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We first have faith.
Because we have faith in God and Jesus, we begin to try to align
ourselves with their guidance by repenting.
Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost follow, BUT repenting continues –
for a lifetime - if we endure to the end.
Repentance requires meekness and humility. We need to acknowledge to God that we are
“naked before him” in that our sins, thoughts, words, actions, and weaknesses
are all known to Him. They cannot be
hidden from Him. Acknowledging sounds
easy enough, because we know it’s true. Very
similarly it is hard (at first) for a younger child to admit to wrong-doing,
lying, or to say they are sorry, even though we say to them it’s not that hard
to do, but they still don’t want to say it!
We are not that much different. We
try to avoid thinking about or saying those words to ourselves or in prayer to
our Father in Heaven as well.
According to Elder David A. Bednar in the 2018 April Conference,
“Meekness is a defining
attribute of the Redeemer and is distinguished by righteous responsiveness,
willing submissiveness, and strong self-restraint.” So it follows that we should be
spending a lot of effort to gain this attribute that will help us repent, or
progress, in order to become more like Him.
While some of our weaknesses are because of our mortal
appetites and passions, and increased because of poor decisions, some of our
weaknesses, like our talents, were given to us as we came to earth for our
benefit. “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble;” Ether 12:27. But then He adds, “and my grace is sufficient for all men
that humble themselves before me; for if they humble
themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” The Lord showed us the way and said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto
your souls.”
Elder Bednar goes on to say, “The Christ-like quality of meekness often is misunderstood
in our contemporary world. Meekness is strong, not weak; active, not passive;
courageous, not timid; restrained, not excessive; modest, not
self-aggrandizing; and gracious, not brash. A meek person is not easily
provoked, pretentious, or overbearing and readily acknowledges the
accomplishments of others.” A meek person does not justify him/herself by condemning
another's weakness.
As
we admit our own weaknesses, we sometimes become depressed. What the Lord and his prophets require of us,
combined with our weaknesses, as Michelle D. Craig in the 2018 October
Conference said, “…sometimes create within us what Elder Neal A. Maxwell
called “divine discontent.” Divine discontent comes when we compare “what
we are [to] what
we have the power to become.” Each
of us, if we are honest, feels a gap between where and who we are, and where
and who we want to become. We yearn for greater personal capacity. We have
these feelings because we are daughters and sons of God, born with the Light of
Christ yet living in a fallen world. These feelings are God-given and create an
urgency to act.
We should welcome feelings of divine discontent that call us to
a higher way, while recognizing and avoiding Satan’s counterfeit—paralyzing
discouragement.”
“Our
discontent can become divine—or destructive.
“We
can choose to walk the higher path that leads us to seek for God and His peace
and grace, or we can listen to Satan, who bombards us with messages that we
will never be enough: rich enough, smart enough, beautiful enough, anything
enough.”
It is difficult not to wallow in self-justifying self-pity,
but we need to keep striving (and repenting when we do slip into wallowing –
over and over). Practicing striving to
avoid Satan’s false humility, combined with the divine vitamins provided in the
scriptures and in the living prophets’ words, builds spiritual muscles,
sufficient to make us equal to the challenges that face us.
I am so happy that all of you are in our family! You are people that I enjoy being with,
people who care, and who love the Lord.
Have faith that by striving to follow, repent, and obey; His striving to
lift us will succeed, because it will.
He has the power and the wisdom to lift us back to Him.
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