The Lord loves our righteousness but asks of us continued repentance and submission. In the Bible we read that it was a commandment-keeping, wealthy young man who knelt before the Savior and asked what he needed to do to have eternal life. He turned away grieved when the Savior said, “One thing thou lackest: … sell whatsoever thou hast.”9
Yet, it was another wealthy but worldly man, the chief Lamanite king, the father of Lamoni, who also asked the same question about eternal life, saying: “What shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit[?] … I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.”10
Do you remember the response the Lord gave the king through His servant Aaron? “If thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.”11
When the king understood the sacrifice required, he humbled and prostrated himself and then prayed, “O God, … I will give away all my sins to know thee.
This is an excerpt from a talk by Elder Robert C. Gay from last conference. It was the basis for our Relief Society lesson yesterday. The teacher asked what the difference was between these two men. I thought about it through the lens of the first sentence of this excerpt. "The Lord loves our righteousness but asks of us our continued repentance and submission." What was the difference? The wealthy young man was very righteous, but I think he wanted to be done. The Savior asked him to do more, to strive to be more righteous, to submit his will to the father, to give all that he had in exchange for all the Lord has. The young man was perfectly willing to be righteous, but when the Lord asked for continued submission, he wouldn't do it.
The king was a wicked man. He had sinned all his life, but had now felt the spirit and heard the truth. He was not yet righteous, but he offered up his sins and submitted his will to the Lord.
It would be nice to have a checklist - some finite number of things that I could do to enter the Lord's kingdom. But it doesn't work that way. The Lord has given me commandments. He has set a perfect example for me to follow. However, obeying the commandments and following Christ's example are the means to an end, not the ultimate goal. The goal is for my heart to change, for me to submit my will to the Father so I can become the person he wants me to be.
As long as I live and breathe, I will never be done. I can always be one more thought, one more deed, one more step closer to my Savior.
In the parable of the ten virgins, all ten go to the wedding, thinking they have enough and then they all go to sleep. The wise virgins had extra oil, so they were OK. The foolish didn't have any extra, but they went to sleep anyway. If they had stayed awake, they would have noticed right when their lamps stopped burning. They could have gone to buy more oil right away and might have been back by the time the bridegroom came. Jesus says watch therefore, for he know not neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
ReplyDeleteIf I relate this parable to this post, the foolishness wasn't completely in the lack of oil. It was also in assuming they had enough and then relaxing.