Walking By Faith and Not Sight

This morning, I was studying the Book of Mormon and found some interesting life principles. The  Book of Mormon begins in Jerusalem with the prophet Lehi and his family. They have been commanded to leave the city because God is going to destroy it, and the Jews want to take Lehi's life. Nephi and Sam, the younger brothers, go willingly. However, Laman and Lemuel, the older brothers, complain and murmur the whole way.

"And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness. And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him. And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness...And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them."

(1 Nephi 2: 1-3, 12)

I love the faith of Lehi and Nephi. Leaving everything behind must have seemed hard, but they believed that God had something greater in store for them. In fact, a short time after, Nephi is promised some amazing blessings from God about being a ruler, teacher, great nations, and a promised land as inheritance. That alone shows that the Lord is going to bless the faithful with things greater than what they left behind. Like all other blessings, they are based upon faithfulness. Then, Lehi tells Nephi that he needs to go back to retrieve important knowledge about their ancestors, and revelations about Christ's coming. Nephi doesn't say, "Come on! The Lord just told me I am going to have all these great things! He's already promised them to me. I already have them, so why can't I have them now?!" Instead, his reply was full of faith and obedience. He said he would go, because he had a testimony now that God could make anything possible when he asks it of us. Lehi is then relieved, and he knows that Nephi has been blessed with obedience and diligence.

"...Laban hath the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass. Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brothers should go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records, and bring them down hither into the wilderness. And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord... I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. And it came to pass that when my father had heard these words he was exceedingly glad, for he knew that I had been blessed of the Lord."

(1 Nephi 3: 3-5, 7-8)

Laman and Lemuel, however, aren't feeling the same way as Nephi. They go on this adventure, but they do so begrudgingly. They don't want to, because they don't believe in the promises of God. After a failed first attempt, they want to quit!

Both in missions and in normal lives, we sometimes do the same. We are promised blessings, are asked to do something from God, and we do it. But when we aren't given blessings immediately, we become discouraged. We start to think "I am doing all the right things. I am being obedient and following commandments! Why am I not being blessed for it? Doesn't Heavenly Father see what I'm doing?"

One of the greatest lessons my own dad taught me was that everything is more appreciated and special to us when we work for and earn it ourselves. If Heavenly Father just gave us blessings immediately all the time, would we appreciate them as much? Would we value them as highly as we do if we didn't have to do anything for them? Laman and Lemuel didn't want to work to receive a reward. They wanted it to be easy so that they could go home and complain more. Nephi, however, still had a testimony that God was striving with them. He taught his brother's a little about the principle of faith in adversity, and then continued forward.

Sometimes, God doesn't give us immediately what we want or need because He wants us to be faithful and diligent. The blessings we get will be much sweeter and more rewarding when we have put our whole selves towards them. We may start to feel that if we aren't seeing

results, then we aren't being obedient. That may be the case, but more often than not it is simply because our Father in heaven wants us to learn to trust him and be faithful/diligent to what he has already asked us to do! The Lord is always aware, and will bless us at the perfect moment according to his perfect timing!

The Two Word Sermon

A part of being on this earth is imperfection. As humans, we tend to judge one another based off of those imperfections. This is called bullying, and it comes as a result of pride. President Ezra Taft Benson described perfectly what pride is and how it effects us.

"Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing. The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us...We are tempted daily to elevate ourselves above others and diminish them."

(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/04/beware-of-pride?lang=eng)

When we no longer have love or even an inclination of true kindness towards the people around us, we fall to pride. It truly is the stem and root to all other sins. It tells us that we are better than everyone else, therefore we are higher than the people around us. C.S. Lewis once said,

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. … It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.”

- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

God did not create us to be above or even beneath one another. Pride doesn't just come from the top down, but also from the bottom up. From the same talk, President Benson stated that,

"Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us. (See 2 Ne. 9:42.) There is, however, a far more common ailment among us—and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous."

(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1989/04/beware-of-pride?lang=eng)

There is no possible way that a person can treat another in such an un-Christlike way and feel good about themselves and even if they do, the effects are temporary. That is because nothing that comes from Satan is permanent. That isn't how it works. The only way to have true, lasting happiness is by following the example of Jesus Christ. Never have I read an account of Christ calling someone names. Never once have I read an account of Christ demeaning another person. Never once have I read an account of Christ complaining, exalting himself, or expressing jealousy of another. All of the accounts of the Savior are of love. In fact, when asked what the greatest commandment was, he responded,

"...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

(Matthew 22: 37-39)

A good way to measure where we are on the path of following this is by answering a few questions.

1. Do you harbor a grudge against someone else?

2. Do you gossip, even when what you say may be true?

3. Do you exclude, push away, or punish others because of something they have done?

4. Do you secretly envy another?

5. Do you wish to cause harm to someone?

If you are hesitant in answering any of these, may I suggest a two word sermon given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf-

Stop it.

It is that simple. We are here to act and not be acted upon. We have the ability to overcome the natural man tendencies that tell us it is ok to harm another person, or that it is right. Let us become more like the Savior and strive to develop charity for all those around us. If we have the goal to keep the commandments, we will love God. When we love God, we will see beyond the earthly imperfections of others. We will love them for who they are inherently- brothers and sisters of God right along with us. The best way to overcome pride and the effects of is praying for and developing a character of love. I have felt such a change in my own life as I have learned to love and forgive. I promise that it is possible to see past imperfections and love people for who they can become!