This is the text of a Sacrament meeting talk I gave today, Sunday January 17, 2016...
Let
me tell you about a former co-worker… In
1982 I was a new employee of the AT&T owned American Bell. I became friends with a man by the name of
Jim Fama… we worked together and for a time we car-pooled to work. Jim was a good man; religious Catholic with
several children and a wife that he adored.
He had a somewhat acerbic wit and we laughed many times with him at things
that happened around the office. When
someone would complain about having to do something that they didn’t want to
do, Jim would say: “You’re born, life’s miserable, then you die…” (Of course,
I’m paraphrasing). Kind of a way of
saying “Waa, waa, waa… do it anyway, ya crybaby”, something else Jim often
said.
Jim
was right… We were all born to the
mortal world… We all will die and be
released from this earth life. What
happens in between these two events?
Living and learning; working and playing; failing and prevailing. Sometimes things in between are hard and
painful. Many times life is also
great.
This
brings me to the topic of this talk… We
all know what the plan of salvation is, a concept which we may be somewhat
unique in believing. Let’s review: We learn on our Church’s web site about the
plan of salvation – the plan of happiness:
“We are eternal beings. We
lived as spirits before we were born and we will continue to live after we die.
God is the Father of our spirits. We are created in His image. We have a divine
nature and destiny. Before we were born,
we lived with God, the Father of our spirits.
Our life on earth has purpose. Coming to earth is part of God's plan for us to
gain a physical body and learn to choose between good and evil. Our Heavenly Father sent His Son, Jesus
Christ, to be our Savior and show us the way to live according to God's
plan. Following God's plan for us is the
surest way to find happiness and endure life's challenges.
Our lives will not end when we die. Our future lives are determined by the way
we live our lives now.”
(ref: https://www.lds.org/topics/plan-of-salvation?lang=eng)
In
harmony with these concepts is this scripture:
“For behold, this is my work
and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. “ (Moses 1:39)
You
probably recall the couplet penned by Pres. Lorenzo Snow: “As man
now is, God once was; as God is now man may be.” (The Teachings of
Lorenzo Snow, ed. Clyde J. Williams
[1984], 1.)
We
all probably know enough about the Plan of Salvation for me to go into it any
more. It’s enough to say that we have a
purpose and goal for living in this life.
We each must have, or get, a firm testimony of this plan and understand
how we can build our lives around it.
While
we are here on earth we are subject to may influences; those for good and those
for bad. If we have a testimony of the
plan of salvation, we will try to heed the good influences and block out the
bad. How hard this is to do
sometimes…
Question: How do we know what is a good influence and
what is a bad influence? The Book of Mormon prophet Mormon taught:
“For behold, my brethren, it
is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to
judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight
is from the dark night.
For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good
from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which
inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the
power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is
of God.
But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and
deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of
the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man
to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject
themselves unto him.” (Moroni 7:15-17)
Mormon
teaches about a good “measuring stick” for knowing what is good and what is
not. Now, keep Mormon’s words in your
mind…
We
are subject to many influences in our daily lives. Influences are like the constant winds on
breezy day (everyday, here near the point of the mountain, it seems). We are influenced constantly. Have you ever taken a few minutes at the end
of a day and thought about how you were influenced… and which way the influence
led you? Or whether or not you should
heed the influence? There are many ways
we can be led…
Bad
influences: Almost too numerous to
count… We can be touched by Television,
movies, advertisements, strangers and even friends or colleagues. We can be influenced or affected by many of
the tools Satan uses to make us fail: appetites, passions, natural wants and
desires. Satan uses envy, pride, human
greed. Two of his favorites tools are
forgetfulness and discouragement. He
influences us by using the opinions of others, such as you might see in social
media… Often times, these opinions are
applauded by others even though we know they “…persuadeth no man to do good…”. Many times if we post a
differing opinion, we are shouted down, often maliciously . (Just as an aside, this is one of the
problems with on-line communication;
we’re not looking at the person in the eye and the spirit of what is
said is lost). There are many other
influences in our lives, almost too many to count. So many that it can be discouraging. You probably could come up with a list as
long as your arm if you think about it.
Good
news! There are also good influences on
us: Parents, spouses, siblings, and good
friends can influence us for good. Church
related events and good leaders can help us and uplift us. Reading scriptures, learning from conference
talks, hearing testimonies of others can bring the Holy Spirit into our lives,
lifting us and buoying us up. Pondering
and praying help us to take stock of our lives and gives us the opportunity to
account for ourselves to our Heavenly Father. There are tools that the Lord has given us to
help us with our lives. He has blessed us with the bestowal of the Holy
Ghost, with the ability to receive constant personal revelation. We have the scriptures to show us His
interaction with past saints. We have
great leaders and their examples of righteousness and wisdom. We’ve been given the association of each
other as neighbors and branch members. We
have our regular church meetings, where we learn of the Gospel and feel the
influence of the Holy Ghost. This is one thing in particular I would like
to address: Attending Sabbath
meetings.
In the October 2008 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder
Dallin Oaks said:
“We live in the perilous
times prophesied by the Apostle Paul. Those who try to walk the straight and
narrow path see inviting detours on every hand. We can be distracted, degraded,
downhearted, or depressed. How can we have the Spirit of the Lord to guide our
choices and keep us on the path? In
modern revelation the Lord gave the answer in this commandment:
“And that thou
mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the
house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to
pay thy devotions unto the Most High” (D&C 59:9–10).
(October 2008 General Conference).
Elder
Oaks goes on to say:
“This is a commandment with
a promise. By participating weekly and appropriately in the ordinance of the
sacrament we qualify for the promise that we will ‘always have his Spirit to be
with [us]’”
(D&C 20:77), (October 2008 General Conference).
There are many ways to honor the Sabbath and
keep it holy. One of the most important,
however, is to attend Sacrament meeting and worthily participate in the
ordinance of the Sacrament. How do we do
that? The answer is by anticipation and
by preparation.
Anticipation,
or looking forward to, Sacrament meeting may or may not be easy for us. For some people it means looking forward to
pondering the Gospel, seeking for spiritual guidance, or feeling the Spirit. For others, it may be more like looking
forward to a wrestling match of wrangling youngsters and trying to keep them
calm. In both cases, preparation is important.
During the week is the time to prepare; actively consider what specific
blessing or help you may need from Heavenly Father. Pray for guidance during the week. Enlist
your family’s help in this preparation and make sure they know you are
depending on them for their reverence during this sacred time. Have a plan for reverence during Sacrament
meeting that your family concurs with. On
Sunday, arrive early enough to listen to the prelude music and relax. Ask again for guidance and then listen for
the spirit’s direction. Keep in mind,
the direction may come from an impression received, from a talk, or from a
testimony, from the words of a prayer. Listen to the sacramental prayers carefully
and understand their meaning. Read
Elder’s Oaks’ address from the October 2008 General conference to be inspired
to be better Sabbath Day worshippers.
Remember
that I have just described the ideal Sacrament meeting; if it doesn’t work out
that way the first time, keep trying, don’t give up. Indeed, “…the Sabbath was made for
man…”. The Sabbath can be a great
influencer for good.
One
last thing I wanted to address:
Sometimes people, being mortal human beings, succumb to the wrong
influences. Too often this is the
case. Too often, people get discouraged
when they slip up and give up trying. If
only there were some way to make things right again, some way that mistakes
would be forgiven and forgotten… Oh, wait…
there is! It is called repentance. Jesus said:
“Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matt. 11:28.)
Repentance
is truly a miracle. It is one of the
foundations of our religion. President
Spencer W. Kimball, who wrote the book “The Miracle of Forgiveness” said:
“Just as the prodigal’s father received him, our
Father in Heaven eagerly desires to forgive all those who repent.
We are deeply grateful that we have his definite promise that where there has
been sin and error, they can be followed by sincere and sufficient repentance
that will in turn be rewarded with forgiveness.
The glorious thing about the whole matter of repentance is that the scriptures
are as full of the Lord’s assurances that he will forgive as they are full of
his commands for us to repent, to change our lives and bring them into full
conformity with his wonderful teachings.” (October 1982 General Conference).
The
steps of repentance will cleanse us, returning us to a holier state. The experience can strengthen us against
future negative influences and help us to prevail in the face of temptation.
Although
it is often hard to do, we must embrace the influences that lift us up and
ignore or discard the multitude of bad influences. Using Mormon’s measuring stick, we can
determine what kind of influences we face.
It is my sincere hope that we can prepare ourselves to stand against the
things we face in our daily lives. It is
my testimony that being stalwart in the face of temptation is not easy but is
and will be worth it. At the judgement
may we hear the words
"...Well done, thou
good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matthew 25:21).
