When did we see thee?

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:34-40

The above passage is probably the most commonly cited scripture on performing scripture. When used in church I've generally heard the emphasis placed on the last part, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." But when I was studying this passage of scripture this week something struck me about the question posed by the righteous. After being told that they had performed all these great deeds in God's service they were surprised, and they asked when they had done such a thing. My thought was why were they so surprised? Sure some of them may not have realized that they were serving God by serving their fellow man, but I think there might be something else there that may serve as a valuable lesson. I don't think that serving our fellowman because we desire to serve God is the best motive for service.

First I must say that I believe that it is good to serve our fellow man out of a desire to serve God. But I don't believe God really needs our service. He is a God after all, and anything we can do, he can do better and faster. In truth I think we are the true beneficiaries when we serve God, because of what we can learn from him when we do.

I believe that a higher motive for our service would be to serve our fellowman out of love for our fellowman. "To love thy neighbor as thyself" is the second great commandment. If this is our primary motive for service than we will truly be blessed. Sadly it often occurs that when we perform service with the idea in mind that we are serving God we often miss out on the real needs of who we are trying to serve. But if in the front of our minds is a love for those we serve than we will be more attune to spiritual promptings as to how to be of service to our fellowman. I believe that Christ more than anything wishes to see that we love each other.

If genuine love is our focus, than we will find that when we get to heaven we will be truly surprised as to how much Christ appreciates our efforts.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: It is good to serve the Lord out of love for him, but if we do not perform our service out of love for our fellowman as well, than we will likely fail to cultivate relationships with the rest of God's family and we will miss out on truly coming to know the Lord.

Have I Not Earned Heaven?

Christ was the Master Teacher. He stunned the most learned of his day with his understanding and insights. One of his best techniques was his use of questions. It's interesting to study the sorts of questions that he would ask and how they furthered his teaching. One question that he posed called my attention as I was reading in the seventh chapter of Matthew.

"21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23. And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you.

I've heard this scripture cited many times by missionaries trying to talk about the importance of having the Priesthood when doing the Lord's work, but that interpretation has never sat very well with me. This time that I read this passage I noticed something I hadn't before.

In these verses Christ is asking a question, but it isn't directed at an audience, rather he is posing a question that he knows that some of us may be tempted to ask of him at judgement day.

Evidently the individuals that would ask this question are those that are not pleased with the judgement passed and are trying to justify a higher reward. They begin to list all the good deeds that they did in Christ's name thinking that they deserve to heaven. Essentially what they are doing is looking at the Lord and saying "Do I not deserve better? Have I not earned Heaven?"

The Lord's response to such is instructive. He responds "I never knew you." It appears in that all their doings, individuals that would be tempted to ask such questions of the Lord, failed to develop a personal relationship with him. They thought that they could earn their way to heaven. They completely failed to understand that such a thing is impossible. We do not earn heaven, rather we are given the opportunity through Christ to be accepted into heaven. It is through Christ and his atonement that salvation is achieved, not through the merit of our actions alone. 

Think about it like this. Everything on this earth is temporal. Even the most precious substance of this earth is most likely considered to be worth less than the lowest substance in heaven. All of the most wonderful sincere acts of goodness that we can perform pale in comparison to the least of the works of God. So how is it that some of us think that by our actions we can earn a spot in his kingdom? We simply can't. Heaven cannot be earned. None of us truly deserve heaven. Heaven is perfection, and we most certainly are not perfect.

I am not saying that none of us will be received into heaven. It is my sincere hope that all of us become sanctified through the blood of Christ and enter into God's kingdom. I am merely trying to emphasize that it is spiritually dangerous for us to feel a sense of entitlement towards are admittance to heaven based upon our actions. Instead we should seek to humbly follow Christ. When we perform acts of goodness it should not be to earn points on some imaginary entrance exam for heaven, rather it should be because through our personal relationship with Christ we learn to be better people, we learn to desire to do good, and we do good out of love for God and our fellowman. If we do this, then through the power of his atonement, Christ will perfect our imperfections and make us fit to be citizens of God's Kingdom.

Achieving Resolutions

We are now two weeks into 2017, and those of us who did make New Year's resolutions have probably broken a fair few. For myself, my resolution of going to the gym was made difficult by a pair of painfully swollen knees. I've spent some time reflecting on the outcomes of my different resolutions and I can't help but compare my efforts to the Lord's when he brought the house of Israel to Egypt.

These last two weeks I have been studying the first five books of the Old Testament. I was particularly intrigued by Joseph's words in Genesis 45:4-7.

"...I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance."

In previous readings I've always considered this passage to be just another example of Joseph's great character. But this time while I was reading, my attention was called to the words "God did send me before." I've always known that God had intended that Joseph go to Egypt to prepare a place for his family. But I'd never really considered how this kind of advanced planning could apply in my life.

It was God's will that a famine should come upon the land. It was also God's will that the House of Israel survive the famine. Had your's truly been in charge, I doubt anything would have been done until it was too late and the House of Israel would have perished. God on the other hand, knew what sort of obstacles there would be and planned how to overcome them so that he could achieve his goal. 

It is unlikely that the House of Israel at this time had the resources to gather stores of food sufficient to outlast the famine. It is also unlikely that they had the resources to purchase food for all the years of the famine. The Egyptians themselves had to sell their lands to Pharaoh for food, and I doubt very much that Pharaoh would charge foreigners any less than his own people. Knowing this God planned ahead and prepared to obtain his goal. Most importantly he planned for obstacles.

So what does this have to do with achieving resolutions? Well it is an eternal principle that there is opposition in all things. If you have a resolution to push yourself to be better, I can guarantee that you will have things that get in your way. For example, I didn't foresee that my inadequate shoes during my daily mile runs would be an obstacle for my resolution about going to the gym. I didn't prepare for that obstacle and my resolution has faced a setback. However there is one resolution that I have that is going on strong.

I resolved that I would study the scriptures for an hour a day every day. Although I started this resolution on the New Year, I began preparing for this resolution weeks before. I knew that my biggest obstacle was finding a time which I could use to study consistently.  The only reasonable option would be to wake up at 6am, and read before my morning classes. The problem was that I had a habit of staying up until 2am and sleeping right up until the start of my morning class. So I made plans to prepare.

Two weeks before the New Year I began going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. It was quite the adjustment. I would go to bed and lay their for hours feeling completely restless. Often times I would lie there for about 4 hours before falling asleep but little by little I started bringing my sleep schedule back in line. The sleep schedule is still hard for me, I still lie awake for a long time before sleeping, but I can guarantee that if I hadn't planned for this obstacle, I would have failed in my goal.

So here's what I'm trying to say. God achieves his goals, not only because he plans a way for success, but because he also plans for obstacles and how to overcome them. God foresaw the obstacle of sin and with his Son Jesus Christ planned how to overcome that. In a similar way if any of us wish to obtain our resolutions, reach our goals, or conquer our weaknesses, we should follow God's example of planning for obstacles and how we will overcome them.