Who's on the Lords side? Who?
Now is the time to show.
We ask it fearlessly.
Who's on the Lords side? Who?
Now really is the time to show. We are all in a state of probation. A time allotted to proving to our Heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally that we, too, love him more than our own carnal "natural man" desires.
One might ask, if God wanted us to prove we would be obedient, why would he give us a body with such unrighteous desires? Why make it so tough? Why put us in a body that wants to sleep in, eat more, be constantly entertained, receive things here and now, get by with doing the least amount of work possible, fulfill selfish desires, etc. The natural man truely is an enemy to God as we read in Mosiah 3:19
19. For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child,submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
After reading this one might think, surely we were set up to fail. Right? Wrong! Why? Because we aren't JUST our body. We aren't JUST a natural man. We are so much more than that! We are an eternal being, a son of God, the living Father and Creator of all things. Our body is just a temporary vehicle that we are expected to proficiently pilot and eventually master. Notice the word "UNLESS", its saying that unless we overcome it, conquer it and master it. It would not say that if it was not in our power to do so. Every single one of us has within us that power, to conquer the natural man, and to be the amazing James Bond maneuvering our Aston Martin through alleyways drifting and cutting sharp turns truly mastering its full potential in order to escape danger. We may not all master it to that same level, but that is the goal after-all.
In that same chapter of Mosiah we read:
In that same chapter of Mosiah we read:
This prophecy was fulfilled. Christ came, and he dwelt in a tabernacle of clay. He received a human body; a body of a "natural man". To go along with my former analogy, he was given the keys to a car, same as all of us. Notice the word "Dwell" - surely if we are to dwell in our house, we don't become a house. If we dwell in a tent, we don't become, nor are we a tent. To dwell in something is to stay in something, to reside in or take residence in, not to transform into. We are not our bodies. We are so much more than that.
So if we understand this principle, then it is easier to understand and accept that the Natural man is an Enemy to God, and that we, in our current "dwelling" are compelled to be (because of the nature of the vehicle) natural men. God did not create us to be his enemies, nor should we feel unworthy or evil because of our instincts and weaknesses. We should see them as obstacles, things that we need to improve upon and work on so that we might make them strengths."
Continuing with my same analogy, some of us drive slow. Some of us drive too fast. Some of us have a hard time reading traffic signals, while some simply ignore them. Some are easy to anger and frequent the behavior of "Road Rage" while some are easily distracted and meddle with their phone while they drive. etc. So it is with us and our vehicles of "clay". Some of us suffer with Pride, while some of us on the contrast suffer with feelings of depression and worthlessness. Some of us indulge in too much or bad forms of entertainment, and some of us don't read our scriptures like we know we aught to. The list is seemingly endless, and often times haunts us and makes us feel ashamed to be "who we are", but the truth is, none of those things is "who we are" for who we are is a Son (Daughter) of God, simply dwelling in a vessel that houses these weaknesses that we must overcome.
In a talk given by Dallin H Oaks in the October 2015 general conference he shared the following:
Our Savior experienced and suffered the fullness of all mortal challenges “according to the flesh” so He could know “according to the flesh” how to “succor [which means to give relief or aid to] his people according to their infirmities.” He therefore knows our struggles, our heartaches, our temptations, and our suffering, for He willingly experienced them all as an essential part of His Atonement. And because of this, His Atonement empowers Him to succor us—to give us the strength to bear it all.
Is that not awesome? He suffered it all... why? So that he could succor us. So he could have "empathy" for us. It is not possible to empathize for somebody who is going through something you cannot understand, The only way to truly empathize is to have had a similar experience or problem yourself. This is not to say that Christ was an alcoholic, or had a potty mouth, but it does mean that he suffered the temptations to be and understands how compelling and hard to turn away from that they are. Christ was tempted with food, with money, with power and authority, with pleasure, with laziness, with procrastination, with anger, with depression and sadness. Every emotion you could think of, any mortal challenge you could ever suffer with, Christ too suffered so that he could comfort you and help you through it.
Knowing this, who would not want to be on his side? Who would not want his unwavering endless love support, his Succoring. I believe all of us have this desire. It is part of who we are, that part that dwells within our current tabernacle of clay. The sons of God within us want to be on the Lords side. That is why we are here after all, and we all agreed to be here because we believed we could and would be on his side. I believe this, and I believe that you all believe this also. The spirit confirms to me that this is true. There is a dilemma here, however. How do we SHOW whose side we choose to be on? It is not enough to simply desire to be on the Lords side, but we must also show it.
Dieter F Uchtdorf said the following:
"...are we making our discipleship too complicated? This beautiful gospel is so simple a child can grasp it, yet so profound and complex that it will take a lifetime—even an eternity—of study and discovery to fully understand it."
I believe it is human nature to over-complicate. Most of us know the story of Moses and his staff with the bronze "fiery serpent". The children of Israel were plagued with poisonous snakes, and many were bitten. One had to simply look at the staff, and they would be healed and live. Many did not...and perished. We scratch our heads and wonder... "Well WHY NOT?!"
We do the same thing... The Gospel really is simple. The fundamentals are easy to understand. We over-complicate. We expect something miraculous or wait for signs. Its not really all that complicated. In the primary song "I know my Father Lives" the first verse reads:
I know my Father lives.
And Loves me too.
The spirit whispers this to me and tells it is true.
And that's it! The Spirit whispers it to you. The Spirit. I think the Spirit is one of the most over-complicated principles in our day. I know I over-analyse the Spirit, and I have questioned wither a feeling was the spirit or something else. There have been books written about it, and there seams to be conference talk after conference talk about the spirit. It really is so simple though. The Spirit is the staff. We may not peel over and physically die if we don't follow it, but we will slowly perish spiritually and fall deeper and deeper into the "Natural Man" vessel we posses. If we follow the spirit we will live. If we follow the Spirit, we will be on the Lords side. But how do we know we have felt the spirit? how do we know what the spirit is? This is something that we constantly work on and get better at over time. I believe that we have all had at least one experience that we KNEW we felt the spirit, and it impacted us.
"We must act, expecting that the Lord will fulfill His promise to lift us from the darkness if we draw near unto Him. The adversary, however, will try to convince us that we have never felt the influence of the Spirit and that it will be easier just to stop trying."
After some thought, however, I realized how immature and silly my response was. Of course I have felt the spirit! Of course I have had answer to prayers! Of course I have felt its influence in my life. I was simply being lied to, and shame on me for believing that lie, even if only for a moment.
The adversary is a very good liar. There was an article in the October 2009 Ensign titled "Truth and Lies" that talks about some of his lies. I would like to share the first couple paragraphs from that article (I highly recommend you read the full article.)
"Satan regularly lies to us about the nature of God and of ourselves. But we don’t have to listen.
Some of the greatest battles in my life haven’t been literal battles but struggles in my own heart and mind against feelings of self-doubt, hopelessness, and fear. President Ezra Taft Benson taught that this would be the case in the latter days: “Satan is increasingly striving to overcome the Saints with despair, discouragement, despondency, and depression.”
1
One way that Satan attempts to overcome us with such feelings is by telling us lies about our worth and about God’s feelings toward us. These lies may originate as simple thoughts that, repeated many times in our minds, can develop into entrenched habits of belief...
...Whatever their source, Satan’s lies can take root in our minds and develop into feelings of depression, low self-worth, and inadequacy."
We are in the latter days. We are Latter Day Saints. We need to be on the Lords side. Every week we partake of the sacrament and take upon ourselves the name of the Son, and promise to always remember him, that we may always have His spirit be with us.
With his spirit, we are guided. We are led and taught, challenged and uplifted. We receive succor and support. The Spirit is not as complex as satan tells us it is. We have all experienced it, and can continue to have its influence in our lives every day.
I have come to learn and realize that every-time we have the thought of "I should do that..." or "I should change this" so long as it is a good thing, this is coming directly from the Light of Christ, which is the Spirit. This spirit is magnified when we take the sacrament. It is magnified even more when we worthily live our lives in a manner that is not offensive to the Lord. If we take upon ourselves his name, and then live our lives in a manner that is offensive to Him the next day, we are taking his name in vain.
So if we take the sacrament; taking upon ourselves His name, and live in a way that is not offensive to him, striving to be good; repenting when we make mistakes, trying to be better each day than the day before; than we will always have his spirit to be with us. This is a promise. His Spirit will prompt us every day to do things. It will say "you should do the dishes." it will say "you should get out of bed" The talk "What Lack I yet" gives a whole plethora of examples of things that the spirit might tell you. When we learn that this is in fact the spirit and not just some good idea you have, it sure makes it harder to push it aside. When we realize it is the light of Christ, or in other-words, Christ himself prompting you to do something; that should make us think twice before responding with "I don't feel like it." or "I am too tired." or "maybe tomorrow."
Yes, it is really that simple. We have all experienced this. I often get a few of these "I should..." thoughts during general conference, or sometimes during a church talk or elders quorum lesson. I am sure we all have. In conclusion, the Sacrament helps amplify these experiences, and increase their frequency. It helps us draw closer to the Savior so that we can better follow him.
D&C 88:63 reads:
63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
This is how we show who's side we are on. Let us choose to be on the Lords side, to fearlessly ask what we lack, or what we need to improve, without fear or reluctance to accept the answers that may come. Let us show whose side we are on by following the Spirit, which is the Light of Christ.
Who's on the Lords side? Who?
Now is the time to show.
We ask it fearlessly.
Who's on the Lords side? Who?
