I gave a talk in church.
Luckily, I somehow managed to find time to write it while in the midst of packing up my apartment, but wrote it I did. A couple of hours before church started. Because the night before, my mind had not been helping me at all with writing on my topic.
So, without further ado. :) Here is the talk I gave today in church.
“Freedom for most people of the world
means “freedom from.” The absence of malice or pain or suppression. But the
freedom that God means when He deals with us goes one step further. He means
“Freedom to.” --The freedom to act in the dignity of our own choice.
For example, earlier this week at work, my manager told me that I needed to take an hour lunch break because I was over on my scheduled hours and we needed to shave some time off. Another coworker overhearing our conversation jumped in.
“Are you going out to eat?” Generally I don’t go out, I bring my own food to work. But since my lunch was going to be twice as long… “Yah, I was thinking about it.” I responded to him. My Coworker then asked “Do you mind grabbing a hamburger for me? I can give you money.” Seeing no problem with this, I readily agreed. “Great!” he said, and fished out his Debit Card handing it to me. “They don’t require pin numbers do they? Well if they do, my pin is.”
I could only stare at him in surprise. Did he just say what I thought he said? He gave me his Pin number?! Just in case I needed it to grab him his sandwich. Did he realize that by doing so, I had just gained access to all his money?! I could go out on a huge shopping spree and he wouldn’t know it until he checked his accounts!
In a way, this story can relate to our premortal life. When our Manager –God- Tells us that we need to go leave the store –pre earth life- for an hour, to try out the world. Where I, with my agency, could choose to do whatever I wanted in that time period before returning back to him. However before I left to face the world, my coworker, Christ, drew me aside and asked if I would go grab a hamburger for him. If I would go do a work for him (in bringing others to the gospel, or finding the gospel for myself.)
He would give me the tools to do so, his Debit Card. A card I could use at any time, but if I found myself in a situation requiring a pin number. Or repentance, here was his. He would take on the cost of my sins through his Atonement. No matter what sin I had done, he would cover it.
What would you do in this situation? Having a Debit Card with an unknown balance placed into your hands? Would you use it as much as possible until the money ran out? Would you use it only to grab the sandwich? Would you not use it at all, instead taking the costs fully upon yourself?
That’s when my agency kicks in. “Using {my} energy to obey” the simple command to go grab a sandwich. “means that I had the option to choose what was right, and let the consequences follow” if I chose wrong. It would require “self mastery” on my part to follow His Will, and not the will of the World. Self mastery that would take time to acquire.
Which, at times. We may be tempted sorely to practice the ‘natural man’s obedience. In which we disobediently reject God’s laws, because all we can see is the can’ts. We can’t do this, we can’t do that. Instead we’ll follow our own wisdom, or what is currently popular in the world, because if they’re all doing it, it can’t be so bad right?
“I meant to grab a hamburger, but gee, everyone else is getting a halibut sandwich. I’ve been told by an old man, that those sandwiches aren’t as tasty as everyone says, but if everyone else is eating it, surely the old man has to be wrong.”
The world focuses so much on the “Can’ts” of what we don’t do, that it often fails to realize that obeying a few simple commandments and focusing instead on what our “freedom’s to” are, that we can have more freedom than we’d ever imagined.
Sure, I can’t drink alcohol, but I can remember what I did last night, I can avoid liver failure, I can avoid spending a ton of money, instead, saving it for something that will last longer than the time it takes me to drink a bottle.
Perhaps because we “cannot perceive all the reasons for a commandment” we “participate in ‘selective obedience.’ … picking and choosing which of His commands we will fully follow.
“I may be told to honor both my father and my mother, but I really don’t understand why I need to honor my mother. She’s always telling me to eat my veggies and clean my room, and I don’t see why I have to as I’m fine with a messy room and never eating another green thing insight, so I’ll just honor my Father. He always gives me candy and takes me out to baseball games. I like that a lot more.”
The gospel, however, isn’t an all you can eat buffet, where we can only grab the food we like in as much quantity as we want.
No, it’s dinner at Grandma’s house where you’re expected to clean your plate, yes, even those cooked vegetables, before you can get desert afterwards.”
“To rationalize disobedience to God’s commands” is like giving your veggies to the dog so that they are ‘eaten’ just not by you. “That does not change the spiritual law or its consequences of not following them. Instead it can lead to confusion, instability, grief, and finding yourself wandering strange paths with no idea how you got there.
And I can tell you from experience, wandering strange paths is no peaceful walk in the park on a bright sunny day. No, it’s weaving your way through crowded parking lots, in the middle of the night, being blinded at every turn by bright headlights, being blockaded by cars pulling in and out, having to go around concrete barriers marking stalls, avoiding the odd people who are in the parking lot late at night, trying to keep up with another person who doesn’t seem to care at all if you’re following or not, all the while not having a clue as to where you’re going.
It’s not fun. It’s confusing. It leaves you frustrated and wondering. “Why didn’t I just follow my GPS? I knew that pathway, this pathway, I know not at all.”
Take for example the other night, after a game of laser tag, I followed another car up and down and all around to get our destination. But that wasn’t all, we ended up pulling into a set of stalls marked Reserved. Knowing the crazy tow trucks that like to circle the city like vultures, I was less than enthusiastic about parking there, but the driver said it would be alright. Still, something didn’t feel right, so I kept checking our cars, but I ended up getting distracted. When I looked back, there was a car with lights on in front of ours, not moving. Not a good sign. So I said to the girl next to me. “I’m going to move my car.”
She looked over and asked “Is that a tow truck?” I responded “I’m going to move my car.” And she said. “I’ll get the other driver to move his car too.” Luckily the tow truck was nice and moved out of our way so that we could leave without any harm coming to our cars. And we discovered, that free parking, didn’t happen until 10pm, and it was only a little after 9.
Be careful who you follow! We can’t believe we’re victims of circumstances when we had the full knowledge of how dangerous life can be here on earth. We can’t blame others if we choose to ignore the signs of ‘warning! Cliff ahead!’ and walk right over it.
While we have the knowledge to choose Freedom to and freedom from, we still have the potential to make wrong choices. Wrong choices which will have merciless consequences when they are not stopped and corrected. Choices that will lead us onto a path of misery and pain. But that’s the beauty of having Christ’s Debit Card of Atonement in our hands. Of having his GPS of the Gospel to guide us back onto the correct path. We can never venture too far away, or do something so bad, that we cannot come back to Him and his Church.
Even if we fail to obey a commandment we know we should keep, or fail to follow Christ’s example, we can tell ourselves at the end of the day as we slip under the covers. “I’ll try again tomorrow.”
To finish this off, I’m going to read a poem titled “The Wayward Path.”
For example, earlier this week at work, my manager told me that I needed to take an hour lunch break because I was over on my scheduled hours and we needed to shave some time off. Another coworker overhearing our conversation jumped in.
“Are you going out to eat?” Generally I don’t go out, I bring my own food to work. But since my lunch was going to be twice as long… “Yah, I was thinking about it.” I responded to him. My Coworker then asked “Do you mind grabbing a hamburger for me? I can give you money.” Seeing no problem with this, I readily agreed. “Great!” he said, and fished out his Debit Card handing it to me. “They don’t require pin numbers do they? Well if they do, my pin is.”
I could only stare at him in surprise. Did he just say what I thought he said? He gave me his Pin number?! Just in case I needed it to grab him his sandwich. Did he realize that by doing so, I had just gained access to all his money?! I could go out on a huge shopping spree and he wouldn’t know it until he checked his accounts!
In a way, this story can relate to our premortal life. When our Manager –God- Tells us that we need to go leave the store –pre earth life- for an hour, to try out the world. Where I, with my agency, could choose to do whatever I wanted in that time period before returning back to him. However before I left to face the world, my coworker, Christ, drew me aside and asked if I would go grab a hamburger for him. If I would go do a work for him (in bringing others to the gospel, or finding the gospel for myself.)
He would give me the tools to do so, his Debit Card. A card I could use at any time, but if I found myself in a situation requiring a pin number. Or repentance, here was his. He would take on the cost of my sins through his Atonement. No matter what sin I had done, he would cover it.
What would you do in this situation? Having a Debit Card with an unknown balance placed into your hands? Would you use it as much as possible until the money ran out? Would you use it only to grab the sandwich? Would you not use it at all, instead taking the costs fully upon yourself?
That’s when my agency kicks in. “Using {my} energy to obey” the simple command to go grab a sandwich. “means that I had the option to choose what was right, and let the consequences follow” if I chose wrong. It would require “self mastery” on my part to follow His Will, and not the will of the World. Self mastery that would take time to acquire.
Which, at times. We may be tempted sorely to practice the ‘natural man’s obedience. In which we disobediently reject God’s laws, because all we can see is the can’ts. We can’t do this, we can’t do that. Instead we’ll follow our own wisdom, or what is currently popular in the world, because if they’re all doing it, it can’t be so bad right?
“I meant to grab a hamburger, but gee, everyone else is getting a halibut sandwich. I’ve been told by an old man, that those sandwiches aren’t as tasty as everyone says, but if everyone else is eating it, surely the old man has to be wrong.”
The world focuses so much on the “Can’ts” of what we don’t do, that it often fails to realize that obeying a few simple commandments and focusing instead on what our “freedom’s to” are, that we can have more freedom than we’d ever imagined.
Sure, I can’t drink alcohol, but I can remember what I did last night, I can avoid liver failure, I can avoid spending a ton of money, instead, saving it for something that will last longer than the time it takes me to drink a bottle.
Perhaps because we “cannot perceive all the reasons for a commandment” we “participate in ‘selective obedience.’ … picking and choosing which of His commands we will fully follow.
“I may be told to honor both my father and my mother, but I really don’t understand why I need to honor my mother. She’s always telling me to eat my veggies and clean my room, and I don’t see why I have to as I’m fine with a messy room and never eating another green thing insight, so I’ll just honor my Father. He always gives me candy and takes me out to baseball games. I like that a lot more.”
The gospel, however, isn’t an all you can eat buffet, where we can only grab the food we like in as much quantity as we want.
No, it’s dinner at Grandma’s house where you’re expected to clean your plate, yes, even those cooked vegetables, before you can get desert afterwards.”
“To rationalize disobedience to God’s commands” is like giving your veggies to the dog so that they are ‘eaten’ just not by you. “That does not change the spiritual law or its consequences of not following them. Instead it can lead to confusion, instability, grief, and finding yourself wandering strange paths with no idea how you got there.
And I can tell you from experience, wandering strange paths is no peaceful walk in the park on a bright sunny day. No, it’s weaving your way through crowded parking lots, in the middle of the night, being blinded at every turn by bright headlights, being blockaded by cars pulling in and out, having to go around concrete barriers marking stalls, avoiding the odd people who are in the parking lot late at night, trying to keep up with another person who doesn’t seem to care at all if you’re following or not, all the while not having a clue as to where you’re going.
It’s not fun. It’s confusing. It leaves you frustrated and wondering. “Why didn’t I just follow my GPS? I knew that pathway, this pathway, I know not at all.”
Take for example the other night, after a game of laser tag, I followed another car up and down and all around to get our destination. But that wasn’t all, we ended up pulling into a set of stalls marked Reserved. Knowing the crazy tow trucks that like to circle the city like vultures, I was less than enthusiastic about parking there, but the driver said it would be alright. Still, something didn’t feel right, so I kept checking our cars, but I ended up getting distracted. When I looked back, there was a car with lights on in front of ours, not moving. Not a good sign. So I said to the girl next to me. “I’m going to move my car.”
She looked over and asked “Is that a tow truck?” I responded “I’m going to move my car.” And she said. “I’ll get the other driver to move his car too.” Luckily the tow truck was nice and moved out of our way so that we could leave without any harm coming to our cars. And we discovered, that free parking, didn’t happen until 10pm, and it was only a little after 9.
Be careful who you follow! We can’t believe we’re victims of circumstances when we had the full knowledge of how dangerous life can be here on earth. We can’t blame others if we choose to ignore the signs of ‘warning! Cliff ahead!’ and walk right over it.
While we have the knowledge to choose Freedom to and freedom from, we still have the potential to make wrong choices. Wrong choices which will have merciless consequences when they are not stopped and corrected. Choices that will lead us onto a path of misery and pain. But that’s the beauty of having Christ’s Debit Card of Atonement in our hands. Of having his GPS of the Gospel to guide us back onto the correct path. We can never venture too far away, or do something so bad, that we cannot come back to Him and his Church.
Even if we fail to obey a commandment we know we should keep, or fail to follow Christ’s example, we can tell ourselves at the end of the day as we slip under the covers. “I’ll try again tomorrow.”
To finish this off, I’m going to read a poem titled “The Wayward Path.”
When
the Mind goes dark
And
the Heart grows cold
Look
inside yourself
For
what became old.
Where’s
the Happiness
That
you strongly hold?
When
came the DarknessCausing you to mold?
Consider
the World
How
strong is Its hold?How deeply have you
Gone into That Fold?
Have you been blinded
Thinking Tin was Gold?
Will you try to Escape
Before your Soul’s Sold?
How
do you escape
From
Satan’s black mold?To find Agency
Anger must be sold.
Leave your Temptations
Forget the Dark Fold.
Go to the Savior
To Him you must Hold.
Grab Testimony
Keep it Bright, not Cold.
Pray to Him Always
It never grows old.
Read from the Scriptures
Made of Brass and Gold.
Go you to The Church
Listen to Truth told.
Enlightenment
Found
Shedding
Satan’s hold.Choose you the Right Way
To scourgify mold.
Press onward, upward
Don’t Stagnate, grow old.
Keep your Spirit young
Like Christ, don’t be bold.
He’ll
embrace you quick
Tender
is His hold.Gently He whispers
To the Heart, now Gold.
“I’ll love you for you.”
You’ll always be told.
“Welcome my child
You came to My Fold.”
(written by S.N.D 9/3/2010)
“Never give up on anyone, and that
includes not giving up on yourself.”
I know that as we strive to become more like Christ in our lives, we will find happiness and joy. We will not focus on what we can’t do, but what we can. And even if we mess up, Christ is waiting to help us come back, without reproof, to try again tomorrow.
I know that as we strive to become more like Christ in our lives, we will find happiness and joy. We will not focus on what we can’t do, but what we can. And even if we mess up, Christ is waiting to help us come back, without reproof, to try again tomorrow.
I say these things in the name of Jesus
Christ Amen.
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
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