Mosiah 4

Mormon describes the people of King Benjamin as having a peace of consciousness. I think this is a great gift that the Lord gives us when we live our lives right. Peace of consciousness puts things in perspective. When we have it, everything else seems to fall into place. King Benjamin’s people obtained this by allowing the atonement to remove the objectionable things that were a part of their lives. When our lives conform to the Lord’s will, not the church’s (although there is a connection there), not other people’s will, but to the Lord’s, we discover that our life is where it should be. Then like it says of King Benjamin’s people, we come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, we understand his power, his wisdom, and just how extensive his patience and understanding of us is. Some people feel they just can’t be that perfect, or they shouldn’t be forced to be a certain way. But there is no need to be perfect and the Lord doesn’t force to be anything. We are already who and what we should be. The Lord just makes us a little better. I believe that deep inside, we understand our own uniqueness and we don’t want to ever lose that. We will do anything to hold onto it because to be someone else would be to betray our own selves. The Lord doesn’t want us to lose that uniqueness either.

King Benjamin teaches that if we can come to understand our dependence on God, if we will be humble, pray every day and be steadfast in our belief, we will always have a reason to rejoice because we have this peace of consciousness. King Benjamin promises that we will grow in our knowledge, not just of God, but a knowledge of his glory. He explains that this is to grow in the knowledge of what is true.

I like what he says about caring for the poor. If we have the means, we should give without ever judging why the person is poor. If we don’t have the means and our hearts are such that we would give if we could, that is sufficient to the Lord. He also says that all of these things should be done in wisdom and in order. To me, the order is the fast donation program. It also means that I will give when I can to others who need it, but I don’t have to give to every person on the street that I see.

Finally, King Benjamin says we should govern our words, are thoughts and our deeds. That is a good way to govern our life.