Experiencing the love of God and Christ is important as we experience the daily turmoil of life.
“In coming days we will experience the greatest manifestations of the savior’s power that the world has ever seen.”
The complexities and challenges of our day will leave many feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.
“Covenant keepers are entitled to a special kind of rest.”
You too can overcome this sin-saturated, self centered, and {exhausting???} world.
- What does it mean to overcome the world?
- How do we do it?
- How does overcoming the world bless our lives?
Overcoming the world means:
- Rejecting the philosophies of men
Overcoming the world does not mean:
- {I’m going to strangle these intermingled lists}
Overcoming the world is not an event that happens in a day or two—it happens over a lifetime.
“You may be thinking this sounds more like hard spiritual work rather than rest.”
The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it.
Take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel.
Spend more time in the temple.
Watch for miracles to happen in your life.
One crucial element of this gathering is to prepare a people that is {prepared for His kingdom.}
- I bless you in your quest to overcome this world.
- I bless you to increase your faith in Jesus Christ and learn better how to draw upon His power.
- I bless you to be able to discern truth from error.
- I bless you to care more about the things of God than the things of this world.
- I bless you to see the needs of those around you and strengthen those you love.
Dear brothers and sisters, my message to you today is that because Jesus Christ overcame this fallen world, and because He atoned for each of us, you too can overcome this sin-saturated, self-centered, and often exhausting world.
…
You can overcome the spiritually and emotionally exhausting plagues of the world, including arrogance, pride, anger, immorality, hatred, greed, jealousy, and fear. Despite the distractions and distortions that swirl around us, you can find true rest—meaning relief and peace—even amid your most vexing problems.
What does it mean to overcome the world? It means:
- overcoming the temptation to care more about the things of this world than the things of God
- trusting the doctrine of Christ more than the philosophies of men
- delighting in truth, denouncing deception, and becoming “humble followers of Christ”
- choosing to refrain from anything that drives the Spirit away
- being willing to “give away” even our favorite sins
- your resistance to sin will increase
- your heart will soften as your faith in Jesus Christ increases
- growing to love God and His Beloved Son more than you love anyone or anything else
Overcoming the world certainly does not mean:
- becoming perfect in this life
- your problems will magically evaporate (because they won’t)
- that you won’t still make mistakes.
As we strive to live the higher laws of Jesus Christ, our hearts and our very natures begin to change. The Savior lifts us above the pull of this fallen world by blessing us with greater charity, humility, generosity, kindness, self-discipline, peace, and rest.
Now, you may be thinking this sounds more like hard spiritual work than rest. But here is the grand truth: while the world insists that power, possessions, popularity, and pleasures of the flesh bring happiness, they do not! They cannot! What they do produce is nothing but a hollow substitute for “the blessed and happy state of those [who] keep the commandments of God.”
The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it! However, when you yoke yourself to Jesus Christ and do the spiritual work required to overcome the world, He, and He alone, does have the power to lift you above the pull of this world.
So rest is not the absence of effort, it is reducing wasted effort.
Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, … lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace.
Ezra Taft Benson
I extend to members of the entire Church the same charge I gave to our young adults last May. I urged them then—and I plead with you now—to take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Work for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with false philosophies of unbelieving men and women. As you make the continual strengthening of your testimony of Jesus Christ your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.
My plea to you this morning is to find rest from the intensity, uncertainty, and anguish of this world by overcoming the world through your covenants with God.
- Let Him know through your prayers and your actions that you are serious about overcoming the world.
- Ask Him to enlighten your mind and send the help you need.
- Each day, record the thoughts that come to you as you pray; then follow through diligently.
- Spend more time in the temple, and seek to understand how the temple teaches you to rise above this fallen world.
With the power of the holy apostleship vested in me, I bless you in your quest to overcome this world. I bless you to increase your faith in Jesus Christ and learn better how to draw upon His power. I bless you to be able to discern truth from error. I bless you to care more about the things of God than the things of this world. I bless you to see the needs of those around you and strengthen those you love. Because Jesus Christ overcame this world, you can too. I so testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Leave a Reply