Rebellion Can Be Active or Passive

 

Burying Our Weapons of Rebellion

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

We might ask ourselves what we could do to follow this pattern, to “lay down the weapons of [our] rebellion,” whatever they may be, and become so “converted [to] the Lord” that the stain of sin and the desire for sin are taken from our hearts and we never will fall away.

Rebellion can be active or passive....

Perhaps the more insidious form of rebellion against God, however, is the passive version—ignoring His will in our lives. Many who would never consider active rebellion may still oppose the will and word of God by pursuing their own path without regard to divine direction. I am reminded of the song made famous years ago by singer Frank Sinatra with the climactic line “I did it my way.” Certainly in life there is plenty of room for personal preference and individual choice, but when it comes to matters of salvation and eternal life, our theme song ought to be “I did it God’s way,” because truly there is no other way....

I believe it pleases our Creator when we do our best to care for His wonderful gift of a physical body. It would be a mark of rebellion to deface or defile one’s body, or abuse it, or fail to do what one can to pursue a healthy lifestyle. At the same time, vanity and becoming consumed with one’s physique, appearance, or dress can be a form of rebellion at the other extreme, leading one to worship God’s gift instead of God.

In the end, burying our weapons of rebellion against God simply means yielding to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, putting off the natural man, and becoming “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.” It means putting the first commandment first in our lives. It means letting God prevail. If our love of God and our determination to serve Him with all our might, mind, and strength become the touchstone by which we judge all things and make all our decisions, we will have buried our weapons of rebellion. By the grace of Christ, God will forgive our sins and rebellions of the past and will take away the stain of those sins and rebellions from our hearts. In time, He will even take away any desire for evil, as He did with those Lamanite converts of the past. Thereafter, we too “never [will] fall away.”

Burying our weapons of rebellion leads to a unique joy....

May we bury—very, very deep—any element of rebellion against God in our lives and replace it with a willing heart and a willing mind.

Don't Get Caught Up in Worldly Physical Trends

1 Corinthians 1–7

How Can I Treat My Body Like a Temple?

Liahona, Aug 2023, 49

 President Russell M. Nelson taught:

“The gift of our physical bodies is a transcendent miracle.

“… Your body, whatever its natural gifts, is … a temple for your spirit.”¹

But sometimes we criticize our appearance or wish our bodies were different. We might get caught up in worldly trends or standards that cause us to forget what our bodies are meant to be. They are temples for our spirits and for the Holy Spirit.

No Universal Optimum Size

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

“We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not! … We should all be as fit as we can be—that’s good Word of Wisdom doctrine. That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size.”

“To Young Women,” Ensign, Nov. 2005, 29.

Accept Your Body

“I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not! … Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “To Young Women,” Ensign, Nov. 2005, 29.

Improvements in your physical temple

“Go and stand in front of a temple. Study carefully the house of the Lord and see if it does not inspire you to make some improvements in the physical temple the Lord has given to you to house your eternal spirit. The Lord has established some basic standards for the governance of our physical bodies. Obedience to these standards remains as a requirement for ordination to the priesthood, for a temple recommend, and for holding a calling in the Church.”

Elder L. Tom Perry, From an address delivered on January 15, 2010, at Utah Valley University.