Today’s lesson is meshed from two different talks “Believe, Obey, and Endure” from President Thomas S. Monson given at the Young Women’s Conference in March and “Abide in the Lord’s Territory” by Elder Ulisses Soares given in April Conference.
This is the first time I’ve used two talks together. I thought it was hard to get through one because of all the great messages, but two talks is even more difficult. So, I would ask you to go home and read them to get the full message of both – if you have youth-aged children or grandchildren, take particular notice of President Monson’s talk.
We’ll begin with Elder Soares’s talk:
President Thomas S. Monson once said: “May I provide a simple formula by which you can measure the choices which confront you. It’s easy to remember: ‘You can’t be right by doing wrong; you can’t be wrong by doing right’”. President Monson’s formula is simple and direct. It works the same way as the Liahona given to Lehi did. If we exercise faith and are diligent in obeying the Lord’s commandments, we will easily find the correct direction to follow, especially when we face our day-to-day choices.
As we study the scriptures, we learn that the promises made by the Lord to us are conditional upon our obedience and encourage righteous living. Those promises must nourish our soul, bringing us hope by encouraging us not to give up even in the face of our daily challenges of living in a world whose ethical and moral values are becoming extinct.
Some of you may know that I recently had the opportunity to travel to Germany for work. I had a rental car to get around in (and yes, I push the limits on the Autobahn!). But, if you can believe it, all the street and road signs were written in German J! In all seriousness, I was very fortunate in that the car had a GPS. While I’ve used a GPS from time to time, having one in this situation gave an incredible peace of mind. Most of the time, if I simply followed the directions from the GPS, I was able to get to my destination safely and without difficulty.
On one of the rare days we had time to do some sightseeing, we were driving to another city about ninety minutes away. I remember the GPS directing us to go a different direction than the roadway signs. It didn’t seem like it made sense to go on the highway, when the freeway sign were beckoning to the city of our destination. But, within minutes, we could see the city of Heidelberg.
And isn’t life like that? The world guides us to go one way and we almost with blind faith take the Lord’s path and find our destination of happiness. We cannot be right by doing wrong and we cannot be wrong by doing right. Even if at times what we are asked to do doesn’t make sense.
We’ll move to President Monson’s talk:
…Satan will tempt you and will do his utmost to entice you from the path which will lead you back to that heavenly home from which you came and back to your Heavenly Father.
The world around you is not equipped to provide the help you need to make it through this often-treacherous journey. So many in our society today seem to have slipped from the moorings of safety and drifted from the harbor of peace.
Permissiveness, immorality, pornography, drugs, the power of peer pressure—all these and more—cause many to be tossed about on a sea of sin and crushed on the jagged reefs of lost opportunities, forfeited blessings, and shattered dreams.
Is there a way to safety? Is there an escape from threatened destruction? The answer is a resounding yes! I counsel you to look to the lighthouse of the Lord. I have said it before; I will say it again: there is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what the lighthouse of the Lord can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. It calls, “This way to safety. This way to home.” It sends forth signals of light easily seen and never failing. If followed, those signals will guide you back to your heavenly home.
Without the risk of sounding old, in my youth, what used to be unacceptable by gospel standards was also frowned upon by the world. Even if the shoreline was cloudy, you could still see the edges and dangers. However, that parallel is rapidly moving to polar opposites.
About a week ago, I was helping a friend buy a wedding dress. The store was filled with teenage girls and boys getting ready for Homecoming season. We were shocked at what dresses we saw both on the rack and especially on those young girls. All I could think about is that if I had dared to try a too short, too low-cut dress, I would have had to first try to get past an irate father and then the stares of all the people at the dance wondering what kind of values I had. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the norm now.
Friday night, I turned on a special about alcohol in America. It used to be that people that got drunk to the point of blacking out were considered raging drunks. Now, young adults and even teenagers are trying to find ways to get drunk even faster – evening soaking gummy bears in alcohol and pouring vodka in their eyes!
While we, of course, want to apply this talk to our own lives, how can we help our children, grandchildren to find that lighthouse of peace?
President Monson adds his words of advice:
I wish to talk with you tonight about three essential signals from the Lord’s lighthouse which will help you to return to that Father who eagerly awaits your triumphant homecoming. Those three signals are believe, obey, and endure.
First, I mention a signal which is basic and essential: believe. Believe that you are a daughter of Heavenly Father, that He loves you, and that you are here for a glorious purpose—to gain your eternal salvation. Believe that remaining strong and faithful to the truths of the gospel is of utmost importance. I testify that it is!
Most of you were taught the truths of the gospel from the time you were a toddler. You were taught by loving parents and caring teachers. The truths they imparted to you helped you gain a testimony; you believed what you were taught. Although that testimony can continue to be fed spiritually and to grow as you study, as you pray for guidance, and as you attend your Church meetings each week, it is up to you to keep that testimony alive. Satan will try with all his might to destroy it. Throughout your entire life you will need to nurture it. As with the flame of a brightly burning fire, your testimony—if not continually fed—will fade to glowing embers and then cool completely. You must not let this happen.
There will be times when you will face challenges which might jeopardize your testimony, or you may neglect it as you pursue other interests. I plead with you to keep it strong. It is your responsibility, and yours alone, to keep its flame burning brightly. Effort is required, but it is effort you will never, ever regret.
May you believe and then may you keep the flame of your testimony burning brightly, come what may.
Belief is probably as basic and complex as anything we have. Most of us grew up singing “I am a child of God”. We are taught through young women that we are daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves us. Then as parents, we try to teach our children the same. But, so many end up moving so far away from the values which they held most dear. I appreciate that President Monson talks about how each of us is responsible for our own testimonies.
What steps can we take to keep our beliefs actively burning?
President Monson continues:
Next, may you obey. Obey your parents. Obey the laws of God. They are given to us by a loving Heavenly Father. When they are obeyed, our lives will be more fulfilling, less complicated. Our challenges and problems will be easier to bear. We will receive the Lord’s promised blessings.
You have but one life to live. Keep it as free from trouble as you can. You will be tempted, sometimes by individuals you had thought friends.
Make every decision you contemplate pass this test: “What does it do to me? What does it do for me?” And let your code of conduct emphasize not “What will others think?” but rather “What will I think of myself?” Be influenced by that still, small voice. Remember that one with authority placed his hands on your head at the time of your confirmation and said, “Receive the Holy Ghost.” Open your hearts, even your very souls, to the sound of that special voice which testifies of truth. As the prophet Isaiah promised, “Thine ears shall hear a word … saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.”3
The tenor of our times is permissiveness. Magazines and television shows portray the stars of the movie screen, the heroes of the athletic field—those whom many young people long to emulate—as disregarding the laws of God and flaunting sinful practices, seemingly with no ill effect. Don’t you believe it! There is a time of reckoning—even a balancing of the ledger. Every Cinderella has her midnight—if not in this life, then in the next. Judgment Day will come for all. Are you prepared? Are you pleased with your own performance?
If any has stumbled in her journey, I promise you that there is a way back. The process is called repentance. Our Savior died to provide you and me that blessed gift. Though the path is difficult, the promise is real. Said the Lord: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”4 “And I will remember [them] no more.”5
You have the precious gift of agency. I plead with you to choose to obey.
There are so many great quotes from this section:
· You will be tempted by individuals you thought were friends. It’s unfortunate that so many of us have had to choose between friends and keeping our values. It’s difficult because we have always been taught to be kind and accepting of others. But I learned an important lesson in my life when it comes to choosing friends: as long as my good influence over others is stronger than their negative influence over me and vice versa, I can have and stay friends.
· Two questions we should ask when we make a choice:
o What does it do TO me?
o What does it do FOR me?
We could probably stay out of a whole lotta of trouble if we followed these guidelines.
· Every Cinderella has her midnight. I’ll be honest. For a lot of years, I had trouble with the scripture in Alma about “Wickedness never was happiness”. A guy like Hugh Hefner doesn’t seem to be struggling to find something to eat, a place to stay or friends. It seems like many times evil is not only not punished, bur rewarded. When I would struggle with things that I saw as unfair, my mom used to always say “What comes around goes around.” The boomerang sometimes takes a lifetime or longer to return. But President Monson reminds us that it does happen.
President Monson continues:
Finally, may you endure. What does it mean to endure? I love this definition: to withstand with courage. Courage may be necessary for you to believe; it will at times be necessary as you obey. It will most certainly be required as you endure until that day when you will leave this mortal existence.
Elder Soares give us some ways to help us ensure:
Desire
President George Albert Smith, repeating counsel from his grandfather, once said: “There is a line of demarcation well defined between the Lord’s territory and the devil’s territory. If you will stay on the Lord’s side of the line you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil’s side of that line one inch you are in the tempter’s power and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly because you will have lost the Spirit of the Lord”. Therefore, our daily question must be, “Do my actions place me in the Lord’s or in the enemy’s territory?”
I know this was spoken about in last week’s lesson. I appreciated the thought of an internet blogger who was discouraged by this statement because he, believing that no matter how much he thought he was on the Lord’s side of the line, like all of us, struggled with making wrong decisions. One of the important words in this statement is “DESIRE”. Where are our desires? If we wake up in the morning and desire to do the right thing, we can plant ourselves more and more in the Lord’s territory and continue to grow strong roots there.
Attitude
The Light of Christ together with the companionship of the Holy Ghost must help us determine if our manner of living is placing us in the Lord’s territory or not. If our attitudes are good, they are inspired of God, for every good thing comes from God. However, if our attitudes are bad, we are being influenced by the enemy because he persuades men to do evil.
For me, this is a good spot check for how my life is going. To be honest, I haven’t really had a good attitude about things lately. Last week, I tried to do something nice for a friend. I was amazed at how different things looked at work, at home, etc. When we wake up in the morning, how is our attitude? Of course, our circumstances don’t always make us cheerful, but are we looking forward with hope or despair?
Covenants
What really places us in the Lord’s territory [is] as follows: humble ourselves before God, come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, witness before the Church that we have truly repented of all our sins, take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, have a determination to serve Him to the end, manifest by our works that we have received the Spirit of Christ, and be received by baptism into His Church. Our disposition to fulfill these covenants prepares us to live in God’s presence as exalted beings. The remembrance of these covenants must guide our behavior in relation to our family, in our social interaction with other people, and especially in our relationship with the Savior.
Most of us have made covenants through baptism and the temple. How can we use our covenants to guide our behavior?
Banishing Temptation
The Savior banished from His life any influence that might take His focus away from His divine mission, especially when He was tempted by the enemy or by his followers while He ministered here on earth. Although He never sinned, He had a broken heart and a contrite spirit, full of love for our Heavenly Father and for all men. He humbled Himself before our Father in Heaven, denying His own will to fulfill what the Father had asked of Him in all things until the end.
I particularly like the use of the word Banish. The definition of the word banish is “get rid of something”. It isn’t to put temptation in a jacket pocket or in a corner or try to hide it in a closet to pull out on a rainy day. It’s getting rid of temptation – whatever it may be for us. It’s certainly not easy. It may mean turning off a favorite movie, shutting down our internet, or even severing a relationship. But, let us work to banish those things in our lives.
I have felt impressed today to express my gratitude for this ward and particularly the early members. We moved here when I was nine years old and I figured out that we’ve been here for nearly 2/3rds of the ward’s existence. I remember my first primary activity. This last week or so, I’ve been asked my Facebook friends who have lived or are living in the ward to send me some of their memories. It has been so fun to remember things from the past when times were different – watching and participating in competitive sports or church fairs or fundraisers. And also the memories of things that are still the same – service, and the kindness of so many good people.
It’s also a testimony to me of the importance to continue this legacy. As I have had so many good teachers and leaders, it’s important to help strengthen the youth of this ward. So, while I am sad to leave the sisters, it’s time for me to build the memories of those children in primary so they can look back on their youth as a time of learning and a time of fun and most importantly, a place where their testimonies grew.
President Monson continues:
I have spoken over the years with many individuals who have told me, “I have so many problems, such real concerns. I’m overwhelmed with the challenges of life. What can I do?” I have offered to them, and I now offer to you, this specific suggestion: seek heavenly guidance one day at a time. Life by the yard is hard; by the inch it’s a cinch. Each of us can be true for just one day—and then one more and then one more after that—until we’ve lived a lifetime guided by the Spirit, a lifetime close to the Lord, a lifetime of good deeds and righteousness. The Savior promised, “Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.”6
For this purpose have you come into mortality, my young friends. There is nothing more important than the goal you strive to attain—even eternal life in the kingdom of your Father.
You are precious, precious daughters of our Heavenly Father sent to earth at this day and time for a purpose. You have been withheld until this very hour. Wonderful, glorious things are in store for you if you will only believe, obey, and endure. May this be your blessing, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, amen.
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