Obedience- continued....

I teach this Sunday and so I am starting to get my thoughts and notes organized with everything I have been studying on the principle of obedience. I am teaching out of the Teaching of the Presidents of the church manual and this year we are studying the prophet Joseph Smith. I love studying all of the prophets but there is a very soft, tender spot in my heart for this prophet. I think part of it has to do with all that he endured and went through to organize the church. I feel for all that he and his family suffered because of endless persecution because he would not, nor could not deny what happened to him. When I study about how many people fought to end the progression of the church and to see the fruits of what the Lord's church is today....it is amazing. It is just another strength to my testimony of the restoration of the gospel and the Lord's church on the earth. I truly feel blessed, honored and grateful to feel, know and experience all I have in my life, which has all led me to an understanding of my Heavenly Father, His Son and my relationship with them. The prophet Joseph was key in all of this happening. If it wasn't for his questions, his faith and his obedience, I would be like so many tossed to and fro, searching for truth but not knowing where to find it.

Obedience has such a deep but strong meaning. I want to write down a few things that Joseph Smith taught about obedience that really impressed me....

"Any man may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and be happy in that belief, and yet not obey his commandments, and at last be cut down for disobedience to the Lord's righteous requirements."

This is so true. In Elder Bednar's talk "Ask in Faith" in the last April 2008 General Conference, he said..

"What we know is not always reflected in what we do."

Okay, this statement is so simple, yet for me very powerful. It is true that many times we know that we must obey but our actions don't always reflect obedience or the "doing" part.

Joseph continues to state....

"Be virtuous and pure; be men of integrity and truth; keep the commandments of God; and then you will be able more perfectly to understand the difference between right and wrong, between the things of God and the things of men; and your path will be like that of the just, which shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day [Proverbs 4:18]


This has been so true for me in my own life. When I choose to follow God and obey His commandments/ keep my covenants, the Spirit is SO strong in my life and it is absolutely clear, what is right and what is wrong. What a powerful insurance policy.... when we are obedient, we are in line with God's will and I believe there is safety in obedience.

Joseph also gives the great example of the Apostle Paul. He quotes Pauls last letter to Timothy, just before his death...

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: hence there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only but unto all them also that love His appearing." [2Timothy 4:7-8]

What a powerful scripture, especially coming from this amazing man that had come full circle. At one time, he persecuted the church yet, after embracing the faith, he lost his life in the service of spreading the good news. He gave his life for the cause, with the faith of receiving an eternal crown. Wow....what an example of obedience.

In this lesson, Joseph Smith asks this question...

"Reflect for a moment, and enquire, whether you would consider yourselves worthy of a seat at the marriage feast with Paul and others like him, if you had been unfaithful? Had you not fought the good fight, and kept the faith, could you expect to receive. Have you a promise of receiving a crown of righteousness from the hand of the Lord, with the Church of the First Born? Here then, we understand, that Paul rested his hope in Christ, because he had kept the faith, and loved his appearing and from His hand he had a promise of receiving a crown of righteousness."


Why are we obedient (or am I). It exactly as Joseph Smith taught, because of my hope in Christ. I live, and strive to do (or obey) because I love the Lord. He is my way back to my eternal home, where my eternal crown of righteousness awaits me. I have hope and faith in Christ that this will one day become a reality.