If You Will Be Responsible ~ Part One

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take three minutes to five minutes to read from start to finish.

This post focuses on a April 2015 General Conference talk, and it is called "If You Will Be Responsible" by Elder Jorge F. Zeballos. This post is part one. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the talk. 

Elder Zeballos has mentioned the following; "... What responsibility do we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ? President Joseph Fielding Smith expressed it as follows: “We have these two great responsibilities. … First, to seek our own salvation; and, second, our duty to our fellow men.”

These, then, are the main responsibilities that our Father has assigned to us: seeking our own salvation and that of others, with the understanding that in this statement, salvation means reaching the highest degree of glory that our Father has provided for His obedient children.

These responsibilities that have been entrusted to us and which we have freely accepted must define our priorities, our desires, our decisions, and our daily conduct. For someone who has come to understand that, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, exaltation is truly within reach, failing to obtain it constitutes damnation. 

Thus, the opposite of salvation is damnation, just like the opposite of success is failure. President Thomas S. Monson has taught us that “men cannot really long rest content with mediocrity once they see excellence is within their reach.” How, then, could we be content with anything short of exaltation if we know that exaltation is possible? ...

1. Learning Our Duty

If we are to do God’s will, if we are to be responsible to Him, we must begin by learning, understanding, accepting, and living according to His will for us. The Lord has said, “Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence.” 

Having the desire to do what is right is not enough if we do not make sure to understand what our Father expects from us and wants us to do. ... However, we know that the path that leads to the “tree, whose fruit [is] desirable to make one happy” “the way, which leadeth unto life” is narrow. 

It takes effort to journey along the path, and “few there be that find it.” Nephi teaches us that “the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” Then he adds that “the Holy Ghost … will show unto you all things what ye should do.” Thus, the sources that allow us to learn our duty are the words of Christ that we receive through ancient and modern prophets and the personal revelation that we receive through the Holy Ghost.

2. Making the Decision

Whether we have learned about the Restoration of the gospel, a particular commandment, the duties associated with serving in a calling, or the covenants we make in the temple, the choice is ours whether or not we act according to that new knowledge. 

Each person chooses freely for himself or herself to enter into a sacred covenant such as baptism or the temple ordinances. ... However, in the meridian of time, the Savior taught a higher way of keeping our commitments when He said that yes meant yes and no meant no. 

A person’s word ought to be sufficient to establish his or her truthfulness and commitment toward someone else and even more so when that someone else is our Father in Heaven. Honoring a commitment becomes the manifestation of the truthfulness and honesty of our word."

Stay Tuned until next time.