Spiritual Rebirth II

          Spiritual rebirth starts to have an impact on our lives in response to our own agency.  Relentless, consistent agency is the only source of true miracles, and spiritual change is the true miracle that Jesus Christ works.  He is the author of our salvation.  His atoning blood spots the ground on which we walk when we return to live with the Father.  His Atonement is the power of good in the world.  It flows from eternity to all eternity, and is the fire my which all things burn and have life.

          Jesus Christ took upon himself the burden of all creation.  We cannot understand life without understanding Him.  "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent."  He is the core and center of life.  I know that He lives and that He will stand in the latter days on the Earth.  We will be eyewitnesses to His glory.  He is our Champion and our King, and He labors among us even now.  I love Him.  My life and my light and my every action are in the process of being given to Him.  There is nothing I wouldn't change for Him. 

          The Atonement should be the power and focus of change in our lives.  Psychological therapy is baseless and shallow because it attempts to use man's wisdom to solve symptoms of deeper problems.  Only the Gospel can save the world from its own self-destruction.  Without it, single living souls will likewise perish.

          The Lord faced great uncertainties and pain during His lifetime.  There were many things He didn't know in His mortal life.  However, the power of who someone is always outshines the power of what He says or does, and that power allowed Him to perform at a level that we couldn't match.  His was the power to choose the right without perfect knowledge, in darkness and unfairness.  The power of who we are can shine forward toward the future, through the Atonement of Christ.  We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.  That belief must be the driving power behind everything we say and do.

          Spiritual rebirth is the process by which the spirit part of us bleeds through the mortal part.  It is the process by which we begin to  wield spiritual power.  It is the night at the end of the dark day that is more beautiful than anything perceive by the physical senses.  The Atonement is the great dividing link between mortal and spiritual, symbolized and epitomized by the mortal Son of God.  Thus, only through the Atonement can spirit and matter be  inseparably connected and receive an fullness of joy.  But the only way to the Atonement lies through the pathway of pain, uncertainty, and darkness, just as it did for Him.  It lies along a thorny pathway that scratches and cuts us until our hearts bleed and seems to stretch on forever, just as it did for Him.

          In a way, the path is open and obvious to everyone, but no one chooses to walk it.  We know what we should do, but we don't do it.  Not because we can't, but because we are unwilling to pay the price.  But He was.  He was because He loved us.  And because He loved us He died and personally sustained the order and progression of mankind.  May we ever worship Him and decide that another's salvation, temporal or spiritual, is worth that price.  Let us place offerings on the sacrificial alter until our heart breaks and our spirits become contrite.  There is an inner part of all of us that always sees the correct path and whether or not we are on it, but sometimes we do those things that take us in a different direction anyway.  On a single act of agency once hung the very fabric of existence.  So too does our eternal destiny, by way of the actualization of rebirth, depend on a single individual decision. 

Spiritual Rebirth I

          Think of someone who has had an incredible impact for good on your life.  She might be a parent.  He might be a missionary or a home teacher.  She might be a trusted friend or adviser.  They may have known you for years or for seconds.  Perhaps a few words was all it took.  No matter what their action was, big or small, it revolutionized your life, and put you on a path completely different than the one you would have taken otherwise.

          A sign of spiritual maturity is the desire to be that kind of hero in the lives of those with whom we associate.  In a way, the pathway to spiritual rebirth begins with an inner drive to aid the spiritual rebirth of others.

          Listen to this description of fundamental differences between those who follow God and those who do not by Joseph Smith:

          "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."

          We are naturally inclined to focus on our own welfare, including our spiritual welfare.  Yet, we must put off that natural man tendency if we are to be reborn as saints.  The opportunity to change the life of a son or daughter of God forever is a very precious thing.  In my personal opinion, it is the greatest gift God can give us.  It is both essential and inherent to the role of a parent in their family.  Once we have that desire, it changes the way we see even the most fundamental duties in the church.  For example, a man who truly desires the spiritual welfare of others will never intentionally neglect his hometeaching because he knows the potential impact it may have on the families he visits.  A trip to the temple becomes more than a chance to assuage a guilty conscience as the patron feels sincere concern for the person they officiate for.

          This initial change can, in a way, be considered a rebirth of sorts.  Yet it is not refined or complete.  It constitutes merely a change in perspective that potentially leads to greater things.  The Savior Himself taught this truth in John 3: 3-5, " Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

          Joseph Smith taught that this scripture represents  two rebirths, one that is required to "see the kingdom of God," and one which is needed to "enter the kingdom." 

          The desire to bring about the salvation of others constitutes the first, preparatory rebirth.  The second rebirth, though initiated by baptism, may often not be finished or even completely understood until long after the ordinance is complete because the first rebirth has not yet taken place. Those who are transformed by the preparatory rebirth will find beauty instead of triviality in Alma 26:22, one of the greatest promises in all scripture, " Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance."

          Thus it is that, armed with the desire to transform the lives of others, we can finally see the kingdom of God for what it is:  a vehicle by which we can instigate the happiness of everyone around us according to the inspiration and wisdom of God.  And so it is that our spiritual birth begins.

Prelude to Spiritual Rebirth

          Goals are the bedrock of spiritual progress.  Elder Ballard once said:  "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential."

        That's a powerful statement.  It made me feel uncomfortable every time I read it until I finally got behind the concept of goal-setting and started building toward my eternal future.  If we set goals to allow the Atonement to purify us from the desire to sin, we will be able to do anything the Lord wants us to do, including obtaining eternal life.  Many people dramatically underestimate the requirements of eternal life.  Joseph Fielding Smith once said,

           "The man who does only those things in the Church which concern himself alone will never reach exaltation. For instance, the man who is willing to pray, to pay his tithes and offerings, and to attend to the ordinary duties which concern his own personal life, and nothing more, will never reach the goal of perfection."

         Think about Abraham.  In order to gain exaltation, he was required to sacrifice his only son.  Would it be just for God to give us the same eternal reward as him if we were not eventually willing to pay a similar price?  D&C 101:4-5 even states:

Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son.  For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified.

          There are two principles that, if properly understood, will completely evaporate any discouragement caused by the last two examples.  The first is that God is omnipotent.  When He says he can do anything, he means anything.  He can turn the sky green, reverse gravity, and take away a weakness from you without any effort on your part.  It's natural to think:  "Overcoming weakness takes incredible effort!  The Lord can only step in after we do our part.  Faith without works is dead."  Actually, works without faith is dead too.  Works qualify us to be changed by God, but works themselves won't change us in any lasting way.  Ever.  They do point our agency in the right direction and build our faith.  Then God responds to our faith by changing us, eventually to the point of exaltation.

          Do you have faith that God can change you to love your enemies, to kick your bad habits, or develop patience?  Repent, follow both the commandments and the promptings of the Spirit to the highest extent of your abilities, and pray to God with faith, and He will bless you in the way you request.  It may be that the change comes through further obedience to promptings of the Spirit after the prayer, but it inevitably comes, often far sooner than expected.   In order to keep the change we must exercise the spiritual gift God has just given us.  For example, if God blesses us with the gift to see opportunities to serve others, we can keep that change by serving every time we see someone in need.  Through those works we obtain the approval of  God and develop faith sufficient to qualify for future blessings.

        The second principle is that God loves us.  He wants us to have spiritual blessings far more than we want to receive them.  He will never withhold a righteous desire from us unless we lack faith or the desire is not truly righteous.  Those that understand this principle see that the sky is the limit.  Why not ask for the gift to work miracles on others' behalf?  Or the gift to be the means of bringing thousands of our brothers and sisters into the Celestial Kingdom?  Or the gift to lose all of our desires to sin?  There is a name for that last gift.  It is called being born again.  

          Mosiah 5:2 explains,  "[T]he Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent...has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."  As well as Mosiah 27:25:  "[A]ll mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness"  At first glance this sounds like baptism, but think about it.  How many baptized members of the Church do you know that whose actions can only be described as "carnal and fallen?"  Compare those people to your stake patriarch or mission president.  Which of the two groups would you say have put off the natural man and become saints?  Which are more likely to do the same things Abraham did and inherit the same reward?  Spiritual rebirth in a deeper, more complete sense than simply receiving the Holy Ghost is a requirement for exaltation.  President David O. McKay related the following vision, which he received off the coast of Samoa:

“In the distance I beheld a beautiful white city. Though far away, yet I seemed to realize that trees with luscious fruit, shrubbery with gorgeously tinted leaves, and flowers in perfect bloom abounded everywhere. The clear sky above seemed to reflect these beautiful shades of color. I then saw a great concourse of people approaching the city. Each one wore a white flowing robe, and a white headdress. Instantly my attention seemed centered upon their Leader, and though I could see only the profile of his features and body, I recognized him at once as my Savior! The tint and radiance of his countenance were glorious to behold! There was a peace about him which seemed sublime—it was divine!

“The city, I understood, was his. It was the City Eternal; and the people following him were to abide there in peace and eternal happiness.

“But who were they?

“As if the Savior read my thoughts, he answered by pointing to a semicircle that then appeared above them, and on which were written in gold the words:

“These Are They Who Have Overcome The World—Who Have Truly Been Born Again!”

(Cherished Experiences, comp. by Clare Middlemiss, Deseret Book Co., 1955, p. 102.)

Man's Work and Glory

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

                                                                                      -- 1 Corinthians 15:49

          One of the most often-quoted verses in the LDS standard works is the words of God found in Moses 1:39, "For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

          This is God's purpose, the focus and reason for absolutely everything that He does.  It defines him as a Being; it is the most essential element of the inner workings of the universe.

          What is your work and glory?  Do you know?

          Your knee-jerk response is probably to be exalted the Celestial Kingdom, but what does that mean for your day-to-day actions?  Are you preparing yourself to be an exalted person?

          Elder Melvin J. Ballard taught, "There is a passage in our Scriptures which the Latter-day Saints accept as divine: 'This is the glory of God--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.'  Likewise we could say that this is the glory of men and women--to bring to pass the mortality of the sons and daughters of God."

          In other words, bringing to pass a successful mortal experience in the lives of others, especially our families, is our reason for living.  This being the case, does it make sense for us to focus our decision-making on any other objective?  To me it doesn't.  I am a literal believer of President Harold B. Lee's prophetic statement:  "The most important of the Lord’s work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own homes.”  This means that  to base our education, career, and marriage decisions on anything else is a fallacy.  It means that self-fulfillment by itself is not a good enough reason to choose a career path.  It means that we should sacrifice our day-to-day lives in behalf of our spiritual brothers and sisters, especially those within our own family. 

          When we call God our Heavenly Father, we recognize His divine nature.  Any other role in His life, whether it be teacher, administrator, judge, or logistics coordinator, is secondary.  Similarly, our calling to be earthly parents is the closest we can get in this life to being called to be gods and goddesses.  Does it make sense to sacrifice a god's life, which is like God's life, which is Eternal Life, to be a banker or statistician or therapist?  In other words, is it worth sacrificing being a Celestial Being to be a Terrestrial or Telestial one?  To one who understands the doctrine, these latter roles should only exist to the degree to which they support and make possible the greater, overarching identity of parenthood.  To have priorities higher than family is to not worship God to the greatest extent possible because, as Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained, " Perfect worship is emulation. We honor those whom we imitate."  And if the single-most essential part of God's identity is not the single-most essential part of our own, our emulation of Him is lacking.

          The creation of a family is so important because it is the beginning of the salvation of more souls than anyone involved can then imagine, worlds without end.  God promised Abraham, the great father, or patriarch, "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore" (Genesis 22:17).  The promise of eternal increase is the opportunity to extend to spirit children the same love and blessings that God gives to us.  Therefore, the success of a single family unit in mortality will result in the happiness of more people than presently live on the entire planet in eternity. No matter how great a philanthropist's humanitarian contribution is to the world, it can never match the potential impact of the most ordinary of human parents.  There is beauty and glory in that doctrine.  It reflects in a solitary piece of humanity the splendor of the whole spectrum of creation.

Sometimes the simplest things in life are the most beautiful.