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."
“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.
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.
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.)
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