err.  This life is our battle to prepare to meet God, and therefore the events of this vision are analogous of purely mortal events.

            The other piece of the vision that we are often too quick to assign meaning to is the iron rod.  We're familiar with the scripture in 1 Nephi 15:23-24: 

23 And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?

 24 And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

            The iron rod is the word of God.  But what is the word of God?  The knee-jerk answer is the scriptures, but think for a moment.  The word of God literally means God's words, or the things that God has said.  Of course, many of the things He says are found in the scriptures, but that is not the only place.  Of equal importance are the words of the living prophets and the Spirit.  In fact, if all we hear are the words of the scriptures themselves and not the meaning the Lord would like us to understand, we can hypothetically read the scriptures without hearing the word of God at all.  The word of God is simply those things that God wants to tell us, independent of the mechanism He uses to reveal it.  We would probably feel obligated to follow a message given from God to us by an angel, but why should we feel differently if we received the same message through a different medium?  The vision of the tree of life teaches us that those who hold fast to the rod of iron will never fall, but I have known personally people with strong testimonies who frequently study the scriptures and have still fallen.  Why?  Because they chose not to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, just by some of them.

            If we follow only the words of the living prophets and the scriptures, we lack the personal revelation that would turn doctrines and principles into action and faith.  If we only follow the prophets and the Spirit, we lose the backbone of spiritual power President Ezra Taft Benson spoke of that enables us to overcome temptations.  If we eliminate the words of the living prophets and leave just the Spirit and the scriptures we rely too much on our personal powers of interpretation and by "trusting in the arm of flesh" too much, can easily be deceived even while we think we are following God in every particular.  However, with all three of these pillars of revelation, together with any other medium by which God chooses to speak, we have a sure, steadfast compass that will never fail us.

            The message of the vision of the tree of life is simple:  If we integrate all forms of the word of God into all parts of our life, press through the trials and temptations of the mists of darkness, and destroy the great and spacious building of pride that dwells in our hearts, the day will come when we will be endowed with that untouchable power which is charity and be enabled to serve others with true selflessness.

 

            President Utchdorf promised:

"If you listen for the voice of the Father,

He will lead you on a course that will allow you to experience the pure love of Christ." 

 

 

           I love how the different forms of the word of God work together like that. 

 

 How have you seen different forms of the word of God work together to bless your life?

 

 

Selfishness Versus Self-Centeredness

How do you feel about the following motivations for helping someone?

Pride

Physical Reward (i.e. money)

Social Approval

Guilt

Duty

Temporal Blessings (from God)

Eternal Blessings (from God)

Becoming a Better Person

Meeting the People You Helped in the Celestial Kingdom

          Which motivation most often describes you?  Which ones make you feel

uncomfortable?  What do all of these motivations have in common?  They are all self-centered.  All of them.  Wait a minute!  Isn't it a good thing to be a better person and to see the fruits of your labors after this life?  Isn't it good to want blessings from God?  Yes.  But even these motivations lack something critical.  When I said that all the motivations listed above were self-centered, you probably immediately equated the term with selfishness.  It's probably not so bad to use the terms interchangeably, but there is a fundamental difference between the two.

          Selfishness is the act of yielding to the desires of the natural man over what we know is right, seeking pleasure rather than happiness, and obtaining something we want at the expense of another person.  According to that definition, four of the above-mentioned motivations could arguably be considered selfish:  pride, physical reward, social approval, and guilt.  There are, however, many things we can ask for from God  that aren't innately selfish, like patience, humility diligence, help on a test, direction when we're lost or confused, and the Holy Ghost.  All of these things are good things to ask for.  God wants us to have these things.  Some of them are essential to our salvation.  However, they are all centered on our own physical or spiritual wellbeing.  They are blessings that are "centered on ourselves," or in other words, "self-centered".  Although these things need to be in our lives, if we allow them to become the center then we are missing something fundamental.

          Christ taught that if we lose ourselves, we find ourselves.  Joseph Smith said, "Now, in this world, mankind are naturally selfish, ambitious and striving to excel one above another; yet some are willing to build up others as well as themselves."  If our only motivations for helping others are self-centered ones, who are we really choosing to build up?  Moroni 7:6,  "For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing."

          Undoubtedly one of the most subtle self-centered motivations is the last one, to meet people that we helped in the Celestial Kingdom.  This is still self-centered because what we really want is our own personal happiness in knowing that we were such good people on the Earth that we helped others considerably.  Even altering this motivation to "wanting to be the person that helps others return to the Celestial Kingdom" still isn't enough to get the "self" out of the equation completely.  There still remains more of yourself to lose.  

          How then, can we ever find true altruism?  Does it even exist?  It does.  It is the attribute we commonly refer to as Charity, and it means desiring another's happiness more than your own.  It was the Christ's motivation for performing the Atonement, the motivation that still drives His actions today.  For that reason, we commonly refer to Charity as the pure love of Christ.  Pure, because there is no selfishness or self-centeredness involved.  Of Christ because it is His love, and because only through Him can anyone else love this way.  Please note that although all love is good, without the help of our Savior there will still be impurities in our love for others that need to be removed.  With that in mind, let us review the doctrine of Charity, found in 1 Corinthians 13:1-11

       "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing...Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

          The fact that Paul says that prophecy, tongues, faith to move mountains, and even sacrificial acts are nothing without Charity implies that it is possible to do all of those things without it.  Yet without Charity, we will fail, because it is the only force in the universe that never does.  We know in part what it means to love others, but when that which is perfect love comes, all our imperfect motivations are to be done away.  When we were spiritual children we talked, understood, and thought in terms of improving ourselves temporally and spiritually, but when we become spiritual men we thrust those things to the periphery of our lives and desire the happiness of others.

          How do we develop this perfect love?  Ponder on that this week, post your thoughts in the comments, and stay tuned for my answer next Monday:  The Lesson of the Tree of Life.

To the Recently Returned Missionary Part II: Consecrating Our Souls

            This theme of consecration is a most important topic of discussion when it comes to returning from a mission.  One of my good friends put the main challenge of coming home best when he said that it's easy to get lost because there are so many distractions in the world.  Now, initially when a person comes home from their mission, there are certain difficulties associated with assimilating back into society and resuming activities that we didn't do on our missions such as dating and normal recreational activities.  Sometimes it feels like all those things we did before are just kind of....lame compared to what we did as missionaries.  Sometimes we feel a little lost without missionary things to focus on, so we try to fill our lives with worthwhile activities and try to find things to put our hearts into.  At first, getting distracted by the things of the world may even be more difficult for us than banging down someone's door to teach them about the Restoration.  Over time, however, especially as our lives become occupied with things that we really do need to do, like going to school or working, our closeness to the Savior can slip away without us even realizing it.

            The scriptures tell of a man who had kept the commandments "from [his] youth up," that one day approached the Savior and asked the penetrating question:  "What lack I yet?"

            Because we know the outcome of the story it's easy for us to be a bit judgmental of him and to see him almost as a less-active member of Christ's day.  In reality, though, aren't each one of us members that have kept the commandments "from [our] youth up?"  Or at least for the last two years?  Have you ever prayed to God to ask Him what you could do better?  I have.  I think that the man in the scriptural story in question must have been far more than quasi-committed to have the desire and wherewithal to ask the Savior that kind of question.  It's a question that I feel like has special pertinence after the mission field.  If you're anything like me, you worry about losing the spirituality you had on your mission, and you understand that the only way of guaranteeing that is by constantly moving forward.

            I feel like when it comes to personal weaknesses, we fall into two groups:  people who see their weaknesses more easily than they do their strengths and thus tend to underestimate themselves and be impatient with their progress, and people who see their strengths more clearly than their weaknesses, who oftentimes aren't sure what they should be focusing on improving.  The people in the first group tend to ask, "I've been struggling with this weakness for so long.  What effort lack I yet so I can overcome it?"  While those from the second group ask "I know I'm not perfect.  Even though I can't see any weaknesses in particular that I should be improving at the moment, I know that there are still vitally important improvements to be made.  What lack I yet?"  Christ's answer was direct, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me."

            Why did Jesus ask that of him?  He doesn't ask us to sell everything that we own and give it to charity, at least not at this point in our discipleship.  The Joseph Smith Translation of Luke 18:27 reads:  It is impossible for them who trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God; but he who forsaketh the things which are of this world, it is possible with God, that he should enter in."  The command to sell all his belongings was a personal prescription for the diagnosed condition of a personal trust in riches.  For us, that might be translated into putting our heart into our recreation, our careers, our social lives, or even our education instead of putting it into God and His work and Glory.

            As a missionary, the purpose of our lives was to help people to receive the Restored Gospel.  That should still be our purpose.  Nothing else will have any lasting significance.  Of course, as returned missionaries, we will spend a lot of our time on our recreation, our careers, our social lives, and our education, but that is different than putting our heart into those things.  As a missionary, when we were truly living our purpose, we bent everything we said or did in any situation towards that purpose.  That can still be true.  We can choose to bend the choices we make in the worldly aspects of our lives so that they gain divine purpose.

             For example, is the purpose of our social life just to have fun, get girls, and blow off steam, or is it to build up those people the Lord has entrusted to us so that we can help them return to His presence?  If the answer is the latter, all the fun, the girls, and the blowing off of steam will still happen, but it will no longer be the focus behind your interactions with others.  Are your career goals focused on what you like to spend time doing, on having a stable financial future, or on doing the greatest amount of good in the world?  Only you can respond to that question.  The answer is different for everybody.

            In essence, the only things that keep us from progressing as well, if not better, than we did on the mission are those parts of our heart that we no longer have placed on the sacrificial alter.  Many times the Lord does not ask us directly for those things like He did from time to time on the mission.  He wants the decision to be our own.  I have decided that He doesn't have to ask me for those sacrifices that I know He wants; I will give it to Him anyways, pray for help so to do, and continue to seek out ways to consecrate more for Him.  It is a very personal decision.  Only you can make it.  But if you do, it will change the rest of your life.  I promise you that, as one who has covenanted to represent the Lord's teachings to the best of my ability in every circumstance until the end of my mission in mortality.  In fact, you covenanted to do the same, if you think about it.

            True discipleship is difficult.  It was not lightly that Jesus said "few there be" that find that narrow road.  But those who love Him always, always, do.  The following is adapted from Elder Holland's talk "The First Great Commandment," interpreted by my own additions so that it applies to missionary work.  My words are not italicized to differentiate them from the words of the original talk.  The original talk can be found here:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng 

            In effect, you, the returned missionary said to your associates: “Brethren, it has been a glorious two years. None of us could have imagined such a few short months ago the miracles we have seen and the divinity we have enjoyed. We have...labored with the very Son of God Himself...On the night all our investigators dropped us, no one wept more bitterly than I. But that is over. We have finished our work in the mission field, and He has delivered us home safely...‘What do we do now?’ I don’t know more to tell you than to return to your former life, rejoicing. I intend to ‘go back to doing the same things I did before.'...

...Looking at your battered little list of personal ambitions Jesus says..., “Elder, do you love me more than you love all this?” You say, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”¹⁰

The Savior responds to that reply but continues to look into your eyes and says again, “Elder, do you love me?” Undoubtedly confused a bit by the repetition of the question, the great fisher of men answers a second time, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”¹¹

The Savior again gives a brief response, but with relentless scrutiny He asks for the third time, “Elder, do you love me?” By now surely you are feeling truly uncomfortable...Perhaps you are searching your heart, seeking honest confirmation of the answer you have given so readily, almost automatically...You say  for the third time, “Lord, … thou knowest that I love thee.”¹²

To which Jesus responds.. “Then Elder, why are you here? Why are we back in the same routine, doing the same things as before the mission, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want you to achieve the things you wanted before the mission, I can give you those things with almost no effort on my part? What I need, Elder, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Elder, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.”

            May we ever live with the decision burning in our hearts that we will never abandon He who has never abandoned us.  May we exclaim with Elder Holland every minute of our lives, "'Yea, Lord, we do love thee.' And having set our 'hand to the plough,' we will never look back until this work is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world."

             That we may do so is both my prayer and daily battle cry.

To the Recently Returned Missionary Part I: Success After the Mission

            I've been back from my mission for a little over 6 months now, but it seems like I learn something every day about what it means to be a returned missionary.  I've read a lot of talks/books directed toward returned missionaries which, although helpful, I feel like miss a lot of the experience.  Returning home is different for everyone, so you probably face different challenges than I do.  Enough is similar, though, that I feel like there are some specific, central Gospel principles that we should turn to.

The Best Is Yet to Come

            I always sort of assumed that after being a personal representative of Jesus Christ that life afterwards would be a bit of a letdown spiritually speaking.  I assumed I that it would be a lot harder to stay on the straight and narrow path, and that my progression towards the Savior would slow, no matter how dedicated I was.  I also thought that I would never have as much success in the work of salvation as I did on the mission.  I was both completely right and completely wrong.

           On the mission I assumed that I would never feel the same kind of inspiration again.  That is both true and false.  It's impossible to describe why, but some of the inspiration leaves and some of it sticks around and pops up at random times, especially when you're doing missionary work.  Although a lot of the inspiration/spiritual power I had on my mission was due to the setting-apart blessing of a missionary, more of it was due to my righteous actions, desires, and the essence of who I was.  To the extent that I kept what I did, what I wanted, and who I was centered on Jesus Christ after the mission, that part of the inspiration stayed.  To the extent that I went back to doing, wanting, and being, things that weren't centered on Christ, the inspiration left.

            One of the great miracles of the mission is that a person not only learns things that will help them progress spiritually, they also learn how to progress spiritually.  To the extent that I applied those principles, I grew and developed just like I did on my mission, so that the person I am now is a far more dedicated disciple than I was when I first got back.  To the extent that I lapsed into mediocrity, I lost some of my momentum.

            Another common sadness associated with returning home is having to accept the "consolation prize" of being a member missionary instead of a full time missionary.  This excerpt from talk by Elder L. Tom Perry given in 2001, changed my perspective forever:

 

            "I had an experience a few years ago of receiving a call from my son, Lee. He told me that my first missionary companion was in his neighborhood, and he wanted to spend a few minutes with me...As missionaries we were given the opportunity of opening up a new town in Ohio to missionary work. Because of this assignment, we were allowed to labor together for 10 months. He was my trainer, my first companion. He came from a family that had taught him the value of hard work. It was difficult for me to keep up with him, but as we served together we drew close together as companions.

 

            Our companionship did not end with the 10-month assignment. World War II was raging, and when I returned home I had only a short time to adjust before I was drafted into military service. On my first Sunday in boot camp, I attended an LDS service. I saw the back of a head that was very familiar to me. It was my first missionary companion. We spent most of the next two and a half years together. Although circumstances were very different for us in military service, we tried to continue the practices of missionary service. As often as we could, we prayed together. When circumstances allowed, we had scripture study together. I recall many companion study sessions under the light of a Coleman lantern in a shrapnel-scarred tent. Several times our reading of the scriptures was interrupted by the sound of an air raid siren. We would quickly turn off our lantern, then kneel together and close our study class with a prayer.

 

We were both set apart as group leaders, and we again had the opportunity to serve and teach together the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior. We were more successful in the military than we had been as full-time missionaries. Why? Because we were experienced returned missionaries."

 

            Therefore, returning home from our missions need not be a roadblock to keep us from being tools in the Lord's hands to bring about the salvation of others.  Our missions were intended to be a springboard for every aspect of our lives, including our church service.  Remember that serving and lifting members is just as valuable in the Lord's eyes as strengthening and lifting nonmembers.  We should do both.