Happiness is a gift to the obedient.
May I begin today with a story…
But it all started in Provo, Utah actually. I had just returned
from my mission and started attending school at BYU. I lived a few miles off
campus at the time with my sister and her little boy. In addition to going to
various classes where I met other students, my social interaction was BYU
dances. These were way back in the day when live bands played at these events.
Because I was staying off campus, BYU dances on the weekends was a big part of my social life. I was released from my mission just six months prior.
I had just finished Dance 180 weeks earlier and enrolled in Dance 280, so I
thought I was well-prepared. But looking back, I had no idea what I as getting
into. After one night in particular, my life would never be the same.
As I remember, for some reason I arrived at the dance early.
Yes. This was basically … in the olden days (when the best dances consisted of
live bands), and the group was still setting up their equipment in the Garden
Court on campus at the Wilkinson Center. So I was trying in to play it cool.
Meanwhile, a particular young lady prepared for and attended
the dance that evening. When I saw her, I asked if she would like to take a
turn with me. She told me her name and joined me on the dance floor.
She danced her way into my heart that night and every day
since. We have six beautiful children and recently four incredible grandsons. I
love being with my wife and family.
Thank you for allowing me to reminisce. Now you know a
little bit more about me and your mother. Some of you are just now beginning
the trek we started nearly forty years ago, but there is a purpose in my sharing
these details with you
Yes. You could say that your mother and I were quite the pair. I want to speak with you today about pairs. There are lots of pairs. They often go well together.
Some are opposites:
Good and bad / Hot and cold / Light and dark / Top and
bottom / Health and sickness
And some pairs have similarities:
Lock and key / Mom and dad / Cowboys and Indians / Bed and
Breakfast
OK. So what would you come up with to pair with the word obedience? Compliance, agreement,
respect. Those are all good options, but when I consider the word obedience, I would
pair it with “blessings.”
Have you ever felt that Heavenly Father keeps blessings to
himself instead of freely sharing them with all of us? No. In reality, He
showers us with all the blessings that He can:
- Beautiful sunshine
- Clean water
- Homes
- Spectacular mountains
- A free country
- Health
- Family
- Loved ones and much, much more.
Next time you struggle to find a place in your fridge to fit
the leftovers, think how lucky you are to reside in this country and about the
promised blessing found in Malachi chapter 3 verse 10:
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the
storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith …
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that
there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Blessings, abundance, plenty and to spare—the temple
ordinances are the crowning blessings that the Church has to offer.
The blessings of the Temple enable us to live in harmony now
and be with our families and loved ones after death back in the presence of our
Father in Heaven. We achieve these blessings through obedience.
“Each day, ours is the challenge to access the power of the
Atonement so that we can truly change, become more Christ like, and qualify for
the gift of exaltation and live eternally with God, Jesus Christ, and our
families.”
Those words are from of our dear prophet President Nelson,
but they are my sentiments as well.
Jesus Christ has promised blessings to the obedient. Luke recorded “it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.” Luke 6:37
Jesus Christ has promised blessings to the obedient. Luke recorded “it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.” Luke 6:37
Luke lived 2000 years ago.
During that time, people often went to the market to secure grain for
bread.
I love that metaphor. Consider with me for a moment that you
have gone down to say Costco. Something is five for a dollar. So you examine
the possibilities, measure the largest of the choices, pick the best of the
bunch, pay and walk away happy. Now imagine you were living in Jerusalem 2000-years-ago,
and you’re going to the market for grain. There are many vendors, but you frequent
the one that carefully and precisely fills your basket well with good measure,
pressed down, shaken together and running over.
That is exactly how God blesses us. Your mother joined the
Church when she was 15. Even at that young age, she recognized the value of
Church membership. At the time, I was living in Utah and interested in
football, cars, and girls. Admittedly, at that young age I didn’t fiully
appreciate the full importance and value of the commandments and obedience to
the laws and ordinances of the gospel. Maybe some of you feel that way as well,
but I have a much different perspective now.
The opportunity to receive and obey commandments that we may
take for granted can become the ultimate source for joy in our lives today, and
I have a pretty good idea that it should continue to be our strategy for
eternal joy in the world to come. I still like football, cars, and I love your mother, but I am much wiser now and know beyond a shadow of a doubt from whence
my joy comes. But even that is not my primary purpose for why I am obedient
today.
Love for the Savior
We are not achieving our most important goal until we have
established in the hearts of our children and the saints a great and abiding
love for the Savior Jesus Christ.
Friends may betray us, spouses may leave us, health may
fail, and our possessions burn up. But, Christ, His promises, understanding,
and love will never fail us. With some trials and most tragedies, only this can
get us through.
When we can take a thankless, demanding calling; give up
something we wanted greatly so we can pay our tithing; or help out someone who
has badly hurt us… and say, ‘I wouldn’t do this for anyone else, but I will do
it for Christ!’ …then the power for good that he can have in our lives is
becoming a reality. He must be the foundation of our lives. He stands ready to
bless us, today and throughout eternity.
“The eye hath not
seen, nor the ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
Jesus Christ is the Architect of our happiness in this world
and that to come. He marked the path and showed the way, but it is up to us to
walk it.
Obedience is the tool that he uses to help us realize the
blessings of all his promises.
“Don’t be too critical of the barrier. It’s the only thing
keeping you from being devoured.”
The Lord’s commandments are intended for our joy in this
life just as much as they are intended for our joy and exaltation in the next.
King
Benjamin is someone I think we can unanimously say was well-liked. Why?
Because he cared about his people and served them and worked for his own
support rather than burdening them with heavy taxes, he was well-loved by all
the people.
He chose to rule by setting an example of humility,
righteous living, and service; and he strove always to teach his people how to
live Heavenly Father’s commandments. Again I ask why?
Let’s defer to King Benjamin’s own words for the answer:
He remarked that he could not explain all the ways to commit
sin; for there are so many ways and means that he could not even number them. And
then he said…
30 But this much I can tell you,
that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your
deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what
ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your
lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not. Mosiah
4:30
This was their king whom they loved, and he loved them and
served them and wisely counseled them to be obedient and flee from sin, so that
they could live full and happy lives of abundance here and now and enjoy
exaltation in the world to come.
You may not have all the things that you hoped for to make you happy, but you will be rich with abundance and your reward here-and-now will be great. Our King has told us that very thing:
29 There is no man that hath left
house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or
lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands…; and in the world to come eternal life.
That is one of my favorite scriptures of all time. It gives me hope and strength when I need it. But there is another scripture that I believe explains well WHY we should keep the commandments of God:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8: 35-39
We are obedient because of our love for the Savior. That is the power for good that he can have in our lives.
Obedience is truly the key.
