If You Will Be Responsible ~ Part Two

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 two. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the talk. 

Elder Zeballos has mentioned the following; "3. Acting Accordingly

After learning our duty and making the decisions that are associated with that learning and understanding, we must act accordingly. A powerful example of the firm determination to meet His commitment with His Father comes from the Savior’s experience of having a man sick with palsy brought to Him to be healed. 

... We know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is essential to receiving forgiveness for our sins ... The path that we have chosen to walk is narrow. Along the way are challenges that will require our faith in Jesus Christ and our best efforts to stay on the path and press forward. 

We need to repent and be obedient and patient, even if we do not understand all the circumstances that surround us. We must forgive others and live in accordance with what we have learned and with the choices we have made.

4. Willingly Accepting the Father’s Will

Discipleship requires us not only to learn our duty, make correct decisions, and act in accordance with them, but also essential is our developing the willingness and the ability to accept God’s will, even if it does not match our righteous desires or preferences.

... The leper did not demand anything, even though his desires might have been righteous; he was simply willing to accept the will of the Lord. Some years ago a dear, faithful couple who are friends of mine were blessed with the arrival of a long-yearned-for son, for whom they had been praying for a long time. 

That home was filled with joy while our friends and their daughter, who was their only other child back then, enjoyed the company of the newly arrived little boy. One day, however, something unexpected happened: the little boy, who was only about three years old, suddenly went into a coma. 

As soon as I learned of the situation, I called my friend to express our support at that difficult time. But his reply was a lesson to me. He said, “If it is the Father’s will to take him to Him, then it is all right with us.” My friend’s words contained not the slightest degree of complaint, rebelliousness, or discontent. 

Quite the contrary, all I could feel in his words was gratitude to God for having allowed them to enjoy their little son for that brief time, as well as his total willingness to accept the Father’s will for them. A few days later, that little one was taken to his celestial mansion.

Let us press forward by learning our duty, making correct decisions, acting according to those decisions, and accepting the will of our Father. ... Over time, I have come to understand that the condition he gave me to be responsible for that decision meant being responsible to my Heavenly Father and seeking my own salvation and that of my fellowmen, thereby becoming more as my Father expects and wants me to become. ..."

If you would like to read the whole talk either now or in your own time, here is the link below.

https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/if-you-will-be-responsible

Stay Tuned until next time.

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.