What lack I yet?

In the gospel of Matthew a young man came to Jesus and inquired what he needed to do.  He was told to keep the commandments. When he said that he had done this he wanted to know what more he needed to do by asking, "What lack I yet?". The Lord responded with a challenge specifically for him, that was to sell all that he had.
Most of us do not realize that there is more to life than keeping the commandments.  That is the first step. But there is much more. Hidden in Christ's reply was not to sell all, which was directed at the young man, but the charge to come and follow Him. This is a charge for each of us.
If we are going to follow Christ we will have to do more and be more. The process of becoming perfect, as Christ and His Father are perfect, is a labor for us to perform here on earth.
We must constantly be learning and improving.  We must go a second, third and fourth mile and many more. Waiting for our quest for perfection until we go in the spirit world will only put us that far behind where we could have been had we been diligent here in this life.
The Lord through the Holy Ghost will lead us line-by-line and precept-by-precept.  We will not be forced to do anything in this life. For God will never coerce.
Perhaps we can seek that personal revelation by asking in our prayers, “What lack I yet?”. Then listening to the answer. When we get an impression we need to heed the prompting and do it.
Thus we will be guided by a loving Heavenly Father to become more like Him, but he will never force us.
There are many distractions to keep us from becoming and being better than we are capable of. Too much time is spent in that which profiteth nothing.
Why don't you try and receive some personal revelation? The next time you pray ask, " What lack I yet?". You might be surprised at the answer.
Love,
Grandpa

Knowing and Doing

There is a great of difference between knowing and doing. We may know what to do, but many times we do not act in accordance with that knowledge. 

There is a difference that President Spencer W. Kimball noted.  He told the composer of "I am a child of God" that she needed to change the words to the song. The lyrics originally were, "Teach me all that I must know". He said they should read, "Teach me all that I must do to live with Him some day."

You will find that there are many people that know right from wrong and good from bad, but their actions do not mirror their knowledge.

Of course their are some people who do not know.  This is because they are not taught or do not seek wisdom. Many are ignorant because the knowledge is simply not available to them, because, " they know not where to find it."

The vain traditions of the fathers preclude the proper acquisition of knowledge and therefore people do not have information on how to properly act and do.

Then there are those who think they do not need to constantly improve. They are satisfied with the status quo. They think that doing their small part of what they assume to be correct, that they will not be held accountable for the whole that is available. These are they who rationalize and excuse their behavior saying that if push comes to shove they will be beaten with a few stripes and eventually enter in to live with a living Heavenly Father, who would surely not deny them. They do not realize how uncomfortable they would be.  The scriptures describe this as nakedness.  No one would feel comfortable standing in the nude in front of Our Father who is clothed in resplendent robes of glory, knowing that we could have those same robes by doing things that we have neglected to do during our probationary state here in mortality.

Then there are the openly rebellious. They are so egocentric and self centered that they do not care what the rules or commandments are. Theirs is the typical 3-year-old's response. "Me do it my way".  These are they that, unless they repent, will follow Satan and will eventually be in his power.  Although most of these people will never get to the temple, they will not learn the lesson that is taught there and if they have been to the temple they did not pay attention.

People do not realize that this life is serious business.  A war was fought in heaven so that we might come down here and obtain a body and learn to discern between good and evil.  Eve risked everything to be able to obtain that knowledge and suffer sorrow as a result.  

Now it comes to us to act on that knowledge.  It is not good enough to know what is right and what is wrong.  We must act accordingly, because if we do not act prudently we will have to suffer the consequences.  I have posted about consequences previously at this link.  

I have always liked the song, “Do What Is Right”.  In it is the phrase, ‘let the consequence follow’.  The consequence of doing right is eternal life.  The wages of sin is death.  

Chose life by doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason.

Love,

Grandpa

Truth or Consequences

When I was growing up, radio was the chief form of home entertainment. We did not have television. They had a radio program called truth or consequences. You can read about it Here.

The laws of the universe are built on actions and reactions, in other words actions and consequences. Every thing we do has a built in consequence. If we are carrying a box and let go of it, it will drop. We call this the law of gravity. Some actions have consequences that are not so immediate. As an example your great grandfather Wright Clark smoked cigarettes almost all of his life. He died of lung cancer. So the consequence took a long time to manifest itself.

He did not realize when he started that there would be unwelcome consequences to his actions.

If you pay attention to most video games it doesn't take you long to realize that even the slightest mistake will cause undesirable consequences.

Yet we blithely go about life doing things without realizing that there will be consequences. Most of the results do not come immediately and often are masked by immediate rewards to our senses.  That is what is so difficult about this life. We always reap the consequences of our actions. To give you a homely saying about this scenario, " The wheels of the Gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine”.

A quote from Shakespeare memorized from my high school days seems appropriate to quote at this time. It is often referred to as Polonius' advice to Laertes.

"This above all, to thine own self be true. And it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. "

We cannot always see down the road far enough to determine the outcome of what we do. There are, however, guides for us on the road of life. Our Father in Heaven knows the end from the beginning and has provided a road map for us to follow. It is called the gospel of Jesus Christ or the iron rod.

In addition there are people who have traveled the road of life and have, by their experience, been able to determine what will happen to some people who do stupid things. They may not know everything, but do not discount the wisdom of the aged.

Truth, wherever it is found, will always lead to a desirable outcome.

As the radio host would say at the end of the program, "May all your consequences be happy ones."

Love,



Grandpa