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.

Godly Sorrow vs. Worldly Sorrow

 Worldly Sorrow vs. Godly Sorrow

“Worldly sorrow pulls us down, extinguishes hope, and persuades us to give in to further temptation.

“Godly sorrow leads to conversion and a change of heart. It causes us to hate sin and love goodness. It encourages us to stand up and walk in the light of Christ’s love. True repentance is about transformation, not torture or torment. Yes, heartfelt regret and true remorse for disobedience are often painful and very important steps in the sacred process of repentance. But when guilt leads to self-loathing or prevents us from rising up again, it is impeding rather than promoting our repentance.”

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “You Can Do It Now!,” Liahona, Nov. 2013, 56.

You Will Have to Do Something

 

Do What Mattereth Most

By Rebecca L. Craven

Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency

I had a sweet experience with a darling young woman who asked a very sincere question: “Sister Craven, how do you know that anything about the Church is true? Because I feel nothing.”

Before jumping to an answer, I first asked her some questions. “Tell me about your personal scripture study.”

She replied, “I don’t read the scriptures.”

I asked, “What about with your family? Do you study Come, Follow Me together?”

She said, “No.”

I asked about her prayers: “What do you feel when you pray?”

Her answer: “I don’t pray.”

My response to her was simple: “If you want to know anything, you will have to do something.”

Isn’t that true with anything we want to learn or know? I invited my new friend to start doing the gospel of Jesus Christ: praying, studying, serving others, and trusting in the Lord. Conversion won’t come while doing nothing. It comes through the power of the Holy Ghost as we intentionally make an effort to know by asking, seeking, and knocking. It comes by doing.³

Firm and Steadfast

Firm and Steadfast in the Faith of Christ

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

To persevere firm and steadfast in the faith of Christ requires that the gospel of Jesus Christ penetrate one’s heart and soul, meaning that the gospel becomes not just one of many influences in a person’s life but the defining focus of his or her life and character....

The temptations and tribulations we experience, plus any testing that the Lord sees fit to impose, can lead to our full conversion and healing. But this happens if, and only if, we do not harden our hearts or stiffen our necks against Him. If we remain firm and steadfast, come what may, we achieve the conversion the Savior intended when He said to Peter, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren,”23 a conversion so complete that it cannot be undone. The promised healing is the cleansing and sanctification of our sin-wounded souls, making us holy.

Truly Converted

"The Lord taught us that when we are truly converted to His gospel, our hearts will be turned from selfish concerns and turned toward service to lift others as they move upward to eternal life. To obtain that conversion, we can pray and work in faith to become the new creature made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

"We can start by praying for the faith to repent of selfishness and for the gift of caring for others more than ourselves. We can pray for the power to lay aside pride and envy."

President Henry B. Eyring, "Testimony and Conversion," Ensign, Feb 2015, 4-5.

Now if the Time for Personal Conversion

“Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become. As we do so, we should remember that our family relationships . . . are the setting in which the most important part of that development can occur. The conversion we must achieve requires us to be a good husband and father or a good wife and mother. . . . Exaltation is an eternal family experience, and it is our mortal family experiences that are best suited to prepare us for it.”

Dallin H Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 33. 

True Conversion

“True conversion . . . includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ.”

David A. Bednar, “Converted unto the Lord,” Ensign, Nov. 2012, 107.