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.
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