Mark 1

(May 4, 2015)

                There is a great desire in each of us, I think, to do those things that are right.  After all, it wasn’t an accident that we arrived at this point in our eternal progression.  But there is more to mortality than just trying to do the right thing – we must also be willing to follow His Plan, rather than our own, in doing that right thing.

                Even when we are trying to do the right thing, we can cause significant problems for others.  For example, the Lord instructed to the leper he healed to be silent about this miracle.  The man, perhaps out of gratitude or some other potentially righteous desire to push forward the work, disregarded this counsel.  Though his motives may have been good, and his faith (as demonstrated by his being healed) was strong, he negatively affected the Lord’s ability to teach the people.  This publication prevented Christ from openly teaching in the city.

                Each of us might believe we know what is best for us to do, and we may want to do what is right.  But humility requires that we accept that whatever He wants is right, regardless of what we want (and regardless of what we think He should want).  There is no safety in doing the right thing, if the right thing is merely defined as doing what we think is right.  The only safety we have is in doing what He asks us to do.