The Savior and his gospel should become the framework around which we build our lives.
When we give our all we will have better joy in the gospel.
Our sacrifices and effort are more valuable to the Lord than our successes are.
When Lamoni’s father bargained for his life he offered half his kingdom. When he sought to know God he offered all that he had.
Let us each be fair dinkum with the gospel.
Somewhat hidden in the Old Testament book of Haggai is a description of a group of people who could have used Elder Holland’s counsel. They got it wrong by not placing Christ at the center of their lives and their service. Haggai paints some thought-provoking word pictures as he reprimands these people for staying in their comfortable houses instead of building the Lord’s temple:
“Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?
“Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.”
I definitely feel at times as if my wages are going into a bag with holes but I also know that my priorities have been consistently focused on things of eternal value.
We can feel enduring joy when our Savior and His gospel become the framework around which we build our lives. However, it’s so easy for that framework to become, instead, the things of the world, where the gospel sits as an optional extra or as simply attending church for two hours on Sundays. When this is the case, it is tantamount to putting our wages into “a bag with holes.”
Haggai is telling us to be committed—to be, as we say in Australia, “fair dinkum” about living the gospel. People are fair dinkum when they are what they say they are.
Whatever my weaknesses, the Savior and His gospel is the framework around which I build my life and set my priorities – it just doesn’t always look like I might have imagined it would.
Giving our all doesn’t mean that we will be continually enveloped in blessings or always have success. But it does mean that we will have joy. Joy is not fleeting pleasure or even temporary happiness. Joy is enduring and is founded on our efforts being accepted by the Lord.
An example of such acceptance is the story of Oliver Granger. As President Boyd K. Packer stated: “When the Saints were driven from Kirtland, … Oliver was left behind to sell their properties for what little he could. There was not much chance that he could succeed. And, really, he did not succeed!” He had been commissioned by the First Presidency to do a task that was difficult, if not impossible. But the Lord commended him for his apparently unsuccessful efforts in these words:
“I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord.
“Therefore, let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, … and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.”
That may be true of all of us—it’s not our successes but rather our sacrifice and efforts that matter to the Lord.
This should remind us that joy may not be felt in the moment because the Lord doesn’t come pat us on the heads every minute to tell us he is accepting our efforts.
Another example of a true disciple of Jesus Christ is a dear friend of ours in Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa. This wonderful, faithful sister suffered terrible emotional, and even some physical, abuse from her husband over a sustained period of time, and eventually they divorced. She never wavered in her faith and goodness, but because of his cruelty to her, she was deeply hurt for a long time. In her own words, she describes what happened:
“Though I said I forgave him, I always slept with a wound; I spent my days with that wound. It was like a burn in my heart. Many times I prayed to the Lord to take it away from me, but it hurt so bad that I strongly believed I was going to spend the rest of my life with it. It hurt more than when I lost my mom at a young age; it hurt more than when I lost my dad and even my son. It seemed to expand and cover my heart, giving me the impression I was going to even die at any time.
“Some other times I asked myself what the Savior would have done in my situation, and I would rather say, ‘This is too much, Lord.’
“Then one morning I looked for the pain that comes from all this in my heart and went deeper, looking for it in my soul. It was nowhere to be found. My mind quickly passed to review all the reasons I [had] to feel hurt, but I did not feel the pain. I waited the whole day to see if I was going to feel the pain in my heart; I did not feel it. Then I knelt down and thanked God for making the atoning sacrifice of the Lord work for me.”
One day I will see Laura wake up and find her pain has been lifted and she will know it was lifted by Christ.
So, the question for each of us is, are we also fair dinkum about the gospel? Because being half-hearted is not being fair dinkum! And God is not known for showering praise on the lukewarm.
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