Counting Costs, Heart-settling and Plowing

The Good Samaritan

Good morning!  Here it is - today is Sunday April 30, 2017.  We are on the cusp of summer; the school year is beginning to wrap up and soon we will all be going different ways - some off to college, some off to missions, others about to get married, some off to visit grandchildren new and old.

During this time of the year when so much changes so quickly, I'm reminded of one of my favorite stories - that of the shared experience between Jean Valjean and Bishop Bienvenu in the masterpiece Les Miserables.  You may already be familiar with this story.  Jean Valjean was a convict of 19 years for stealing bread.  After many years of hard labor, he was released and he could find no place to live, no food to eat - no welcoming arms, except for one.  That one was Bishop Bienvenu.  Bienvenu means "welcome" ... Bishop Welcome, welcomed Jean Valjean to his home!

After giving Jean Valjean food and a place to rest, the bishop was repaid with theft.  The gendarms caught Jean Valjean, returned him to the good bishop.  The bishop turned the other cheek.  Instead of turning on him, the bishop gave him more silver - two silver candle sticks to be exact.  From the book, it reads;

"Jean Valjean was like a man on the point of fainting. 

"The Bishop drew near to him, and said in a low voice:-- 

'Do not forget, never forget, that you have promised to use this money in becoming an honest man.'

"Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of ever having promised anything, remained speechless. The Bishop had emphasized the words when he uttered them. He resumed with solemnity:-- 

'Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.'

Bishop Bienvenu was a true, committed disciple of Christ.

Shifting gears now, I want to spend some time in the New Testament; in particular Luke, chapter 14.  It is full of profound lessons.

To start off, Christ admonishes his disciples that when they make a feast, it's best to invite people who cannot possibly repay the kindness.  To which one of his disciples says in verse 15, "blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God" which I interpret that to be a bit of a joke or quip - similar to saying that a person is blessed when they get a free meal and don't have to repay!  Only in this case, the free gift is living in the kingdom God.

This causes Jesus to teach a few more parables.  In the first one, a man made a great supper, symbolizing God's gift of eternal life.  This man had invited many people to eat with him.  When the feast was ready, the man's servant tells the invitees the food is ready, but invariably, they decline the invitation - offering an excuse as to why they cannot join the meal - tending to a piece of recently purchased land, tending to livestock or even caring for a spouse.  All these excuses enraged the master and in his anger, he tells his servant to find those who would accept his meal - the poor, the maimed, the blind and then people on the street.  He vows that none of the original invitees will taste his meal.

Next, Jesus tells two more parables about counting the cost of discipleship.  He makes it absolutely clear the cost of discipleship is EVERYTHING.  He says that even a man will count the cost of building a tower or home and even a king would weigh the cost of going to war.  If a man and a king weigh the costs on such tiny matters, ((when compared to eternal salvation) should not the disciples who claim to follow Jesus also consider the steep cost of following Christ?

We too, need to count the cost of discipleship.  Are we truly willing to commit to Christ?  Are we willing to give our all - similar to Bishop Bienvenu?

And let's suppose someone weighs the cost of discipleship and views the challenge as acceptable - that the price to be paid (which is EVERYTHING) is worth entering the kingdom of God - this person then needs to settle this matter in their heart (see Luke 21:14).  This settling of the heart, is synonymous with commitment to God and his kingdom.

This settling is not easy and sometimes can take years.  I've observed that many people - normal people, Christians, followers, leaders - will settle or focus on the wrong thing.  My Sunday School class will recognize this next quote from Joseph Smith regarding on what we ought to settle our hearts.  He said, “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."  I then draw a stick figure on the chalkboard - a body, a head, two arms, two hands, two legs and two feet.  I ask them to show me the appendages.  They point to the hands, feet, arms and legs.  I then ask about the head and heart, if these are appendages - the answer is no, those are VITAL to the survival of the person.  And so to apply this concept to settling the gospel in our hearts, we ought to focus on the Gospel of Christ - namely the two great commandments.  And we ought to not focus on appendages such as controversial church history, claims to authority or church programs - all of which are subject to change.  What is vital and never subject to change, is our love of God and neighbor - if we don't fulfill our duties to God and neighbor, nothing else matters.

My favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon is Helaman 5:12.  It says, "it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

To repeat, the foundation and rock upon what we ought to build our testimony and commitment is Jesus Christ and his core doctrine of loving God and loving neighbor.

Once you have settled in your heart; that you will love God and neighbor, you must do as Luke 9:57-62 instructs.  Some of the disciples of Christ say they would follow him wherever he goes.  To which Jesus responds, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath no where to lay his head."  Other disciples are willing to follow Jesus, but request of Jesus to let them go and bury their father or to say goodbye to their family.  Jesus laments that "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looks back, is fit for the kingdom."  These disciples who "look back" are unfit for the kingdom of God - they are not focused on the task at hand - which is to plow the hardened soil of the souls of men, in an effort to prepare them to accept and live the word of God.  Jesus re-affirms his steep price of discipleship that once a man has settled in his heart to follow Jesus, and then put his hand on the plow, that they are not to look back.  Notice in this case, the disciples' hands are probably still on the plow and they are moving along with the oxen, but looking back often.  This indicates a lack of real commitment - their heart has not been fully given over to Jesus, and so he declares they are unfit for the kingdom of God!

Imagine if Bishop Bienvenu waffled or doubted the two great commandments, what state or condition Jean Valjean might have ended up in.

Instead, we are to count the costs of discipleship, settle the matter in our hearts and then put our hand to the plow and till the earth and not look back.  Be decided and committed in your love of God and service to our neighbors.

With our hand firmly on the plow, and only looking forward, how are we to live a committed life, by loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves?

I have found a very useful thought exercise that has helped me to stay focused on loving God and neighbor.  This exercise begins with gratitude.  It is a prayer of thankfulness to God for creating me and allowing me to live in this wonderful world.  This is the first circle of compassion.

Having a heart full of gratitude and feeling assured of God's love of me, I circumscribe a second circle of compassion to those closest to me - my wife Jill and my children Emma, Ben, Erick and Camille.  These are my nearest and dearest and most important neighbors to me.  Much of my effort and time should be devoted to teaching and loving and serving them.

The next circle extends to my parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents and all my relatives.  These have helped form me into who I am today.  I am grateful for them and do what I can to serve and help them.

The next circle extends out to my co-workers and next-door neighbors.  These are people who I see most often besides my immediate family.  These are the neighbors God has put in my path to love and serve.

The next circle extends out to other friends, neighbors and acquaintances who I see less often.  I do my best to think of their needs and how best to serve them.  Often these interactions are brief and usually involve talking, listening and offering words of encouragement or offering some way to serve.

The next circle extends to people who I do not know, but encounter in my daily course of events - the person who scans my groceries, the boy who bags my groceries, the people I see on the greenbelts when I go on walks.  I try to acknowledge them, say 'hello' to them and try to act socially and kindly to them, and if possible, help them if they are in need.

The next circle extends to people I may never see or encounter, but nonetheless, I see them as children of God.  I accept that there is divinity within them and I strive to have compassion and love for them regardless of their ideology, political leanings or life choices.  Each human being deserves respect and love.

There is no better sermon than the primary song, "Jesus said love everyone."  The simple, one-verse song says all that we need to know.

Jesus said love everyone
Treat them kindly too
When your heart is filled with love
Others will love you

Let's revisit the fruits of Bishop Bienvenu's love toward Jean Valjean.  Jean Valjean turns his life around, becomes mayor, cares for Fantine, rescues Cosette, saves the life of an innocent man who is accused of being the escaped convict Jean Valjean, saves the life of a sailor, saves another man's life while he is mayor, and lastly saves the life of Marius, who would become the husband of Cosette.  Jean Valjean, having put his hand to the plow, did not look back.

To conclude, I want to share what I call the perfect trifecta of scriptures.  Brother Rick Carruth shared these three scriptures a few years ago in a talk he gave and I think these scriptures perfectly sum up what commitment to Christ means.

First: Jesus taught, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love they neighbour, and hate thine enemy.  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matthew 5:43-44)

Second: concerning the two greatest commandments, he taught, "Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself."  (Matthew 22:37-39)

Third and lastly he taught, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another; as I have loved you.  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:12-13)

To summarize, we are to love our enemies like we love our neighbors.  We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  We are to love ourselves and our neighbors as Jesus loved his disciples and us.

It is my prayer, that we all commit our hearts to God and neighbor.  That we have greater compassion and love towards all of God's children.  That we give each other the benefit of the doubt.  That we try to show mercy and understanding, that we mourn with those that mourn, that we turn the other cheek, that we walk the extra mile.  This is my sincerest prayer and I offer it in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

commitment to discipleship and luke 9:62

three data points can be considered a trend.  luke 9:62 has been referenced in the last three general conferences: holland from october 2012, oaks from april 2013, and dube from october 2013.  reading elder dube's talk is what prompted me to find this and understand more about luke 9:62.

first off, the scripture reads, "and jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of god."

jesus says this to all those disciples who wanted to follow jesus, but first, needed to attend to something else.  jesus admonishes one that animals have homes to go to, but disciples of christ do not.  to another disciple, jesus said, "follow me" but the disciple wished to bury his father first.  and another disciple wished to bid his family farewell, but jesus responded with the chide in luke 9:62.

the lesson here, seems to be about commitment to christ.

in searching more on this, i found a very instructive and thoughtful sermon on this verse by a person named yves i-bing cheng.  not know if this link will persist, i will copy the entire sermon below.  i retrieved the sermon from this link: no man who looks back is fit for the kingdom.

This is what the Lord Jesus declares in Luke 9:62.

Luke 9:62. But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Discipleship

In this verse, the Lord Jesus tells us very clearly that it is possible for a person to be unfit for the kingdom of God, even though he puts his hand to the plow. What does He mean by that?

Let’s look at this passage closely. Jesus says these words after a man came to Him. This would-be disciple makes this promise in v. 61. Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. We studied the rest of this passage, from v. 57 to v. 62, in our previous lesson but we did not pay particular attention to v. 62. This is what we are going to do in this lesson.

Here in v. 62, the Lord Jesus teaches us that the only kind of person who is fit for the kingdom of God does two things: he puts his hand to the plow (which is the basic condition) and he doesn’t look back.

The first point we observe is the universal application of this verse. ‘No one. No man. Any man who puts his hand to the plow.’ This word ‘no one’ is very often used in the Lord’s teaching to introduce a general principle that applies to any person. Anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, no matter whether he is a pastor, a missionary, a Sunday school teacher, any disciple of Christ, if he puts his hand to the plow and he looks back, he will thereby prove that he is not fit for the kingdom of God. What this ‘not fit for the kingdom of God’ means, we shall see later in this lesson.

Enrolled in God’s service

The second thing to notice is this. Look at the words ‘putting the hand to the plow.’ These words tell us why we become a disciple of Jesus. Some people seem to have the understanding that becoming a Christian is simply a matter of having a certain religion that you embrace and that you use to comfort your heart. They like Christianity because it gives them a kind of moral and emotional support. Well, the word of God certainly gives us some support and it can certainly comfort our heart. But that is not the essence of Christianity. Being called to be a Christian is to be called to put your hand to the plow. And what does it mean to plow? To plow is to work the land. So to put the hand to the plow is to serve God.

The follower of Christ should understand that being a Christian is to be called into God’s service. It means to serve God. Now, we are not talking about being a pastor or a missionary or any kind of full-time ministry. The Lord Jesus is simply saying that no matter what kind of Christian you are, no matter how young you are in Christ or how old you are in Christ, every Christian should be active in God’s service. He does not stay idle. Being a member of a church does not make you a Christian. A person shows that he is a Christian when he puts his hand to God’s plow. He is active for God. He lives daily for God. The person who makes the decision to follow Jesus has committed his life to God’s service by plowing His field.

The notion of service behind this agricultural picture is found in many places in the NT. For example, in Luke 17:7, the Christian is spoken of as a servant of God plowing the field. And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? We ought to do the things that the Lord has commanded us. This is illustrated by the picture of a servant plowing or tending sheep. In 1Corinthians 3:6, Paul says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Paul compares the establishment of a church to the planting of grains and the watering of the field. We are all God’s workers who are farming in His field. This is the point of putting the hand to the plow.

A sacrificial life

Now, putting the hand to the plow involves certain things, just like becoming a Christian involves certain things. First of all, it requires skills. We need to learn how to use the plow and how to get the oxen to move. The field is not going to get plowed if we don’t know what to do with the plow. In the same way, a Christian has to learn how to serve God. The most basic thing he needs to do is to study the word of God. A true Christian is someone who attends to God’s word. He likes to get his teeth into the word of God because he wants to know what he should do to serve God effectively.

In those days, plows were pulled by a number of oxen. In 1Kings 19:19, we read that Elisha was plowing behind twelve pairs of oxen. He must have been using a very big and heavy plow if he needed twelve pairs of oxen to pull it. You see, we don’t have the strength to pull the plow. Our job is simply to guide the plow. Likewise, in serving God, we don’t use our own strength. It is God who provides the power. It is God who ‘gives the increase.’ Our responsibility is to guide the plow in the right direction.

This takes us to the question of what exactly we are called to do. What is the plow that we put our hand to? Think about a plow. What does it look like and what does it do to the soil? A plow is a large agricultural tool that has two poles. One pole goes over the back of the animals. The other pole goes into the ground. It has a hook or a blade in it. The whole thing looks very much like a cross. There is the bar that goes across the animals and there is a perpendicular bar that goes into the ground. So when you look at a plow, it looks like a cross. The Lord Jesus deliberately uses this picture to show that putting our hand to the plow is like taking hold of the cross. It is putting our hand to the cross. And to take up the cross is to live a sacrificial life. In other words, becoming a Christian is a call to the sacrificial life as we take up our cross and follow Christ.

Plowing and sowing

What does the plow do? It causes the ground to turn over. What is the ground, the field? In Matthew 13:38, the Lord tells us that the field is the world. This world is the field that we are plowing. How do we plow? Well, we put this plow, this cross, into the ground. And we let the oxen pull it. Then all the soil is turned over. Everything is turned upside down. This is exactly what was said of the apostles in Acts 17:6. These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Therefore when we live the kind of life to which we are called, we will make a mark in this world. By our cross-centered lives, we are turning everything upside down.

If you sow the seed without first plowing the field, nothing will grow because the soil is too hard. The seed cannot penetrate it. The ground has to be turned over before the sowing of the seed can take place. In the same way, the kind of life that we live in being committed to Christ is what makes a mark upon the non-Christian. A verbal profession of faith alone does not leave any mark upon anybody. You will make an impression on the non-Christians when you live the life of the cross, when you live the sacrificial life, the Christ-centered life. Your life becomes like a plow, guided by your hands, your mind and your heart. You plow through the earth, turning everything upside down. This prepares the heart of the non-Christian for the preaching of the word of God. And because you have plowed the field, later on, the seed that will be sown in that person’s life will take root and grow.

Notice that the imagery of sowing seed in the Bible is often employed in relation to preaching. Paul tells Timothy to ‘preach the word of God, in season and out of season (2Timothy 4:2),’ using the picture of sowing. The Christian should sow at any time of the year, not just in the spring. But he must first plow the field. Our life must be like a plow that goes through the heart of non-Christians, turning over the hard and stony ground. In this way, their heart can become receptive to the word of God. Then somebody else may come later and sow the seed. Or perhaps, you may even drop some seed in there. And who knows? Maybe one day it will bring forth fruit for God. You and I are called to be people who plow for God. The world will not be saved because we are good at talking. The world will be saved when people see God’s power in our lives, the power that, like the plow, turns the ground over.

We need to realize that in plowing through someone’s life, living the Christlike life, we may upset a lot of people. They may think that we are too extreme, too single minded, too obsessed with the idea of plowing a straight furrow right through, refusing to turn to the left or to the right. But that’s okay. Remember that no plow has ever done its job that did not ‘upset’ all the ground underneath. Christians should not be afraid of upsetting people for the glory of God. When you serve the Lord, you may upset your mother, your father, your sister, your brother or your friends. They may all be angry with you. But keep in mind that unless they are upset, they may never be open to God’s word. They may never come to the Lord.

A total commitment

We have seen so far what it means to put one’s hand to the plow. We have seen that the plow is the cross in our life. In living a committed sacrificial life, we make a mark upon the world. But some Christians go through the world and never leave any mark of goodness in their way. For what reason? Because they look back. ‘No one who looks back is fit for the kingdom.’

Notice that we are talking here about Christians, not about non-Christians. Putting the hand to the plow is a commitment. The non-Christian has never made any commitment to Jesus. He has never put his hand to the plow. He has never taken hold of the cross. If you come so far as to put your hand to the plow and you are still looking back, you will prove thereby that you are not fit for the kingdom.

‘Looking back.’ In the Greek text, this verb is a present participle which expresses a continuous action. ‘If any man puts his hand to the plow and keeps looking back, this person is not fit for the kingdom.’ It is not just an occasional glance at the back. He is constantly looking back.

Why does a person constantly look back? Because his heart is still back there. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. What is there to look back to if there is nothing that attracts your attention? There is no reason to look back if there is nothing that attracts your heart. By God’s grace, the Israelites came out of Egypt after many years of slavery. But where was their heart after the exodus? Back in Egypt. They came physically out of Egypt, yes, but their heart was still in Egypt. They were always complaining that they had nothing to eat in the wilderness and that back in Egypt, at least they could eat reasonably well. They kept looking back to Egypt.

A person may have become some sort of a Christian, but if he keeps looking back at the old life, it shows that his heart has not separated from the world. His heart has never left the attachment to the old values. So here is the warning. It is not enough to make a commitment. It is not enough to put the hand to the plow. The commitment must be total. We must not look back. The picture that Jesus is using is one of total dedication to a task. If we want to plow a straight furrow, we don’t look back. Our eyes must look ahead all the time. We don’t allow distractions and disruptions to interrupt our attention. For Jesus, discipleship is an all-consuming priority in terms of the constancy of a person’s allegiance. Either our commitment is total or it will not be acceptable.

Not suitable

That is why Jesus says that a man who commits himself to follow Him and looks back during the journey is not suitable for the kingdom. This statement is one of judgment. The issue is not only how a person serves effectively. It is also a matter of salvation.

The word ‘fit’ (euthetos) refers to being ‘suitable’ or ‘usable.’ It is found in only two other places in the NT: (1) in Luke 14:35, it is used of salt that has lost its flavor; (2) and in Hebrews 6:7, it used of herbs that are useful. In both cases, they are found in the context of God’s judgment.

Let’s take a look at Luke 14:35. The Lord uses the picture of salt to teach about discipleship. He compares the Christian to salt. He says that salt that has lost its saltiness is of no value. It is not suitable (euthetos) for anything. What do we do with it? It is thrown out. So too the saltless disciple is ‘thrown away.’ Failure to pursue discipleship can indicate that faith is not really present (even though it was thought to be) or it can indicate spiritual rebellion. In either case, the result is the same: the person is excluded from the kingdom of heaven. Saltless salt then becomes an object of judgment.

In Hebrews 6:7, the Christian community is compared to a land that receives frequent rain and is cared for by God. A land that produces useful (euthetos) herbs, useful crops, receives God’s blessing. But if these people should become apostate, they would be like a field which was well watered and cultivated, but which then produced only worthless thorns and thistles. The end of a field that produces nothing but weeds is to be set on fire. It ends up being burned. Professing Christians whose lives produce only the equivalent of weeds will face the judgment of God.

That you may be considered worthy of the kingdom

Why does a person put his hand to the plow and look back? We already mentioned one reason: because his heart is still back there in the world. Here is another reason: because of the persecutions that he has to endure.

In serving the Lord, in plowing up the field, we have to expect persecutions. We will face many trials. In fact, in 2Thessalonians 1:5, Paul says that persecution is a clear sign of God’s coming judgment. This is an interesting verse for our lesson because Paul is saying virtually the same thing as the Lord Jesus.

In v. 4, he has been speaking about the persecution that believers at Thessalonica were enduring on account of their Christian profession. Therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.

And then he says this in v. 5. This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment. You see, the fact that the Thessalonian church was persecuted was an evidence that there will be a future judgment. But Paul says something more. This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that (now, notice carefully these words. So that…) you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. As the result of your affliction, that you may be considered ‘fit’ for the kingdom of God. Here you have the same idea. Being fit for the kingdom is equivalent to being worthy of the kingdom.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that we will merit heaven by our sufferings. It does not mean that a believer is saved because he remains faithful through the sufferings of his life. No one is worthy on his own account. It does mean however that your steadfastness in the midst of your afflictions shows that you have the characteristics to which God has promised salvation. When we suffer in this world and we endure through the suffering, we prove that we are truly a man or woman of God, worthy to dwell in heaven. The negative side of this is found in Jesus’ words, that a man who, having put his hand to the plow, looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. He shows that he is not worthy to enter heaven.

From justification to sanctification

There is a spiritual principle that is important to understand here. A Christian cannot say, ‘I have received God’s pardoning grace. The way I behave now doesn’t matter anymore. Don’t force me to change.’ If a professing Christian does not live like a Christian, he proves to be unworthy of eternal life. There is an inseparable bound between God’s forgiveness and our conduct. From justification, there must be a corresponding conduct. If our conduct does not match our calling to live the Christian life, then we will not be fit for the kingdom of God.

This is the situation that we find in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35). The servant was forgiven and his master expected that he would deal with his debtor in the same as his master dealt with him. But he did not live the life that was expected of him. He did not forgive and therefore his conduct has proven himself unfit for the kingdom of God. He was made to repay the original debt that he owed.

What kind of person is fit for the kingdom? It is the disciple who is totally committed. And the person who is totally committed does not discuss the question of looking back. He puts his hand to the plow, never to look back to the way life was before he came to follow Jesus. He says, like Paul, ‘I have laid my hand to the plow and I press forward toward the mark of my high calling in Christ. No matter how tough the going will be, I have no thought of looking back.’ This is the standard of dedication that Jesus expects from His disciples

Engaging, Capacity to Act and Feeling Love for Others

This selection comes from this talk.

6. We need always to make allowance in the kingdom for the fact that this is a divine church full of imperfect people! Indeed, “the net gathereth of every kind.” For instance, some members among us have an unfortunate and exclusionary condescension toward others, while other members have a quiet certitude that causes them to assert their testimonies humbly because the Spirit has witnessed to them; they witness to others to maintain their integrity; they tell others the truth of salvational things “as they were, as they are, and as they shall become.” These two kinds of members read the same scriptures, but one disengages, Jonah-like, almost with delight, while the other will not leave his post in “Nineveh” so long as there are any souls to be saved. Probably the differing response is rooted in the differing capacity to love. The presence of absolute truth or apocalyptic insights in one who lacks the capacity to love is likely to produce some behavioral anomalies. Love leads us into—not away from—Nineveh: into the fray, just as Jesus was involved with mankind, for as G. K. Chesterton observed, He carried his five wounds in the front of the fray.

Some want involvement without giving themselves. Some want the wonders of religion without the work—there is no way. Others want the thrills of theology without the hard doctrines—there is no way! When we are serious about change, it is “not enough to merely leave Egypt: one must also travel to the Promised Land!”

commentary: the above speaks of commitment and engaging others.  you either engage in service and the cause of helping others, or you don't.  the gospel is about action.  and what causes you to act?  keep on reading.

7. We must make place for the gospel and the Church more generously in our lives if we are to grow in our capacity to both feel and to act. Education, the media, and what we know from the scriptures have enlarged our circles of concern and feeling. But within each of our circles of concern, there is a much smaller circle of competency, and it needs to grow too.

C. S. Lewis observed, “The more often a man feels without acting, the less often he will be able to act, and in the long run, the less often he will be able to feel.” In countless ways the Church not only enlarges our circles of concern, but it also helps us to carry out the concerns we have. Significantly, Nephi, Paul, and Moroni—cultures and centuries apart—each observed that individuals and whole cultures can, by sin, reach a point where they are past feeling. Ironically, lasciviousness, which exploits sensuous feelings, results finally in a loss of a capacity to feel. In our own society the sad consequences of too much exulting in feeling—of sex divorced from love, and the emptiness of emotion without principle—will wash over us for generations. In the declining society of Moroni’s time, citizens were described as being without order, without mercy, without civilization, and past feeling after they had “lost their love, one towards another. …” (Moro. 9:5.)

commentary: love brings about wanting and desire.  love and desire should spur us to action.  but when we disassociate love and action, we begin to lose the capacity to feel.  when we don't feel, we don't care, when we don't care, we don't act and when we don't act evil triumphs.

8. We must be more quick to realize the enormous implications of the doctrine of immortality and how our knowledge of that reality will set us apart in this era. One can’t help but admire the cosmic heroism of those decent people who persist in goodness in spite of their agnosticism, but we still should see others differently because of this doctrine. Ours is no mere biological brotherhood with life as a brief encounter, but ours is a brotherhood that is fashioned in the realization that relationships will persist a million years from now, and more. Where we do not so relate to each other, we diminish the credibility of our commitment to this doctrine in the eyes of others. For a peculiar people, our friendships should be peculiarly rich.

commentary: to me, the above really hits home and answers the question - why the gospel?  if mankind is to become immortal, do we want immortal evil or immortal goodness running the universe?

In summary, we see the world, life, and death differently. This is not a random, mutant planet with people who will be enveloped in nothingness; it is a special place, a planet with a purpose, for, as Isaiah observed, the Lord created it to be inhabited. (See Isa. 45:18.)

We are all stewards, and we ought to approach this planet and its resources as carefully as Adam dressed the Garden. In seeking to establish dominion over the earth, it ought to be a righteous dominion. Still, this earth is not a place we need to be so reluctant to leave. As G. K. Chesterton wrote, Christian courage rests on a love of life that may need to take the form of a willingness to die; it is not the willingness to die that reflects a disdain or disaffection for life.

Without immortality there can be no real and lasting meaning to life. Jesus has not only immunized us against the lasting sting of the grave, but his teachings can also help us not to “look upon death with any degree of terror.” (Alma 27:28.) The same Jesus promised us, through one of his prophets, that if we could live according to his word, we would have, in this life, a knowledge of what is “just and true and render every man his due” (justice and discernment); we would live peaceably with others (peacefulness); we would rear our families without fighting and quarreling, teaching them to love one another (the capacity to love learned in happy homes); and we would care for the needy (a program for poverty). (See Mosiah 4.) In a sense, while others have the slogans, we have the solutions that, if applied, will carry us to “a state of happiness which hath no end.” (Morm. 7:7.)

Sacrifice, Desire and What's Most Important in Life

Sacrifice & Desire

A few years ago, I came accross an article while searching LDS.org and found a reference to a book by James Allen.  The book was entitled after the Proverb: As a Man Thinketh.

You can read that entire book and many other books by James Allen by referencing the link to the James Allen Library.

Much of the book As a Man Thinketh is very quotable.  But there is one quote that I read and recite almost every day.

It goes: "The man who shrinks from self-crucifixion can never accomplish the object upon which his heart is set ... the sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify; to burn out all that is useless and impure."

The world is full of distractions and attractions.  If we are not careful, we can be easily led astray from our real goals - our deepest desires - what's most important to us in life.  If we are not careful, useless and impure things can creep into our lives.  If they already have, then we must shift our focus and then maintain our focus on our desires.  It takes commitment and sacrifice.  To shed our lives of useless and impure things will take sacrifice, but we will be the happier for it as we purify ourselves and maintain focus on what's most important.

What's Most Important

The author of a blog I read recently wrote a post entitled On Remembering What's Most Important.  His post was spot on.

Last year, I spent several months thinking about what is most important to me in my life.  I wanted to think about and document what I want my life to be.  I used a mind map (Mind Manager) to brain storm and then refine my thoughts.  Next, I created a scorecard in Excel to track my daily, weekly and monthly performance.  With these two tools, along with my weekly journal, I keep a sufficient focus on the things that are most imporant to me.

As is often the case, when I see myself beginning to drift from the path, I simply review my mind map and scorecard more regularly and my course is corrected.

The mind map has since morphed into my "to do" list, but it still has retained the core of my desires in life.  But now, all the big, medium and daily goals are tracked.  I read another blogger's post about this "to do" list (link here) which is based on Personal Kanban.

In the spirit of sharing, I wanted to pass along these nuggets and lessons I've learned over the past year.  They have been extremely helpful for me and I've seen a large improvment in my life and search for happiness.

Desire

After Elder Oaks' talk on desire this last General Conference, I read the Elder Maxwell talk he referenced.  Both talks are exceptional.

A few things to note ...

1) Desires can be changed/taught
2) Righteous desires need to be moulded to the law of God
3) The initiation of desire is entirely up to us.
4) We can initiate any desire with a vision of what is to be

And now for the meaty quotes ...

First from Neal A. Maxwell:

"Desire denotes a real longing or craving ... much more than passive preferences or fleeting feelings."

"What we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity."

"Righteous desires need to be relentless."

"it is our own desires which determine the sizing and the attractiveness of various temptations.  We set our thermostats as to temptations."

Quoting Brigham Young, he said, "the men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle every day."

Brigham Young also said, "It is evident that many who understand the truth do not govern themselves by it; consequently, no matter how true and beautiful truth is, you have to take the passions of the people and mould them to the law of God."

"Each assertion of a righteous desire, each act of service, and each act of worship, however small and incremental, adds to our spiritual momentum."  I like this quote because it confirms the idiom that came to my mind once ... obedience is spiritual grease.

"Unquestionably, parents have such a profound role in assisting in the educating of our desires, especially when parents combine explanation and exemplification!"

"a loving God will work with us, but the initiating particle of desire which ignites the spark must be our own!"

And now a few from Elder Oaks:

"Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.  The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."

"How do we develop desires? ... We we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously."  He spoke of Aron Ralston as an example of getting that vision.  As I contemplated this quote, I decided that the one event in my life that I would love to experience and that I desire most is seeing each of my children walk out of the temple ... either from getting their endowments or from marriage.  This is the one thought that I use to drive my desire.

This topic has been on my mind the last few weeks.  I've gone back a few times to these articles and they have provided fortification.  I like that quote about desire and temptation.  If we find that one desire that will drive us and let it work in us (see Alma 32:27), we can come back to it again and again and we can use it to manage our temptations.  But in thinking about this a bit, the one desire must be somewhat grand and have the capacity to manage many of your actions and thoughts.  A local desire won't work.

Read the articles and think about it.  It is truly amazing, the power of desire.

“According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts” by Neal A. Maxwell
"Desire" by Dallin H. Oaks

Commitment

Howard W. Hunter, “Commitment to God,” Ensign, Sep 2006, 44–47

Neal A. Maxwell, “Why Not Now?,” New Era, Apr 1975, 5

Neal A. Maxwell, “‘Settle This in Your Hearts’,” Ensign, Nov 1992, 65

Marvin J. Ashton, “‘The Word Is Commitment’,” Ensign, Nov 1983, 61

Larry W. Gibbons, “Wherefore, Settle This in Your Hearts,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 102–4

Broken Heart and Contrite Spirit

Recently, I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting. I was assigned the topic of a Broken Heart and Contrite Spirit. I delivered this talk on May 25, 2008.

Introduction

My wife and I met in Spanish class. She came running down the hallway to introduce herself to me. I reciprocated by offering to help her with her paper (I felt she needed some help and I had some ulterior motives). Our teacher’s name was Bruce Lee. We were married in 1998, had our first, Emma in 2000, then Ben in 2002, Erick in 2004 and Camille in 2006.

In the summer of 1998, I picked up an extra job working in the Laundromat as a “mangler.” I sacrificed my time to earn the money to buy an engagement ring for Jill. I’m glad I sacrificed for her … she was and is worth it.

Sacrifice

In ancient times, the Lord commanded that Adam and his posterity offer sacrifices. Moses 5:5-8 teaches us about this. (Read the scripture and commentate)

I’m sure for them, it was indeed a sacrifice to offer up the fruits of their labors to the Lord much like it is for us as we pay our tithing today.

Joseph Smith taught us about sacrifice too. He said, “a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation” (see Guide to the Scriptures Sacrifice).

The scriptures are full of examples of sacrifice, both of the Savior’s great sacrifice and of others’. We read of Abraham offering his son as a sacrifice and of the saints crossing the plains and building up the kingdom of God on the earth. One of my personal favorite examples is that of the brazen serpent that Moses raised in the wilderness for the children of Israel. They were bitten by fiery serpents. Moses provided a means for them to be healed. They had to get off their beds and looked up the brazen serpent. Those who made that small sacrifice were healed while those who did not died.

What Christ Taught of Sacrifice

Christ taught us what we are to sacrifice. He did away with burnt offerings and instructed us to sacrifice something different.

3 Nephi 9:20 teaches us what we are to offer as a sacrifice (broken heart and contrite spirit … read the scripture and commentate).

Definitions

The Guide to the Scriptures defines Broken Heart: “To have a broken heart is to be humble, contrite, repentant, and meek - that is, receptive to the will of God.”

To me, the idea of a broken heart is easy to understand. We all have had our hearts broken or we know someone whose heart has been broken. When we see others suffering, it breaks our heart. We are humbled and we have pain in our hearts.

Contrite is a little more subtle. I have never really known what contrite means. So I looked up the definition.

Contrite
1. caused by or showing sincere remorse
2. filled with a sense of guilt and the desire for atonement; penitent
3. filling regret and sorrow for one's sins or offenses; penitent
4. contritus, literally "worn out, ground to pieces"5. thoroughly bruised or broken
6. broken down with grief and penitence; deeply sorrowful for sin because it is displeasing to God
7. to rub down, to wear out, used until so common as to have lost novelty or interest, hackneyed, stale.
In this light, we understand that our spirits are to be worn out or ground to pieces.

We have all heard the story of the sculptor who after having finished his work of art saw that it had a crack in it. Knowing that it wasn’t perfect, he decided to start over. He broke it to pieces, grounded those to smaller pieces and the added water. Once he did that, the sculpture became clay again and he was able to re-make the work of art.

The gospel application is obvious. We are to break our hearts as he broke the sculpture. We are to have contrite or ground or worn out spirits as the sculpture is ground down. We are to be baptized as the hardened clay is softened by water.

How do we break our hearts and become contrite?
I see two ways in which our hearts are broken and our spirits become contrite.

One, we can lead a life of sin to the point that we are lost. We ended up having no where to turn but to God. Our hearts are truly broken and as a lost child, we submit to anyone who will help us find our way home.

The second way is to humble ourselves by striving to break our own hearts and being contrite.

The way to do this is to same list found on our list of Sunday School answers. We pray, we read the scriptures and meditate on them. We have gratitude in our hearts and express that gratitude in prayer. We serve others. As we do these basic things, we become more humble and willing to serve God. We begin to yield our hearts to God.

As Elder Maxwell taught us of discipleship, there really is only one thing that we truly posses that we can give to God and that is our will, our heart. (see Neal A. Maxwell, “Insights from My Life,” Ensign, Aug 2000, 7 where he says, “I am going to preach a hard doctrine to you now. The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. It is a hard doctrine, but it is true. The many other things we give to God, however nice that may be of us, are actually things He has already given us, and He has loaned them to us. But when we begin to submit ourselves by letting our wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him. And that hard doctrine lies at the center of discipleship. There is a part of us that is ultimately sovereign, the mind and heart, where we really do decide which way to go and what to do. And when we submit to His will, then we’ve really given Him the one final thing He asks of us. And the other things are not very, very important. It is the only possession we have that we can give, and there is no lessening of our agency as a result. Instead, what we see is a flowering of our talents and more and more surges of joy. Submission to Him is the only form of submission that is completely safe.”)

As we become more willing to give ourselves and our hearts to God, the more we become sanctified.

Helaman 3:35 describes this process as it happened to the Nephites and Lamanites (read and commentate).

End with your testimony.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Scriptures

D&C 56:17-18Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite, and whose bellies are not satisfied, and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men’s goods, whose eyes are full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own hands!

But blessed are the poor who are pure in heart, whose hearts are broken, and whose spirits are contrite, for they shall see the kingdom of God coming in power and great glory unto their deliverance; for the fatness of the dearth shall be theirs.

3 Nephi 9:20And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.

Psalms 34:18
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Psalms 51:17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

2 Nephi 2:7Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

2 Nephi 4:32May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite!

Helaman 8:15And as many as should look upon that serpent should alive, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal.

3 Nephi 12:19And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law is fulfilled.

D&C 20:37And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.

Guide to the Scriptures
Broken heart - To have a broken heart is to be humble, contrite, repentant, and meek - that is, receptive to the will of God.

Contrite
1. caused by or showing sincere remorse
2. filled with a sense of guilt and the desire for atonement; penitent
3. filling regret and sorrow for one's sins or offenses; penitent
4. contritus, literally "worn out, ground to pieces"
5. thoroughly bruised or broken
6. broken down with grief and penitence; deeply sorrowful for sin because it is displeasing to God
7. to rub down, to wear out, used until so common as to have lost novelty or interest, hackneyed, stale.

Bruce D. Porter, “A Broken Heart and a Contrite Spirit,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 31–32
"When our hearts are broken, we are completely open to the Spirit of God and recognize our dependence on Him for all that we have and all that we are. The sacrifice so entailed is a sacrifice of pride in all its forms. Like malleable clay in the hands of a skilled potter, the brokenhearted can be molded and shaped in the hands of the Master."

"When we yield our hearts to the Lord, the attractions of the world simply lose their luster."

Object lesson: take come "soft" clay and some "hard" clay. Can hard clay be broken, ground down, added to some water and made malleable?

Gerald N. Lund, “Opening Our Hearts,” Ensign, May 2008, 32–34

Discipleship

On a hot summer Sunday afternoon after attending church meetings, my missionary companion and I walked home and ate dinner. After dinner, I was sitting on a bench, sweating and listening to the crowd of people watching and playing a soccor game across the street. In my boredom and restlessness, I reached to the side of the bench and found the June 1996 Ensign. I opened it and began to read.

The article I turned to was entitled "Becoming a Disciple" by Elder Neal A. Maxwell.

Reading that article was a "defining moment" in my life.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been listening to the General Conference talks from this last April as well as some talks by Elder Maxwell I downloaded from BYU's Speeches site. I found that two of these talks by Elder Maxwell were published in the Ensign. Both talks often refer to discipleship. I found that listening to these talks was much more powerful than reading them.

Neal A. Maxwell, “The Pathway of Discipleship,” Ensign, Sep 1998, 7
Neal A. Maxwell, “Insights from My Life,” Ensign, Aug 2000, 7