Sunday, November 1, 2009

Phillipians 3

Life is hard, tiring, and more often than not, takes us in directions that we hadn't planned on. It is not easy to live the gospel and be the kind of person we need to be. To live righteously and overcome the our weaknesses is definitely (and thankfully) a lifelong process. The Savior said that those who are willing to sacrifice all things for him will receive a hundredfold after this life. The key word is willing. A person can't be willing to sacrifice of suffer all things for the Savior without a knowledge of him, without having a hope of what he will enter into after this life. Without this knowledge and hope, we won't have sufficient faith to count everything in this life as worthless in comparison and be willing to let it go if we need to. As Joseph Smith said, a religion that doesn't require the sacrifice of all things never has sufficient power to produce the kind of faith needed to lead us to life and salvation. "Those, then, who make the sacrifice, will have the testimony that their course is pleasing in the sight of God; and those who have this testimony will have faith to lay hold on eternal life; and will be enabled, through faith, to endure unto the end, and receive the crown that is laid up for them that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I don't think I'm there yet. But I take comfort when Paul says, "Not as though I already attained, either were made perfect." He says he hasn't apprehended this yet, hasn't obtained this yet. "I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth for those things which are before, I press forward... for the the prize." And there is the key, to press forward, to keep trying, not give up, not get lost in the frustration of life and the weaknesses of others. It takes grit. It isn't easy. But is worth far more than anything else we can ever hope to obtain in this life.

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