Before preparing the talk on which this entry is based, my wife and I had watched the old Russell Crowe, Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone, western, “The Quick and the Dead,” in which most of the characters are gun-slinging killers of one kind or another. In one scene, Russell Crowe’s character – a gunslinger who had become a minister – says to Sharon Stone’s character, “There is always forgiveness if you ask for it.”
Isn’t that the message we like to hear? You must obey, but if in the end you don’t, it’s okay.
The truth is that this both is and isn’t true.
The Lord is a forgiving and loving God; but his forgiveness is grace offered to those who truly strive to follow him, not an escape clause for those who fail to make the effort.
Have you ever noticed that, in the Sacrament prayers, there is a sense of progression?
In the prayer over the bread, we say, that we witness unto God that we are “willing” to take upon us the name of the Son, “willing” to always remember Him and “willing” to keep His commandments.[1] The bread represents the body of Christ, and in remembering it and the sacrifices He made, we commit ourselves, our physical and mental efforts, to try to follow Him.
But in the prayer over the water, we say, “that [we] may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that [we] do always remember Him.”[2] Not trying any more, not simply willing, but doing.
If we strive to obey, believing that it is not important whether or not we succeed because the Lord is a forgiving and loving God, we are likely going to miss out on something. We are going to be stuck on one half of the commitment, or covenant, of baptism – the trying, the willing – and we may fall significantly short of the doing, because we are continually giving ourselves an excuse, a way out.
When we try to see where we are in relation to this dividing line between trying and doing, the difference, I think, can sometimes be subtle.
What is it we are to do? Remember Him.
What is it we are to try to do? Both remember Him & obey.
So this is where it is both true and not true that you must obey but in the end if you don’t it’s okay. It seems to me that the message of the scriptures, of the temple, of the Sacrament prayers, of our covenant and relationship with God, mediated by our Saviour Jesus Christ, is this:
Our task is to remember Him – to keep our minds and hearts focused upon Him, His counsel, His doctrine, His love, at all times. |
And here is where there is, I believe, a subtlety:
If I am focused only upon the fact that I must try to be good, but that failure is okay because I will be forgiven, or even if I am focused upon my own righteous behaviour and the rewards I may receive for it, am I not thinking of myself, of my efforts, of my status and my condition? Am I remembering Him or me?
If, instead, I am focused upon the Lord, I will strive to follow Him and I will not be content to make an excuse for my failure; but I will trust in His love to bear me up and keep trying.
I will accept His forgiveness when I fail, but I will not gauge the quality or quantity of my effort based on the foreknowledge that He will forgive.
The difference is not very obvious, particularly from the outside, but I believe that internally there is a world of difference in these attitudes.
Perhaps I am overstating something obvious, or making too much of a particular doctrine, but I leave these thoughts with you to ponder and pray about and determine for yourself whether they have meaning in your life as I have begun to believe they have meaning for me.
Any of us who have read and studied the Book of Mormon even a little bit, or have at least attended Church for more than a year or so, have probably heard at some time or another the story of Aaron and King Lamoni’s father, the chief king of the Lamanites at the time.
As you might remember, King Lamoni’s father was prepared to kill Aaron’s brother, Ammon, because he had brought the religion of the Nephites – the belief in the law of Moses and the coming Messiah – to Lamoni, the chief king’s son, himself a sub-king over a part of the Lamanite lands.
But the chief king became impressed with the love that Ammon expressed toward Lamoni, and when Ammon’s brother, Aaron, visited his kingdom, the chief king’s heart was prepared and his mind was open to hear the gospel of his Nephite enemies. In words that are famous throughout the Church, King Lamoni’s father prayed,[3]
O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. |
We know this to be the true spirit of repentance. We know this is a promise that all of us must seek to make; but we also know that it is a promise most, if not all, of us will fail to keep. At least, that is to say, we likely aren’t going to be able to keep it all at once.
What is it that that King Benjamin says?[4] ... I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.
Sin is diverse and drastic and seems all but inescapable. Particularly, I believe that as we enter into each new stage and circumstance in life, we are faced with new possibilities for both sin and righteousness which we have never imagined before; and faced with such new challenges and opportunities, it is more than simply likely that we will sometimes fail.
Indeed, we are taught that our very nature is set upon sin.
In this regard, King Benjamin taught, "[T]he natural man is an enemy to God." [5]
Likewise, in Romans chapter 7, the Apostle Paul complains that, "The good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do" [6] and then he explains, "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me…bringing me into captivity." [7]
I can relate so well to these disappointing statements.
To combat this sinful nature, we are called to the process of repentance. This is part of the way we change from a carnal to a spiritual nature, one in which we are not guided by the law that Paul describes, but by the higher law of the Spirit which opens us up to the righteousness and goodness of God.
So, the questions inspired by the words of King Lamoni's father is:
Can we repent of everything all at once?
Can we , in fact, give away “all” our sins to know Him?
I suspect that the fact that sin is rooted in our natures makes this all but impossible to do. I suspect that we cannot even begin to repent of a sin until we have discovered it within ourselves.
I believe what Paul and King Benjamin talked about is a potential within us to sin in various circumstances and ways, and the fact that temptations will be triggered by certain situations, words, images, emotions, and so forth. But if those temptations are never met, if those circumstances do not arise, then it is not the case that our nature is not sinful, but simply that the sin within us is not discovered, and therefore, also, the repentance necessary to root it out and change our natures never happens.
This would appear to mean that, unless we are to experience every possible temptation throughout our lives, in order to repent of all of them, we can never become truly righteous and good to the very core of our beings.
Fortunately, that is not true, only because that is not what we are called to do. That’s what Jesus is for.
Of course, I don’t mean that is all that He is for, but that is one key thing He does: He gets rid of our sin; He makes us clean. For our part, we are called to remember Him always and to be willing to obey.
Therefore, I have doubts that the statement made by King Lamoni’s father is really the best example for us to follow.
Should we be willing to give away all our sins to know our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? Certainly. That is, we must, in a certain sense; but, truthfully, are we able to? Is that really what He expects and asks us to do? Ultimately, I don’t think so.
In regard to this, I was impressed recently when reading Doctrine and Covenants section 88 verse 74, in which the following words of Jesus Christ are recorded:
"And I give unto you, who are the first laborers in this last kingdom, a commandment that you assemble yourselves together, and organize yourselves, and prepare yourselves, and sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your hearts, and cleanse your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean."
This, I believe, serves to help reveal that God knows that despite all our efforts to be righteous, to obey, to be perfect, sanctified, purified and clean, our evil natures will betray us in the end; to be truly clean, we need Him. He has power to overcome our nature and to make us clean, regardless.
This, I believe, is His grace – the grace by which Nephi says we are saved "after all that we can do"[8] – His good will and His love for us: that as we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us;[9] that as we strive to obey His commandments, He will make us clean and dwell with us through the Holy Spirit.[10]
Ultimately, He is the one who will give away our sins. Indeed, He already took them away by force as He hung triumphantly on the cross.
What He does not take from us is the power in us to will ourselves to follow Him, and always to remember who He is, what He has done, and why this matters.
Accordingly, I believe that our calling, as Christians, is first and foremost to remember Jesus Christ, to remember the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in Ohio on February 16, 1832, [11]
That He came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the worlds, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; that through Him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his power and made by Him. |
So, if it is not our job to give away our sins, but Jesus's, who removes sin from us in response to our turning ourselves entirely to Him, what is it that perhaps we should pray differently than what King Lamoni’s father said?
You won't find this in any Church materials or scriptures that I know of, I believe that, better than to say, “I will give away all my sins to know thee,” we should pray, “I will give away all my excuses, all my distractions, all my fears, all my hesitations, all my doubts, to know Thee.”
The word “excuses” rings most truly for me.*
I suspect that all us have excuses for failing to live up to the gospel. Excuses are the doorway to sin and the evidence that our hearts and minds are not sufficiently set upon the Lord.
Will I excuse myself from acts of kindness and charity, if I love the Lord?
Will I excuse myself from serving in his kingdom?
Will I excuse myself from keeping my covenants and promises?
Will I excuse myself from sharing His gospel with those I love?
If I love God, if I remember my Saviour and love him too, what excuses can I have?
He died for me.
He bowed himself in Gethsemane to take upon him the weight, the pain and suffering, of all my sins.
He let himself be lied about and betrayed, beaten, stripped,
spat on, stabbed, whipped, crowned with thorns,
hung on a cross and killed.
He suffered body and soul, born for that purpose and
knowing it would be his destiny.
And, knowing this, can I, with any degree of justice, love or understanding, make excuses for not obeying Him? For denying the principles and practices of the Word of Wisdom, for not paying a tithe, for not reading my scriptures every morning, or for not praying morning and night, or for doing worse, for sinning against my knowledge of what is right and clean and good and just?
I believe it is not my sinful nature that separates me from God. Jesus has already paid the price for that, even if I refuse to accept His gift. Rather, what separates me from God, from righteousness, from happiness and peace and the presence of the Spirit in my life are my excuses~anything I excuse myself to do instead of remembering and following Him.
I don't know whether these thoughts will ring as true for you as they do for me. I don't know if they match your experience and understanding. But I believe that as we put away our excuses and keep our eyes, our minds and hearts, single to the glory of the Lord, and remember Him, our efforts to do good in this world will succeed more often and produce more joy and greater blessings in our lives and in the lives of others than we have yet experienced.
I bear you my testimony that Jesus is the Christ; that He lives; that He and our Heavenly Father love us. I have seen enough, learned enough, felt enough, been blessed enough, to believe that it would be false witness on my part to say anything less than that I know these things to be true. And am I am grateful for that knowledge, and for the fact that Jesus Christ lived and sacrificed Himself for me, and for His continuing work on my behalf.
[1] Doctrine and Covenants 20:77.
[2] Doctrine and Covenants 20:79.
[3] Alma 22:18.
[4] Mosiah 4:29.
[5] Mosiah 3:19.
[6] Romans 7:19.
[7] Romans 7:20-21.
[8] 2 Nephi 25:23.
[9] Cf. Doctrine and Covenants 88:63.
[10] Cf. John 14:15-16 and 23.
[11] Doctrine and Covenants 76:41-42.
[12] Doctrine and Covenants 88:67.
Adapted from a talk delivered on February 20, 2011, at the Stratford Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
*Today, I would perhaps have to say that 'distractions' have replaced 'excuses' as the primary factor inhibiting my devotion. Distractions like, say, blogging, for example.