Philippians 3-4

(August 5, 2015)

                The natural man in each of us wants all the wrong things.  The language of Paul is perfect here – in so many ways, our god is in our belly.  We seek after the things our physical bodies want, instead of the things our spirits were sent to find.  Should we fail to achieve these temporal goals, we become bitter (towards God, no less!) for not giving us what we want.  Should, instead, we achieve our temporal goals then our glory becomes our shame and we are destroyed by the very thing that we find ourselves seeking.

                It can be difficult to silence the god in our bellies, but ultimately it is essential to each of us.  The only way to silence this fickle god is not to muzzle it but rather to focus our attention on the true God and allow this false idol to fade away from neglect.

2 Nephi 23-24

(August 5, 2015)

                There are times, especially when we are in the midst of great difficulty, when we may feel that our challenges are overwhelming.  But it is important to recall the way that our perspective will change in time.  With as much power and influence as Lucifer has, the day will come when he will be a distant afterthought – powerless and impotent.  Likewise, the day will come when the overwhelming challenges of our day will be only an afterthought – a reminder of how weak we once were and a tribute to the changes that Grace was able to bring about in our lives.

Philippians 1-2

(August 4, 2015)

                Nothing can ever really obstruct the progress of the Gospel.  I think that we lose sight of that sometimes, and we see the challenges in our lives (and those acting against us) and we lose faith to the point where we believe in the lie that the work of God can be frustrated.  But nothing could be further from the truth, and Paul is perfectly correct in saying that even those things that appear to be working against the Lord are actually furthering the Gospel.

                The best analogy is of an author.  When Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities, there was absolutely nothing that Madame Defarge could do that would ultimately frustrate Dickens.  Even should Defarge take on a life of her own (as authors sometimes suggest), Dickens could modify circumstances to see that his literary purposes we achieved because, ultimately, Dickens was not bound by the same constraints of ‘reality’ as was Defarge.

                Why can we see that, and not see the same to be true in our relationship with the Great Author and Finisher of our Faith.  He is writing the book of our lives, and He is not bound in the ways that we are bound.  He knows the end from the beginning and can make all arrangements for us to be blessed by His works.  Our Author’s works cannot be frustrated by us or others any more than Dickens could be frustrated by the works of Madame Defarge.

2 Nephi 20-22

(August 4, 2015)

                There seems to be a very human trait that is brought to light in these chapters.  Sometimes there are traits in us, or people around us, that cause problems that need to be dealt with.  And, unfortunately, sometimes we seek out solutions to those problems in the very traits or with the very people who caused the problems for us in the first place.

                But when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances (of our own making because of our human failings and sins or because of a misplaced reliance on others), the only way out of the hole is to stop digging and turn to the Lord.

                When our selfishness causes problems, our selfishness cannot fix those problems.  When our political or cultural leaders cause problems, those political or cultural leaders cannot fix those problems.  Rather than turning to them again and again, we need to recognize that we are relying on the wrong people (ourselves or others) and turn instead to the Lord.

Ephesians 5-6

(August 3, 2015)

                If you have read anything I have ever written before from the scriptures, you know how attracted my metaphorical ears are to absolute words (all, never, always, etc.).  So when we are told to be giving thanks always for all things (two absolutes in the same phrase!), I cannot help but notice.

                And, of course, this is something that I absolutely true.  No matter what happens to us, or how much it may hurt us, it is all part of an absolutely perfect plan – one designed for our ultimate happiness.  Unless we have the hubris to think we know better than an omniscient God what would lead to our happiness, or unless we take the position that God is not all-loving, then whatever happens (no matter how unpleasant) is something that we will be grateful for in the future, and if we have faith enough we can be grateful for even now.

                I have gone through some extraordinarily difficult times recently.  Some of them were deserved based upon mistakes I have made.  Some of them were undeserved, and arose from either the mistakes or deliberately wrong acts of others.  Regardless of their sources, I have felt pain that I would not have imagined being possible had I not gone through it.

                And yet, in the quiet moments, I find myself drawn further and further into gratitude for all that my Father has given me (including my pain).  I am learning things through these painful lessons that I cannot imagine learning any other way.  I am gaining the ability to help others in ways that I would likely never have been able to help them had things not worked on this way.  I hope and pray that the Lord will grant me relief from this pain, but until such time I trust that all of it will be for my benefit and I will strive to be grateful for it.

2 Nephi 18-19

(August 3, 2015)

                At the time Isaiah was prophesying, the smart money was on the confederacy idea.  But one thing that the scriptures tell us again and again is that when we put conventional wisdom and popular opinion against the revelations of the Lord, the revelations will always trump.

                Of course, like most people we can easily see the truth of the past and yet remain blinded by the illusions of our current day.  Believing in spiritual intercessions in the world today goes against the conventional wisdom of reductive materialism – and, yet, we know from the Lord and His prophets that unseen forces for good and evil are at work around us.  Do we believe conventional wisdom (and enjoy the popularity that comes from that) or do we believe the truth (and experience the scorn that comes from that)?

                This, of course, is only one of countless examples of this principle today.  We can see conventional wisdom being wrong in the past, but somehow we believe that we are immune to such things now because our conventional wisdom is so much wiser than the conventional wisdom of the ancients.

Ephesians 1-4

(August 2, 2015)

                There are certain concepts that tend to be difficult to understand because they are not on the poles of a situation but rather a perfect balance.  It is (usually) easy to identify the right and wrong of some major sins (like murder) because right is way over on one side and wrong is way over on the other.

                The tension between Grace and works, on the other hand, does not lend itself to such a consideration.  Go too far in one direction, and you are idolizing dead works as if they had the power to save.  Go too far in the other, and you find yourself excusing sin under a false theory of Grace.

                The truth is found in the middle, and finding the exact location of that truth can be difficult.  The only ways that I have found to understand it is through analogies.  For example, when a father teaches a child to walk, the child’s efforts are absolutely essential (because the father is more concerned about the child gaining knowledge than about the child covering distance).  But despite those efforts, the child ultimately cannot do it on his own without the father holding his hands and keeping him from falling.

                Likewise, the Lord is less concerned about us, say, doing our home teaching than He is about us becoming the type of people that will home teach.  And so, as we stumble, He holds our hands though His Grace.  We are expected to do our part, insufficient though that is.  Meanwhile everything that is actually accomplished is accomplished because of His intervention.