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Obedience: The Key that Opens All Doors

Obedience: the key that opens all doors.

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Obedience is not a positive word these days. For some it seems cold and harsh. For others it carries overtones of legalism in religion or control in other venues. Perhaps for all of us it challenges our inherent drive toward autonomy and the individualistic bent that pervades our culture. As Americans we do not want anyone telling us what to do—not even God.

But how many of us have stopped to think that our wariness of obedience may be keeping us from one of the great keys to the enjoyment of God and the transformation of our lives? Are we aware that the Bible and the saints throughout history affirm the insight of John Calvin that “all true knowledge of God is born out of obedience”?

The High Cost of Disobedience

It takes only a moment’s reflection to realize that the cost of disobedience has been high. The world as we know it is not the good world God originally created, nor do we human beings much resemble the image of God in which we were first made. Tragically that image has been shattered, and the world is filled with sin, sorrow, and suffering. The “break” began with one act of disobedience by our first parents. By a deliberate choice, rooted in pride and unbelief, they acted in defiance of God’s revealed will. And their self-centered drive for autonomy has passed down to every human being. Perhaps Woody Allen spoke for us all when he famously said, “The heart wants what it wants.”

Our only hope lies outside ourselves, in the One who loves us and gave himself up for us.

The Blessings of Obedience

When we grasp an understanding of the blessings of obedience, we find them utterly astounding. Because of his great love, God has made a way for us to be reconciled to him and freed from our bondage to sin and self. Our predicament can be reversed if we will forsake our rebellion and return to him. And this is now possible because God has sent his only Son to rescue us. Jesus came to earth and lived a life of perfect submission and obedience to the Father’s will. The supreme expression of his obedience was submitting to the shameful, humiliating, and excruciating death of crucifixion, which was also the supreme expression of his love for the Father (John 14:31). In this act of self-sacrificing love, he “who knew no sin” became sin for us “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). His perfect obedience to God’s law as God’s loving and faithful Son can now be imputed to us, and our disobedience can be laid upon him, setting us right with God, if we choose it.

Our freedom begins when we respond to the love of God as it meets us in Jesus’ call to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15). In Greek, these two verbs are in the imperative mood and thus are commands to be obeyed. They summon us to turn from the disobedience of unbelief to the obedience of faith (Rom. 1:5). And the gift of faith makes this possible for us. Confident trust in Jesus and his message gives us life, turns us around, frees us, and sets in motion a great reversal in our lives.

This transforming reversal progresses as we follow Jesus Christ, who says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Following Jesus means taking steps forward in what might be called “the obedience of faith”—moving steadily away from our former areas of disobedience and back into the will of God. The power to do this comes from the Holy Spirit, whose work it is to conform us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:13, 29). Though there will be times when we disobey, there is forgiveness as we repent and return to the Lord. This process of discipleship or sanctification, which restores the image of God in us, takes a lifetime and is completed only in the world to come. But we can make great progress in this world, which should be our highest priority.

The Key to Obedience

Ours is not the obedience of one who seeks to justify himself before God but the obedience of one who, in grateful love, seeks to please him “who loved us and gave himself up for us” (Eph. 5:2; Gal. 2:20). Thus we may speak of “the obedience of love.” As with faith, the source of this love is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Sonship, who draws us to the Father’s love. And Jesus has promised his help: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16). To the one who, by the Spirit, embraces the obedience of love, Jesus goes on to say, “I will love him and manifest myself to him” (14:21), and, “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (14:23). Thus, as John Stott once said, “the test of love is obedience and the reward of love is the self-manifestation of Christ.” This promise of personal intimacy with the Father and the Son enabled by the Spirit takes us to the very heart of the trinitarian life, a life of grace that is free from law. A life in which we joyfully will to do the will of God and to please him in all things.

This is the heritage of all who have come to a living faith in Jesus Christ. If we would enjoy the fullness of this life, let us embrace the obedience of faith and love and daily seek to walk by the Holy Spirit, through whom all these blessings come (Gal. 5:16–25). And in prayerful meditation upon Jesus’ words, let us ask the Sprit to teach us and transform us more and more into his image.

Thomas A. Tarrants

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Why Is Obedience to God Important?

Explore what the Bible says about obedience

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From Genesis to Revelation , the Bible has a lot to say about obedience. In the story of the Ten Commandments , we see just how important the concept of obedience is to God. Deuteronomy 11:26-28 sums it up like this: "Obey and you will be blessed. Disobey and you will be cursed." In the New Testament, we learn through the example of Jesus Christ that believers are called to a life of obedience.

Obedience Definition in the Bible

The general concept of obedience both in the Old and New Testament relates to hearing or hearkening to a higher authority.
One of the Greek terms for obedience in the Bible conveys the idea of positioning oneself under someone by submitting to their authority and command.
Another Greek word for obey in the New Testament means "to trust."
According to Holman's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, a succinct definition of biblical obedience is "to hear God's Word and act accordingly."
Eerdman's Bible Dictionary states, "True 'hearing,' or obedience, involves the physical hearing that inspires the hearer, and a belief or trust that in turn motivates the hearer to act in accordance with the speaker's desires."
Thus, biblical obedience to God means to hear, trust, submit and surrender to God and his Word.

8 Reasons Why Obedience to God Is Important

1. Jesus Calls Us to Obey

In Jesus Christ, we find the perfect model of obedience. As his disciples, we follow Christ's example as well as his commands. Our motivation for obedience is love:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15, ESV )

2. Obedience Is an Act of Worship

While the Bible places a strong emphasis on obedience, it's critical to remember that believers are not justified (made righteous) by obedience. Salvation is a free gift of God, and we can do nothing to merit it. True Christian obedience flows from a heart of gratitude for the grace we have received from the Lord:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. (Romans 12:1, NLT )

3. God Rewards Obedience

Over and over again we read in the Bible that God blesses and rewards obedience:

"And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:18, NLT) Jesus replied, "But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice." (Luke 11:28, NLT) But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. (James 1:22–25, NLT)

4. Obedience to God Proves Our Love

The books of 1 and 2 John clearly explain that obedience to God demonstrates love for God. Loving God implies following his commands:

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. (1 John 5:2–3, ESV) Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning. (2 John 6, NLT)

5. Obedience to God Demonstrates Faith

When we obey God, we show our trust and faith in him:

And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, "I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. (1 John 2:3–6, NLT)

6. Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice

The phrase "obedience is better than sacrifice," has often perplexed Christians. It can only be understood from an Old Testament perspective. The law required the Israelite people to offer sacrifices to God, but those sacrifices and offerings were never intended to take the place of obedience.

But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king." (1 Samuel 15:22–23, NLT)

7. Disobedience Leads to Sin and Death

The disobedience of Adam brought sin and death into the world. This is the basis of the term "original sin." But Christ's perfect obedience restores fellowship with God for everyone who believes in him:

For as by the one man's [Adam's] disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's [Christ's] obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19, ESV) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22, ESV)

8. Through Obedience, We Experience the Blessings of Holy Living

Only Jesus Christ is perfect, therefore, only he could walk in sinless, perfect obedience. But as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us from within, we grow in holiness. This is the process of sanctification , which can also be described as spiritual growth . The more we read God's Word, spend time with Jesus, and allow the Holy Spirit to change us from within, the more we grow in obedience and holiness as Christians:

Joyful are people of integrity , who follow the instructions of the LORD. Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees! Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands. As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should! I will obey your decrees. Please don't give up on me! (Psalm 119:1–8, NLT) Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. (2 Corinthians 7:1, NLT)

The verse above says, "Let us work toward complete holiness." We don't learn obedience overnight; it's a lifelong process that we pursue by making it a daily goal.

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5 Great Bible Lessons on Obedience

One of the hardest things of the Christian life is obedience. By nature, most of us like to rebel; we don’t want to be told what to do, because we always know what is best. Besides, why should anyone else other than me dictate what I should or should not be doing? And, even if you sincerely do want to be obedient, you still find yourself struggling in succeeding at it. To help with obedience, let’s look at 5 great Bible lessons on obedience. Of course, there are many more out there, so do some digging for yourself, too!

“And Samuel said, ‘Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.’” 1 Samuel 15:22

The context in this passage deals with Saul’s inability to follow the Lord’s commands. Although made king, Saul was supposed to destroy everything in the lands he conquered. However, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Instead of destroying the cattle of the land, he had the brilliant idea of sacrificing them for God. But, was it really for God? Obviously not! In doing this, he deliberately rebelled against what God told him to do.

“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” Acts 5:29

The early church certainly had many opportunities to please man. They could have accepted gifts, worship, etc. At other times, they could have simply told men what they wanted to hear to avoid getting beaten. But, they were firm in their resolve; they knew they ought to obey God rather than men.

“Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Joshua 22:5

God specifically commanded this of Joshua, the leaders, and the Israelites as a whole. If they had listened and obeyed, things would have gone very well for them. Unfortunately, they rebelled and forgot about God, which lead to many misfortunes later on. Although the book of Joshua is full of conquests and victory, the book of Judges show how far they had fallen.

“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Hebrews 11:7

Stop for a moment and think of the story of Noah. He did everything that God commanded him to do, even if it seemed bizarre to everyone else. After all, it hadn’t even rained before—but he was predicting a worldwide flood that would destroy everything! Then, he builds a massive ship and collects animals—all because God told him to. Now, if that’s not firm obedience than I don’t know what is!

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

This passage should teach us to examine our motives carefully. Who are we really serving? What do we really treasure? There are many people out there who seem to “serve the Lord,” but are really serving for ulterior motives. Perhaps is gains them money, notoriety, or simply fills some kind of void within their lives. Those people, Jesus says, might seem to serve Him, but really are not; it is those people who Jesus will tell to depart because He never knew them. Let’s search our hearts carefully regarding this one! Who are we really serving?

Obedience is difficult. You may have to be obedient to a boss, a parent, a pastor, and definitely to God, but they are all very hard to do. Our natural instinct is to do what we feel and think is right (just like the Israelites in the book of Judges!). When something doesn’t make sense to us or is difficult to comprehend, we immediately put it away as something that we should not do. The Bible has many passages about obedience, and they can all be used as lessons for obedience. Although five are given above, there are so many more. So, take some time to search them out!

Article By Michael Krauzer

Michael Krauszer is the founder of ChristianLitReview.com , a website dedicated to providing a Christian perspective on all forms of literature. Additionally, Michael has been a full-time staff member at Calvary Chapel Old Bridge for the last four years, working as a Ministry Assistant and Pastoral Intern. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English from The College of New Jersey and is currently in pursuit of his MA in Theological Studies from Veritas Evangelical Seminary. Michael is also a Christian freelance writer and you can find some of his writing at FaithAndEntertainment . Visit Michael’s Facebook page here: Christian Literature Review

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“Chapter 17: Obedience, a Law of Heaven,” Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual (2000), 46–48

“17: Obedience,” Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual , 46–48

Obedience, a Law of Heaven

Introduction.

Cecil B. DeMille, director of the epic biblical film The Ten Commandments, told the student body at Brigham Young University:

“We are too inclined to think of law as something merely restrictive—something hemming us in. We sometimes think of law as the opposite of liberty. But that is a false conception. That is not the way that God’s inspired prophets and lawgivers looked upon the law. Law has a twofold purpose. It is meant to govern. It is also meant to educate. …

“… And so it is with all the Commandments.

“We must look beneath the literal, the surface meaning of the words. We must take the trouble to understand them; for how can we obey commands that we do not understand? But the Commandments too have an educative function—which you can see in the life of anyone who keeps them. They produce good character. The Ten Commandments are not rules to obey as a personal favor to God. They are the fundamental principles without which mankind cannot live together. They make of those who keep them faithfully, strong, wholesome, confident, dedicated men and women. This is so because the Commandments come from the same Divine Hand that fashioned our human nature.

“God does not contradict Himself. He did not create man and then, as an afterthought, impose upon him a set of arbitrary, irritating, restrictive rules. He made man free—and then gave him the Commandments to keep him free” (“Commencement Address,” in Commencement Exercises, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [31 May 1957], 4–5).

Doctrinal Outline

Obedience is the first law of heaven.

It was decreed in heaven that all blessings are predicated upon obedience (see D&C 130:20–21 ; Deuteronomy 11:8, 26–27 ).

We came to earth to prove our willingness to obey (see Abraham 3:24–25 ; D&C 98:14 ).

Obedience must be voluntary (see Abraham 3:25–26 ; Helaman 14:30–31 ).

Commandments are given to us because God loves us and wants us to become like Him (see Deuteronomy 6:24–25 ; D&C 25:15 ; 3 Nephi 12:48 ).

Our obedience to God’s commandments is an expression of our love for Him (see John 14:15, 21, 23 ; 1 John 5:3 ; D&C 42:29 ).

It is important to obey God even when we may not fully understand the commandment (see Moses 5:5–6 ; 1 Nephi 3:7 ).

The Lord chastens the Saints because He loves them (see Hebrews 12:6 ; D&C 95:1 ; Helaman 15:3 ; Revelation 3:19 ).

We should obey God rather than man (see Acts 5:29 ).

The Lord promises great blessings to those who obey His commandments.

The Lord promises both temporal and spiritual blessings to those who obey His commandments (see Mosiah 2:41 ; Leviticus 26:3–12 ; Deuteronomy 4:40 ; D&C 58:2 ; 64:34 ; 130:21 ).

Obedience in this life will give us an advantage in the world to come (see D&C 130:19 ).

The Lord will provide a way for us to obey all His commandments (see 1 Nephi 3:7 ; 17:3 ).

Obedience to divine law makes us free (see John 8:31–32 ).

Disobedience is a serious offense in the eyes of the Lord.

We offend God by disobeying His commandments (see D&C 59:21 ; Ephesians 5:6 ).

Disobedience to the commandments will bring serious temporal and spiritual consequences (see Leviticus 26:14–32 ; Jeremiah 11:3 ; D&C 1:14 ; 56:3 ; 2 Nephi 9:27 ).

Jesus Christ set the pattern for obedience.

See 2 Nephi 31:7–10 ; Luke 22:42 ; John 8:28–29 ; 3 Nephi 27:21 .

Through the Atonement and by obedience to God’s commandments, we can receive eternal life.

We are expected to obey God to the end of our lives (see Mosiah 5:8 ; 2 Nephi 31:16 ; D&C 14:7 ).

Eternal life comes to us through the Atonement and by our obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel (see Articles of Faith 1:3 ; D&C 138:4 ; 1 Nephi 22:31 ; D&C 14:7 ; Matthew 7:21 ).

Those who obey the Lord faithfully will be privileged to see Him (see D&C 93:1 ; 88:68 ).

Supporting Statements

“ Obedience is the first law of heaven, the cornerstone upon which all righteousness and progression rest. It consists in compliance with divine law, in conformity to the mind and will of Deity, in complete subjection to God and his commands” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 539).

“Obedience must be voluntary; it must not be forced; there must be no coercion. Men must not be constrained against their will to obey the will of God; they must obey it because they know it to be right, because they desire to do it, and because it is their pleasure to do it. God delights in the willing heart” (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 65).

“If we love [the Lord], we will keep his commandments.

“Should there be any who offend or fail to keep the commandments of the Lord, then it is evidence that they do not love him. We must obey them. We show by our works that we love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ we serve him and love our neighbor as ourself. This is the word of the Lord as it has been revealed in these modern times for the guidance of Israel” (Joseph Fielding Smith, “Keep the Commandments,” Improvement Era, Aug. 1970, 2).

“In the political field where so much pressure is exerted on men to compromise ideals and principles for expediency, party workers early learned to admire Marion G. Romney’s intense loyalty to his own conscience as well as to the advice of his Church leaders whose pronouncements on vital issues affecting the welfare of the nation he accepted as divinely inspired even though it frequently brought him into sharp conflict with leaders of his own political party. On one such occasion when church leaders in a tersely-worded editorial had denounced the trends of the political administration then in power, he confided in me something which it might be well if all loyal Church members in public life could emulate: ‘When I read that editorial,’ he told me, ‘I knew what I should do—but that wasn’t enough. I knew that I must feel right about following the counsel of the Church leaders and know that they were right. That took a whole night on my knees to accomplish.’ I submit in that statement the difference between ‘intelligent’ and ‘blind’ obedience. Marion G. Romney, while never disloyal to authority over him, could never be rightfully accused of being ‘blindly obedient.’” (Harold B. Lee, “Marion G. Romney,” Improvement Era, Oct. 1962, 742).

“Obedience to God can be the very highest expression of independence. Just think of giving to him the one thing, the one gift, that he would never take. Think of giving him that one thing that he would never wrest from you. …

“Obedience—that which God will never take by force—he will accept when freely given. And he will then return to you freedom that you can hardly dream of—the freedom to feel and to know, the freedom to do, and the freedom to be, at least a thousandfold more than we offer him. Strangely enough, the key to freedom is obedience. …

“… When I was president of the New England Mission, the Tabernacle Choir was to sing at the world’s fair in Montreal. The choir had one day unscheduled and suggested a concert in New England. One of the industrial leaders there asked for the privilege of sponsoring the concert.

“Brother Condie and Brother Stewart came to Boston to discuss this matter. We met at the Boston airport and then drove to Attleboro, Massachusetts. Along the way Mr. Yeager asked about the concert. He said, ‘I would like to have a reception for the choir members. I could have it either at my home or at my club.’ He wanted to invite his friends who were, of course, the prominent people of New England—indeed, of the nation. He talked of this, and then he asked about serving alcoholic beverages.

“In answering, Brother Stewart said, ‘Well, Mr. Yeager, since it is your home and you are the host, I suppose you could do just as you want to do.’ ‘That isn’t what I had in mind,’ this wonderful man said. ‘I don’t want to do what I want to do. I want to do what you want me to do.’

“Somewhere in that spirit is the key to freedom. We should put ourselves in a position before our Father in heaven and say, individually, ‘I do not want to do what I want to do. I want to do what thou wouldst have me do.’ Suddenly, like any father, the Lord could say, ‘Well, there is one more of my children almost free from the need of constant supervision.’” (Boyd K. Packer, Obedience, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [7 Dec. 1971], 3–4).

“Half obedience will be rejected as readily as full violation, and maybe quicker, for half rejection and half acceptance is but a sham, an admission of lack of character, a lack of love for Him. It is actually an effort to live on both sides of the line” (Mark E. Petersen, in Conference Report, Apr. 1982, 21; or Ensign, May 1982, 16 ).

“There is not a man of us but what is willing to acknowledge at once that God demands strict obedience to his requirements. But in rendering that strict obedience, are we made slaves? No, it is the only way on the face of the earth for you and me to become free, and we shall become slaves of our own passions, and of the wicked one, and servants to the Devil, if we take any other course” (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, 225).

“There is no power given to man, nor means lawful, to be used to compel men to obey the will of God, against their wish, except persuasion and good advice, but there is a penalty attached to disobedience, which all must suffer who will not obey the obvious truths or laws of heaven” (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 105–6).

“Christ, himself, set the perfect example of obedience for all his brethren. As the great Exemplar he was baptized to witness ‘unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments.’ ( 2 Ne. 31:7 .) In all things his obedience was perfect. As Paul wrote: ‘Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.’ ( Heb. 5:8–9 .)” (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 540).

“To get salvation we must not only do some things, but everything which God has commanded. Men may preach and practice everything except those things which God commands us to do, and will be damned at last. We may tithe mint and rue, and all manner of herbs, and still not obey the commandments of God. The object with me is to obey and teach others to obey God in just what He tells us to do. It mattereth not whether the principle is popular or unpopular, I will always maintain a true principle, even if I stand alone in it” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 332).

“If we keep the commandments of the Lord, we shall enjoy the presence of both the Father and the Son, and we shall receive the Father’s kingdom and shall be heirs of God—joint heirs with our elder Brother. O how wonderful, how great the blessings of the Lord to the Latter-day Saints and to all who are willing to go through the waters of baptism and abide by the law and keep the commandments of the Lord!” (Smith, “Keep the Commandments,” 3).

How can our obedience lead to freedom?

The troubling story that appears in the first reading this Sunday is traditionally called the “Binding of Isaac.” Having received his long-hoped-for son, Abraham now receives instructions from God to offer the boy as a whole-burnt offering. At the very last minute God intervenes, but not before its becomes clear to Isaac—and the horrified reader—that Abraham is ready to go through with the ritual. Although Isaac goes free and Abraham is rewarded for his fidelity, no one feels good about the incident. Rabbinic tradition connects Sarah’s death, related in the next chapter, to her shock at the event, and other ancient nonbiblical traditions claim that Isaac spoke forever after with a stutter.

‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.’ Mk 9:7

How can you recommit yourself to God’s call?

How can your obedience to God free someone else from death?

Even the best biblical scholars today struggle to explain this narrative’s original meaning. It may have had something to do with the prohibition of child-sacrifice in ancient Israel, although legislation in Exodus and Deuteronomy was probably more effective in that regard. It may have been a parable about Abraham’s passionate fidelity to God; but if so, it made ancient commentators question the goodness of a God who would demand such a thing. Given certain features of its grammar, a few scholars have even wondered if this account was originally a scribal training exercise and never meant to be sacred Scripture. The “Binding of Isaac” raises more questions than it answers.

But scholars do know how this story was understood in Jesus’ day, and that understanding is key to an interpretation of this Sunday’s Gospel. Jewish traditions of the first century A.D. emphasized a detail that is utterly lacking in the Bible. Isaac, they relate, was a willing victim. He knew what God had demanded of his father, and he offered himself for the success of the covenant. Isaac emerges from these accounts a martyr, a hero. Some of these stories even claimed that Isaac died on the altar, but that God raised him and returned him to his father.

These nonbiblical traditions were widespread because the Jewish people in Jesus’ day had only recently emerged from a time of persecution. Stories of good Jews sacrificing themselves for their nation were popular, and the “Binding of Isaac” became such a story. Even if Jesus and his disciples knew the biblical narrative by heart, they would have also known a version in which Isaac achieved lasting fame by giving himself freely for Israel.

Mark wrote his account of the transfiguration in this light. Jesus is Isaac, offering himself freely for the good of all. The transfiguration thus fulfills Isaac’s example and foreshadows the cross. The transfiguration also prefigures the resurrection. The events in today’s Gospel passage symbolize the perfect obedience that led to Jesus’ glory and the salvation of all.

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For Isaac, obedience brought forth a nation. For Jesus, self-offering led to glory. This glory was not, as many might think, an efflorescence of pride or a magnification of ego. Instead it was an obscure life and dishonorable death that somehow freed others to live and die in grace. Just so, we must offer ourselves for the good of others. If our quiet acts of transformation this Lent help even one other person feel the love of God, then we have learned to live out the mystery of the Transfiguration.

This article also appeared in print, under the headline “The Binding of Jesus,” in the February 19, 2018 , issue.

Michael Simone, S.J., teaches Scripture at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

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10 Key Bible Verses on Obedience

This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.

No Longer Slaves

We are no longer under Old Testament law; but as believers, we are still marked by our obedience to Christ. We are no longer enslaved to the law, but set free to honor the Lord with our lives. Be encouraged by reading the following Scriptures with commentary from the ESV Study Bible .

1. Deuteronomy 6:4–9

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Read More

Hear, O Israel. This verse is called the Shema from the Hebrew word for “Hear.” The Lord our God, the Lord is one. The Lord alone is Israel’s God, “the only one.” It is a statement of exclusivity, not of the internal unity of God. This point arises from the argument of chapter 4 and the first commandment. While Deuteronomy does not argue theoretically for monotheism, it requires Israel to observe a practical monotheism (cf. Deut. 4:35). This stands in sharp contrast to the polytheistic Canaanites.

all. That the Lord alone is Israel’s God leads to the demand for Israel’s exclusive and total devotion to him. heart. . . soul. . . might. All Israelites in their total being are to love the Lord; “this is the great and first commandment” (Matt. 22:38). In Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27, Jesus also includes “mind.” In early Hebrew, “heart” included what we call the “mind”. “Might” indicates energy and ability.

on your heart. is the demand is for a heart that totally loves the Lord. Deuteronomy anticipates the new covenant, when God’s words will be truly and effectively written on the heart (Jer. 31:31–34; also Deut. 5:6–8).The two pairs of opposites ( sit/walk, lie down/rise*) suggest any and every time, place, and activity. bind them. . . write them.** Many Jews have fulfilled these commands literally with phylacteries (Deut. 6:8) and mezuzot (Deut. 6:9), i.e., boxes bound on the arm and forehead or attached to doorposts containing Deut.6:4–5 and other Scripture verses.

2. Psalm 1:1–2

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Read More

Blessed. The truly happy person is happy because God showers him with favor. Jesus uses the Greek equivalent in Matthew 5:3–11; cf. also James 1:12. The Latin translation, beatus , is the source of the word beatitude. the man. A specific, godly individual (Hb. ha’ish , “the man”)—is held up as an example for others to imitate. Such teaching by use of a concrete example is common in Old Testament wisdom literature. wicked. . . sinners. . . scoffers are people, even within Israel, who refuse to live by the covenant; the godly person refuses to follow the moral orientation of such people’s lifestyle. Some have seen an increasing level of sinfulness in the terms “wicked-sinners-scoffers,” together with an increasing loyalty in the metaphors “walk-stand-sit”; however, it is likely that the terms “wicked” and “sinner” here are equivalent, while a “scoffer” is certainly more committed to evil.

the law of the Lord. This could be taken as God’s instruction (Hb. Torah , which often designates the Law of Moses), particularly as he speaks in his covenant. For this reason no one should ever think that such a person receives his blessedness by deserving it, since the covenant is founded on God’s grace. Meditates describes an active pondering, perhaps even muttering to oneself in pursuit of insight. Some suppose * day and night speaks of the work of professional scholars who spend all their time pondering the words of the law, but in view of the similar instruction in Josh. 1:8, readers should see this as setting the ideal of facing every situation, be it ever so mundane, with a view to pleasing the Lord by knowing and following his word.

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3. James 1:22–25

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. Read More

Hearing the word without action is self-deceptive, while hearing that results in doing the word is a blessing. Being doers of the word, and not hearers only is the only proper response to the word of God (not only the gospel but the entirety of Scripture), allowing it to take root in one’s life (James1:21).

Looking intently at his natural face in a mirror and then forgetting what he was like demonstrates the folly of examining oneself in God’s “mirror” of the “implanted word” (James 1:21) and then doing nothing about it (James 1:22). When one sees imperfections (as when looking in a mirror), common sense says something should be done about it.

4. Matthew 7:24–27

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Read More

hears these words of mine and does them. A parable brings the Sermon on the Mount to a close as Jesus calls for his audience to decide between himself and the religious establishment, drawing a dividing line between himself and any other foundation for life. The evidence of whether one is truly a believer is in whether one does the words of Jesus (cf. James 1:22–23 and 2:20–22 and notes on these verses). wise man. Disciples who build their lives on the bedrock of Jesus and his message of the kingdom of heaven are truly wise, regardless of the shifting cultural or religious fashions.

5. Ephesians 6:1

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Read More

Children. A family relationship illustrating submission to proper authority (Eph. 6:21) is that of children and parents. The Mosaic law prescribed death for the child who struck or cursed a parent (Ex. 21:15, 17; Lev. 20:9), and Paul lists such disobedience as one of many grave sins (Rom. 1:30; 2 Tim. 3:2). However, Paul urges in Ephesians 6:1–3 the positive duty of children to obey their parents . Obedience is due to both parents; the mother’s submission to her husband does not remove her parental dignity but rather increases it. In the Lord modifies the verb “obey.” right. What makes such obedience “right” or “just” is that it conforms to God’s holy commandment, quoted in Ephesians 6:2–3.

Honor. Children obeying their parents (Eph. 6:1) is in part how they honor them; see also Proverbs 31:28, which describes children rising to bless a wise and godly mother. promise . There were earlier commands of God with promises (e.g., Gen. 17:1–2), but this is the first and only of the Ten Commandments to contain a promise (see also Ex. 20:12). In the new covenant the promise of the land is not physical land on earth but eternal life, which begins when one is regenerated here and now and comes to full reality in the age to come. Paul is not teaching salvation on the basis of works. The obedience of children is evidence that they know God, and it results in receiving blessings from God.

6. John 15:10–14

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. Read More

Obedience is not to be equated with drudgery; it is all about joy . The Old Testament prophets envisioned a period of great end-time rejoicing (e.g., Isa. 25:9; Isa. 35:10; Isa. 51:3; Isa. 61:10; Isa. 66:10; Zeph. 3:14–17; Zech. 9:9). God threatened judgment if his people would not serve him “with joyfulness and gladness of heart” (Deut. 28:47–48). that my joy may be in you. Just as Jesus had great joy in obeying his Father even in the midst of opposition, so Christians will have joy in obedience.

You are my friends implies a stunning level of comfortable personal interaction with one who is also the eternal, omnipotent Creator of the universe (see John 1:1–3, 10). In the Old Testament, only Abraham (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8) and by implication Moses (Ex. 33:11) are called “friends of God.” Here Jesus extends this privilege to all obedient believers.

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7. Romans 2:6–11

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. Read More

Paul establishes the principle that judgment is according to . . . works . The structure of the passage is clear. Romans 2: 6 enunciates the principle. Romans 2:7–10 work it out more specifically with an ABBA pattern (a chiasm). Romans 2:11 then explains why God judges according to works (because he is impartial). When Paul speaks of those who are rewarded for doing good works (Rom.2:7, 10), is he speaking hypothetically or of real obedience? The hypothetical view fits with the theme of the section as a whole (Rom.1:18–3:20), where all are condemned for sin, and righteousness does not come by works of law. It seems more likely, however, that Paul is speaking here of real obedience that is rewarded on the last day—such obedience being the result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, as Paul explains at the conclusion of the chapter (Rom. 2:26–29). Impartiality in judgment (Rom.2:11) is a regular requirement in the Old Testament (see Deut. 1:17; 16:18–20), reflecting the righteousness of God’s judgment (Deut. 10:17).

8. Genesis 22:17–18

I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Read More

The divine oath recorded in these verses should not be overlooked, for it brings to a climax a process that started with the conditional promises made by God to Abraham in Gen. 12:1–3. By myself I have sworn. The fact that God swears by himself gives to these words a unique authority, assuring Abraham that they will indeed be fulfilled (see Heb. 6:13–18). The oath falls into two parts: whereas the first half focuses on Abraham’s many descendants, the second part concentrates on a single descendant who will overcome his enemies (Gen. 22:17) and mediate blessing to all the nations of the earth (Gen.22:18). Although the second half of the oath is often taken to refer to all of Abraham’s descendants, Genesis as a whole is interested in tracing a single unique line of offspring that will eventually bring forth a special King who will rule over the Gentiles, and the reference to “his enemies” points in this direction. This is why Paul (Gal. 3:16) can insist on one offspring, who is “Christ” (i.e., the Messiah; cf. Gen. 3:15; 24:60 for “offspring” as a particular descendant). And this explains why Isaac is clearly set apart from Ishmael as Abraham’s heir. From the perspective of the whole Bible, this oath to Abraham comes to fulfillment in Jesus Christ (Acts 3:25–26; Gal. 3:16).

The central focus of God’s words to Abraham is on the way in which Abraham’s actions are a vindication of his faith (see Rom. 4:3, 22–23; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23). Many also see an allusion in Romans 8:32 to this verse.

9. Joshua 1:7–8

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Read More

Three times the Lord charges Joshua to be strong and courageous , words reminiscent of Joshua’s earlier commissioning under Moses (see Deut. 31:6–8, 23). Joshua will need strength and courage to accept his task ( you shall cause this people to inherit the land ; Josh. 1:6); to obey the Torah ( Book of the Law [Josh.1:8]; most likely this would have included at least the book of Deuteronomy or portions thereof [see Deut. 31:26, “this law”]); and to resist being terrified ( do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed ; Josh.1:9). Most difficult of all will be the middle responsibility—namely, to make the Lord’s instructions (Hb. Torah ) integral to who he is and what he does (Josh.1:8a), meditating on them constantly so as to do them (Josh.1:8b). Thus the middle exhortation is made emphatic by the addition of two small words: “ only be strong and very courageous.” Given Joshua’s leadership responsibilities, this charge to be strong and courageous would be daunting were it not for the framing promises: I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you (Josh.1:5); and the LORD your God is with you wherever you go (Josh.1:9). Fortified by these assurances of the Lord’s abiding presence, Joshua is empowered to receive his commission with courage. The Hebrew terminology used in these assurances has nothing to do with worldly wealth or worldly success, but has everything to do with accomplishing one’s mission and acting with keen insight in any circumstance that presents itself. Only when one fails to “ask counsel from the LORD” (Josh. 9:14) is such insight lacking.

10. Romans 5:18–19

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Read More

Paul contrasts the consequences of the work of Adam and of Christ, showing their decisive roles as covenantal heads of the people they represent. Paul clearly teaches “original sin,” the fact that all people inherit a sinful nature because of Adam’s sin. Paul probably is also teaching that all people are in fact guilty before God because of Adam’s sin. Many (i.e., all human beings excluding Christ) died through Adam’s one sin. Death begins with spiritual separation from God and culminates in physical death. By contrast Paul emphasizes the lavishness of Christ’s grace bestowed on the many that belong to him.

The one trespass of Adam, as the covenantal head of the human race, brought condemnation and guilt to all people. In a similar way, Christ’s one act of righteousness (either his death as such or his whole life of perfect obedience, including his death) grants righteousness and life to all who belong to him. for all men . Some interpreters have advocated universalism (the view that all will be saved) based on these verses. But Paul makes it plain in this context that only those who “receive” (Rom. 5:17) God’s gift belong to Christ (see also Rom. 1:16–5:11, which indicates that only those who have faith will be justified). The wording as … so shows that Paul’s focus is not on the number in each group but on the method of either sin or righteousness being passed from the representative.

The first “all men” refers to all who are in Adam (every human being), while the second “all men” refers to all believers, to all who are “in Christ.”

Because of Adam’s disobedience, all people were made (Gk. kathistēmi , “cause[d] to be”) sinners . Thus, when Adam as mankind’s representative sinned, God regarded the whole human race as guilty sinners, thereby imputing Adam’s guilt to everyone. In other words, God regarded Adam’s guilt as belonging to the whole human race, while also declaring that Adam’s guilt does in fact belong to all. All are therefore sinners, and are born with a sinful nature that is set in the mold of Adam’s transgression.

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Speeches > Hartman Rector Jr. > Obedience Brings Happiness

Obedience Brings Happiness

Hartman rector jr..

of the Seventy

May 31, 1977

Good morning, my brothers and sisters; it is a great honor and privilege to greet you here this morning in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are met in his name, it is because of him that we are here, and I presume that everything in this life that is really worthwhile comes through the Lord. He has a special program for you and me. It is vitally important that we understand the Lord’s program, for it is calculated to make us happy, which is, of course, the object and design of our existence. “Men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). That is a collective term—it means woman, too.

We are here upon the earth, you and I, to be happy; but if we are not careful we look for happiness in the wrong places. There are those who think that it has to do with accumulation of material wealth, power, or position—and yet these do not make people happy. Happiness has to do with living in obedience to the Lord’s commandments and being thankful for what one has. It does not make any difference how much one has, for he will not be happy unless he is thankful for it. It is, like wealth, very relative. One man who has hardly anything considers himself wealthy, while another man with many material possessions is not happy because he does not think he has anything. It is all in the mind

The Lord Jesus Christ has taken upon himself the responsibility to save everyone who will ever be born on this earth. That is a great task, and he has done everything godly possible to bring that to pass, even to taking upon himself the sins of everyone who has ever been born or will be born. And he has broken the bands of death, which means that everyone is going to be resurrected. It will not make any difference whether they want to be or not; they are going to be resurrected anyway. There are going to be a lot of these people resurrected that will not want to be but they are going to get it. So you are going to get it whether you want it or not. You do not have to be good; it is a free gift from the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this particular day and time he has given us a program by which we can prepare ourselves for that which is to come, and there are great and momentous occasions ahead of us. In the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord outlined, “Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments” (D&C 1:17)—because of the calamities that were coming. Prophets in all ages have known that there were going to be calamities coming in this particular day and time. We need to be aware of the fact that we are living in a time of calamity, and we have to be ready for it. There is a great and dreadful day of the Lord ahead. It always seemed to be a little incongruous to call it “great” and “dreadful” at the same time, but as we think about it, it is very simple: It will be great if we are ready and dreadful if we are not.

Paul, in a letter to his friend Timothy (in verses 1 to 7 and 10 to 12 of 2 Timothy, third chapter), wrote telling him that there were going to be perilous times ahead. He said, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves”— I am not exactly sure what he means by that. President Kimball came here to the BYU assembly and told the student body the same thing he has been telling everybody all over the world; the prophet tells everybody the same thing. In the first speech he gave to a general conference of the Church after he became president of the Church, he made this statement: “We say again, we members of the Church marry. All normal people should marry” ( Ensign, November 1974, p. 8). He’s saying this because there are a lot of people today who are going along with the program that comes from the other side, which says, “It’s not necessary to get married; you can live together without having to be married. In fact, trial marriages are recommended.” Not so with the Lord.

President Kimball’s remarks generated a number of letters from the student body here at BYU, saying, in essence, “President, are you saying that because we’re not married we’re not normal?” And as he rehearsed this to us he said, “I had to write them back and say, ‘Yes, that’s what I’m saying.’” He expects all young people to marry.

A letter came to the office shortly thereafter from a little girl here at BYU. She said, “I know I’m supposed to be married and I’m willing, but there are a lot of these returned missionaries here at BYU who don’t seem to be as willing. As a matter of fact, they draw near unto me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” I think that that is what Paul was talking about. He said, “Men shall be lovers of their own selves.” They do not want to take upon themselves the responsibility of a family, which, of course, is the first commandment given on this earth to our first parents. They were told to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Why? So that they would be happy, “that they might have joy and rejoicing in their posterity.” Everything the Lord has done is calculated to make his children happy. President Kimball says also that you should not get out of your twenties before you are married, and that gives you a goal.

Paul continues, “Men shall be . . . covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. . . .” I saw in the paper not long ago that two men got married. That’s right—they performed a ceremony to marry two men. That is not natural—that is not natural affection. And they wanted to adopt a child. Thank heaven they had enough sense not to let them do that. Paul said there will be

trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away. [2 Timothy 3:2–5]

It does make a difference whom you associate with. I have interviewed many young men who have had problems—they had violated the laws of chastity and been involved in the drug scene, yet they came from good families. I ask them, “Just how did you get so involved?” Many times their answer is: “Well, Elder Rector, I started running around with the wrong crowd, and I found myself doing the things that they were doing.” It is important that you “run around” or associate with good people. And as for those who are running around with the wrong crowd, those who know the Lord and delight in keeping his commandments should go and bring them back. You can do that; and that is part of the responsibility of membership in this Church.

”Of this sort,” Paul continued, “are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.” I am not exactly sure what he is talking about there, but I do know that here in the Salt Lake Valley there are over six thousand people trying to practice polygamy. There are many lovely sisters who would like to get married and have a family, who want to, but who have never had the opportunity; and so to one of these sisters will come a character who says he knows more about the revelations of the Lord than the prophet does. The Lord has “revealed” to him that he is supposed to have this one and this one and this one and this one as his wives. Now, sisters, if you get involved in this, the very least we are going to call you is silly. Paul continues: “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Now I am skipping a bit to where he said to Timothy,

But thou has fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions. [2 Timothy 3:7, 10–12]

You may expect it. If you live the gospel today you must expect to be persecuted. Yes, it will come in many different forms because there is much false information abroad in the land today as to what we are supposed to do and what our responsibilities are. If you insist on having a family, which is your basic responsibility here upon the earth, people are going to say that you are selfish. I cut a piece out of the paper recently, dateline Singapore. It says:

Parents who insist on having more than two children will lose tax benefits, face discrimination in public housing, and pay more maternity costs, the government announced. Earlier the Health Ministry said that some discriminatory measures would be taken against new additions to large families in nine and a half months. [They figured that would be fair warning, I guess.] For the Singapore of the 1970s, the third child is luxury, the fourth and fifth are antisocial acts. The new measures include vigorous family planning campaigns coupled with sterilization and abortion programs. The government hopes to reduce the natural increase in the birth rate to less than one percent by 1980. [”Family Size Labels a Guy,” Deseret News, October 25, 1972]

That is a plot against the Lord’s children. Part of the plan of salvation said that we would come to this earth and take a body of flesh and bone, that we would have earthly parents who would provide that opportunity for us. And we agreed to do it too. We must have agreed to do it or we would not be here. And we agreed to provide opportunities for others to come to this earth; that is the only way the Lord can send his children. This business of birth control, which is so rampant throughout the land today, is contrary to the will of the Lord. That is not his program. To give you a couple of paragraphs from a statement from the president of the Church, dated April 14, 1969:

Where husband and wife enjoy health and vigor and are free from impurities that would be entailed upon their posterity [I assume that would be physical or mental defects] it is contrary to the teachings of the Church artificially to curtail or prevent the birth of children. We believe that those who practice birth control will reap disappointment by and by. However, we feel that men must be considerate of their wives, who bear the greater responsibility not only of bearing children, but also of caring for them through childhood.

That makes it very plain that there is a division of responsibility in raising a family. The brethren are to provide for the family members. They have to feed them, clothe them, shelter them, educate them, send them on missions—that is very expensive; it costs a lot of money. So young men need a good education to do that, and need to be willing to hold a good job and work hard and bring home everything they make and give it to their wife. That is called sacrifice. Of course, sacrifice does not go one way; she will make a burnt offering over the stove from time to time. She also has to cook the food and wash the dishes—over and over again—and bear the children and care for them through childhood. Sisters, this does not mean that you cannot have some help from your husband. Get all that you can—insist on it—but do not expect too much because you will probably not get it. You see, he has a different responsibility.

”To this end,” the statement continues, “the mother’s health and strength should be conserved, and the husband’s consideration for his wife is his first duty and self-control a dominant factor in all their relationship” (Statement from the First Presidency, April 14, 1969). I think that is very plain. It says you ought to have your family when you can; and you will find that you cannot make a decision as to when to have children anyway. Any couple that has ever had children knows that they did not make that decision. The Lord decides when you are going to have children. You can only decide that you are not going to have them, and you cannot afford that. So have your family when you can, but not so fast that you destroy the health of the mother. The mother’s health is the only real criterion of judgement. It is not a convenience consideration; it is not an education; it is not an economic consideration. The health of the mother is the only consideration.

It is vitally important that you raise a family unto the lord. Do not be taken in by all this misinformation about birth control—and make no mistake about it, it is affecting the Church. There was a birth rate study done not long ago that covered the twenty-year period from 1950 to 1970; as I recall, two young men here at BYU did it. They found that in 1950 the average number of births per thousand in the Church was thirty-eight and in the United States as a whole was twenty-six. In 1970, twenty years later, the average births per thousand for the Church was twenty-six, while the average for the United States was eighteen. In other words, births have dropped by almost the same percentage in the Church as in the country. They also figured out that out of every one hundred births there are fifty-two boys and forty-eight girls. (Yes, sisters, there are more boys than girls, contrary to what you may think.) What we have lost through the reduction in birth rate in the Church would amount to twenty-two thousand missionaries today. That would be enough missionaries to take care of the needs of India if we could freely enter. It makes a difference.

About this business of abortion: I presume that there will be a million of them in the United States this year; there were a million last year. It is destruction of the Lord’s children at a horrendous rate. I cut an article out of the Washington Post recently; it says:

For the first time the number of legal abortions obtained by Washington residents exceeded the number of live births, according to the figure for last year compiled by the District of Columbia Department of Human Resources. The department said that eighty-five percent of the abortions were paid for by the government, either at private hospitals and clinics through the Medicaid program or the country’s free public hospital, D.C. General. Officials of Planned Parenthood said Washington was the first major American city to report that abortions outnumbered births, [”Capital Reports More Abortions than Births,” Los Angeles Times, November 17, 1976]

which they applauded. That is wrong. That is so wrong. If you would like to know how the Lord feels about abortion, here is a statement from President Lee. President Lee had a way of saying things so plainly that you could not misunderstand them. He said here:

May I say here that we in the Church are unalterably opposed to abortion. The only exception would be in cases where doctors found it necessary to perform an abortion to save the life of the mother [mother’s health again]. We reaffirm that the first purpose of marriage is to bring children into the world. They ought to be welcome. [Harold B. Lee, Strengthening the Home (motion picture), 1973]

President Kimball has added that abortion could be considered if conception took place because of criminal rape and there is a traumatic effect on the mother. He said that, even then, you would only want to consider it after you have had counsel with the competent medical authority, had interviews and consultation with your priesthood leaders, and made it a matter of fasting and prayer and had a confirmation of the Spirit. No, abortion is not the Lord’s program. His program is to provide opportunities for his children to come to this earth. We need to help him in this.

”All that will live godly in Christ Jesus,” said Paul, “shall suffer persecution.” No doubt about that. It is important that you take a stand on these questions in this day and time, because it is up to you. You are the Lord’s people—if you do not, who will? The Master, when some were offended in him and left him, asked the apostles, “Will ye also go away?” and Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:67–69). The words of eternal life and salvation are in the Church and kingdom of God and we must follow the living prophet of God. Yes, you are going to be persecuted if you do, but do not worry about it. Paul continues,

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. [He makes it plain that we ought to stick with the scriptures, and then this is what Paul says about the scriptures:]

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. [2 Timothy 3:13–17]

We need to look to the scriptures. The scriptures have the answer; they come from the Lord.

Not all scripture is contained in what we call the standard works of the Church, but everything that we talk about ought to be found in the scriptures. A quote from President Lee:

All that we teach in this Church ought to be couched in the scriptures. It ought to be found in the scriptures. We ought to choose our texts from the scriptures. If we want to measure truth, we should measure it by the four standard works, regardless of who writes it. If it is not in the standard works, we may well assume that it is speculation, man’s own personal opinion; and if it contradicts what is in the scriptures, it is not true. This is the standard by which we measure all truth, [ Improvement Era, January 1969, p. 13]

the standard works of the Church. He also said:

Through these generations [meaning the generations from the beginning of man down to this time] the messages from our Father have been safeguarded and carefully protected and mark you likewise that in this day the scriptures are the purest at their source, just as the waters [are] purest at the mountain source; the purest word of God, and that least apt to be polluted, is that which comes from the lips of the living prophets who are set up to guide Israel in our own day and time. [Harold B. Lee, Ye Are the Light of the World, pp. 55–56]

So we look to the standard works of the Church and we look to this type of publication, The Ensign— and it is ensž¯gn. I had a letter the other day from a sister who said, “Elder Rector, I wish you’d learn how to say ensž¯gn . It’s not ensun . It’s not like a naval officer.” And I have to admit that I have made that mistake a few times, but she has corrected me now. (It was interesting, though—the letter was addressed to Hartford Rector, H–a–r–t–f–o–r–d.)

This Ensign of November 1974 contains the first talk that the prophet gave in general conference after he became President of the Church. There are twenty-two commandments in here—twenty-two. That is a few more than the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, but we have things to put up with today that Moses did not have to put up with in his day. After all, we have television today, and X-rated and R-rated movies, and numerous other Satan-inspired things. President Kimball is so specific in enunciating the Lord’s program today that it is very difficult to misunderstand. The first thing he said he wanted us to do was to clean up around our own homes. “Broken fences should be mended, or removed. Unused barns should be roofed and repaired and painted, or removed. Sheds and corrals should be repaired and painted, or removed. Weedy ditchbanks should probably be cleared. Abandoned homes should be razed. We are looking forward to the day when in all of our communities, both urban and rural, there will be a universal contingent movement to clean and repair and paint barns and sheds, build side walls, clean ditchbanks, and make our properties a thing of beauty to behold.” He says clean it up—that includes your garage too. It also includes your room here at BYU. That includes the missionaries’ quarters too. (I don’t see them here today—they’re not here, are they?)

He is very specific. He said,

We call attention . . . to the habit in which many buy their commodities on the Sabbath. [That is counter to a commandment of the Lord: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Genesis 20:8).] Many employed people would be released for rest and worship on the Sabbath if we did not shop on that day. Numerous excuses and rationalizations are presented to justify the Sunday buying. We call upon all of you to keep the Sabbath holy and make no Sunday purchases. [ Ensign, November 1974, p. 6]

Now, that is rather specific. And he said, “We hope that faithful Latter-day Saints will not use playing cards which are used for gambling. . . .” That means spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. (I have a friend who said: “You know, you can play bridge with a set of Rook cards if you know what you’re doing.” I guess the prophet can’t cover everything, right?) “. . . Either with or without the gambling,” he added. “As for gambling in connection with horse racing or games or sports, we firmly discourage such things.” What the Lord has given us through a living prophet is very specific, and it is for our benefit; so we ought to follow the scriptures.

The program the Lord has outlined for us to follow today first deals with literacy and education. It is important that you put it up here in the head. Studying the scriptures is the most important thing you can do. It means you should all have a set of the scriptures. You can pay almost anything you want for a set of scriptures. I was looking today at a quadruple combination, large print edition, bound in leather and indexed; it sells for about seventy-five dollars. But the seminary department sent me a copy of the triple combination they are going to use for next year; it is going to sell for two dollars and a half, and it is adequate. Couple with that a Bible priced at about two dollars and fifty cents, and one can get a set of the scriptures for five dollars. Everybody should have his own set of scriptures and ought to be using them on a regular basis, fifteen minutes a day at least. If we read the scriptures fifteen minutes a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year, we can read all the standard works of the Church in one year. But it is not enough just to read the scriptures; we ought to put into practice what we find in the scriptures. It is the Lord’s handbook for our day and time, and for every day and time.

There are other books to read. I read a book recently called Life after Life . I would recommend it to you. It contains a hundred and fifty case histories of people who have had a near-death experience—so near death, in fact, that they all left their body, but they all came back again. They all reported essentially the same thing. Among other things they said they were met by a being of light. The atheists call it a being of light, but among the Christians some called it God, some said it was Christ, and some said it was an angel. But all agreed it was a being of light. He came to them and in his presence they felt complete peace and contentment. He asked them questions, such as, “What have you done with your life that would make it important to other people?” That question called an immediate panoramic replay of everything they had done in their life. They saw themselves and their whole life pass in review; and, of course, they saw themselves doing some very selfish things. He was watching it with them and it seemed he commented on it; in fact, he made excuses for some of the things they did. He said, “Now, when you did this you hadn’t learned; you were still learning.” Does that sound like you may have an advocate with the Father? You know, we may need an advocate with the Father one day. Some said that he laughed about some of the things that he saw there, that he had a sense of humor. That is nice to know too, isn’t it?

After they had had this panoramic replay of their life, they moved on to an area where there was a barrier erected. Some said it was a curtain, some a screen, some a line; but all agreed it was a line of demarcation. They were given to understand that if they crossed that line they could never return to their mortal body again. None of them crossed it. They all came back to their body, every one of them. No one really wanted to return, but they came back. Each of them came back for some completely unselfish reason. One woman came back because she had five small children and wanted to take care of them. Another had aged parents she wanted to take care of. One woman came back to do her genealogy—no doubt a Latter-day Saint. (It may take that kind of an experience to get genealogy done, too.)

When they came back, once again they had basically the same experience. Number one, no on had any fear of death anymore; in fact, they were looking forward to it. Well, I will take that back. Five of the people had tried to commit suicide, and they had a completely different experience. One man’s wife had died; he was distraught with grief and wanted to join her. So he tried to take his own life. He said he knew immediately that he had done a horrible thing. As a matter of fact, he was given to understand that he had done the second worst thing he could do on this earth by taking his own life. The worst thing he could do would be to take someone else’s life. He said, “I didn’t go where she was. I went to an awful place” (Raymond A. Moody, Life after Life, afterword). There was nothing but moaning and groaning and weeping and wailing there, and he was delighted to get out of it. The rest of them, however, when they returned, had no fear of death; they knew that they were going to die and they were looking forward to it but not rushing it. The attempted suicides were even more glad to get back into their bodies.

Number two, there were no atheists anymore. Some were before their experience, but not when it had finished. Number three, they all got involved in some sort of philanthropic-type activity trying to help other people And four, none of them could tell his experiences because people thought him crazy.

I do not see that these experiences are in disagreement with what Alma said:

Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by and angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. [Alma 40:11]

I have heard speculated about Alma’s statement: “God rules in the spirit world, and if you go back in the spirit world you’ll be in the presence of God.” Not so; that is not what Alma says, and that is not what these hundred and fifty people said either. However, they did not cross that line, the point of no return. If they had crossed that line, I am sure they would have found that verses twelve through fourteen would be true too.

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace; where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. [You are going to rest if you are righteous. It does not mean that you have nothing to do; it just means that you will not get tired. That is rest of a sort. We call Sunday a day of rest, don’t we? Do you have anything to do on Sunday?]

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil.

Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them [that does not sound very good, but it is a good description of what the attempted suicides reported]; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection.

I think there are a lot of truths that we could get out of good books; but check it against the scriptures and make sure it does not contradict what you find there. It is important that you improve your mind.

The second area in which the Lord would like to have you prepared we call career development. That means you ought to have a skill. You ought to have an education, but you ought to learn how to do something with that education. I do not think it makes much difference what you do. A lot of young people have asked me, “What shall I do with my life?” They are going to school here, but they do not know what they want to do. I do not think it makes any difference what you do, as long as you do something that you like. If you do something you like, you will do it better. The better you do it, the more compensation you will receive for it. It is important that you do something that allows you to earn a good living, because you have to provide for a family; and that is what education is all about, in my opinion.

As I travel around the Church, I frequently look at tithing records. I was in a stake not long ago where the stake president was a Ph.D., a college professor; a smart man, excellent man as a matter of fact. His first counselor was a plumber. Would you believe that the plumber paid twice the tithing that the stake president paid? I heard a story recently that illustrates this circumstance. A dentist had a leak in his pipes, so he called the plumber. The plumber fixed the leak and gave him a bill, and when the dentist saw the bill he just about dropped his uppers. “Well, I’ve never seen such fees!” he said. “I don’t even charge my patients fees like this.”

And the plumber said, “When I was a dentist, I didn’t either.”

It is important that you learn a trade and get yourself qualified to do something and do it well. And you ought to go where your trade can be performed. I visited with a stake president down in Miami, Florida, some years ago. In the conversation, I asked him how he happened to be in Miami, because he was from Idaho. He said he had come down with the space agency, and when he got down there the space agency finished their business and he lost his job. They offered him a job up in Portland, Oregon, as I recall, at the same salary he was receiving down in Florida, but he said, “I didn’t go, even though I suffered a severe reduction in salary, because I knew the Lord wanted me here. I was the stake president.”

And I said, “I think you may have made a serious mistake. How do you know the Lord wasn’t trying to get you to go to Portland, Oregon?” Do you know what it took to get the Smith family from Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, over to Palmyra, New York, where they had to be? President Joseph Fielding Smith said in his Essentials in Church History that it took three crop failures and an impending drought—then they moved of their own accord. It is just as President Tanner said one time: “The Latter-day Saints came to the Rocky Mountains of their own free will, because they had to.” We know the Lord could have sent an angel to Brother Smith. He did just a few years later. He could have said, “Brother Smith, I’d like you to move your family over to Palmyra, New York, for there is something we want Joseph to do over there.” But he did not. He just made it untenable for them to stay in Vermont, so they moved to New York.

I heard of another case of a bishop who was called in Idaho. I think he was a bishop for about two months; then he lost his job. They offered him a job in Seattle, Washington. He went. Three months later he was a stake president. The Lord can move you around; he will if you let him. You ought to go where your opportunities are because you have to provide for your family. Yes, President Lee has said, “The most important of the Lord’s work you’ll ever do will be the work you do within the walls of your own home.” President David O. McKay said, “No success can compensate for failure in the home.” Provide for your family. That has to do with your career.

Under the heading of financial and resource management, you need to be prepared financially for that which is to come. The most important thing you could do in this area would be to pay your tithing. That is the Lord’s financial plan. When you pay your tithing you have a promise from the Lord that you will always have sufficient for your needs; you will be able to provide for all the choice spirits the Lord will see fit to send you. You will be active, you will be happy, and you will be a great success. He also said, “He that is tithed shall not be burned at my coming” (D&C 64:23). It is great fire insurance.

But you ought to pay your tithing when you get it, with the first tenth going to the Lord. It belongs to him. If you pay it as soon as you get it, you get by with paying ten percent; if you wait until you have spent ninety percent, it will cost you a hundred percent to pay it. It is much easier to pay it when you can pay a tenth than it is when you must pay everything. It is also important that you budget your money and live within your income and not get involved in a bunch of credit cards. Save your money. Pay cash. Yes, you can do that. You still get a cash discount.

I recommend that you never buy a new car. You pay entirely too much for the smell of a new car. If you drive a new car out of the showroom, drive it around the block, and bring it straight back, they will not offer you within a thousand dollars of what you paid for it. That is too much to pay for the smell of a new car. You should buy a car that someone else bought on time and cannot pay for. You will get a great discount that way.

It is also vitally important that, after you give the Lord his tenth, you take the second tenth and put it away in a savings account under your own name. Do not give it to your wife or husband, as the case may be; do not give it to your children, do not give it to your in-laws, do not give it to your bishop, do not give it to your stake president, do not give it to anybody in this world—except the president of the Church; if he asks you for it, you can give it to him. Let it draw interest. If you will do that, if you will save one-tenth of what you earn throughout your working life, when you get to be sixty—retirement age—you will be ready to go on your second mission. That is what we are going to expect of you: go not only when you are nineteen, but again when you get your family raised, with your companion—eternal this time. You will have enough for your mission. In fact, you will be independently wealthy, because it will be drawing interest all the time. President Grant said, “Those who understand interest collect it. Those who do not pay it.” You should learn to understand it.

Take better care of your possessions, that which you have right now. Wipe your car off. Wipe off your washing machine when you get through using it, and do not let it rust out. It is important that you take care of what you have.

Under the heading of home production and storage, let me give you one little statement on that; I guess I do not have to say much about it. The Lord has been saying for over forty years that you ought to have a year’s supply of food. That is all; just about forty-one years. It will not do any good to go stand before the bar, slightly scorched, and say, “Lord, you really didn’t give us enough time; you know, it wasn’t fair. You only gave us forty years of warning and you know you gave Noah a hundred and ten years. It’s not fair.” This is what the prophet said, at the dedication of the Kaysville elevator back on June 10 of 1976:

And I hope—and this is my brief message to you today—that no one ever reads one word about the terrible flood, the sadness that it brought, the loss of life, the loss of livestock, destruction of farms, the suffering that has come to those good people [that was the Teton Dam disaster]; I say again, I hope that no one here will ever read another word about that disaster, without saying quietly to himself again, “No moment will ever pass when I will not be prepared as the Brethren tell me to do.” One year’s supply of commodities well cared, well selected, is a minimum. It is the minimum, and no family, if they’ve been married for only a day or a week, they should begin to have their year’s supply. Now that’s basic and we mean it. [When a prophet says, “We mean it,” can you disregard that? Not without suffering.] And there should be no family under the sound of my voice who is not already prepared for whatever eventuality may come.

When you are prepared you shall not fear.

Under the heading of physical health, it is important that you be healthy. You ought to take care of yourself. Of course, the Word of Wisdom is given to you for that particular purpose. We do not know all the reasons why we have the Word of Wisdom. I know that you can live the Word of Wisdom all your life and die of lung cancer. It has happened. It does not mean that you will not die of cancer, but it does mean that you will feel better while you are alive. I know that—I have had experience on both sides of this commandment. Living the Word of Wisdom will make you feel better, and you have to feel good if you are going to live the gospel. You know you have to love people—not just those that love you; that is too easy, you see—you have to love everybody, and you have to treat them with love and kindness and respect. It is easier to do that when you feel good. If you get up in the morning with a headache and someone says something cross to you, what do you say? “Lord bless you”? No; if you are not careful you will resort to the Law of Moses. You cannot be saved in this dispensation by living the Law of Moses. Not an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth—you have to live the Law of the Gospel that says you have to do good to those that spitefully use you, turn the other cheek, and go the second mile. You will feel better if you live the Word of Wisdom.

President McKay, back in April of 1968, also said that if we will live the Word of Wisdom we will learn something about self-control that will allow us to control our passions and desires when we need to ( Improvement Era , June 1968, p. 4). I know it is true. Since he made that statement, I have interviewed probably five thousand or more young men and women, some not so young, who have violated the laws of chastity. I have never found one that had not broken the Word of Wisdom first. I made that statement some time ago at a stake conference, and as I was leaving the meeting, a young man followed me to the door, and he grabbed me by the hand and jerked me back inside and said, “Elder Rector, I want you to know that I’ve violated the laws of chastity, and I didn’t break the Word of Wisdom first.”

I said, “Oh, is that right? Why not?”

And he said, “I never did like the taste of the stuff.”

I told him, “I’m not going to change my testament on the basis of your story. How did you know you didn’t like the taste of the stuff?”

”Oh,” he said, “I tasted it.”

And I said, “That’s just what I said.”

It is also important that you maintain proper weight control. When I came home from a mission down in Florida, five years ago now, I was thirty pounds overweight. So I got up at 5:30 every morning and went to the Deseret Gym at 6:00 for about an hour and fifteen minutes of racquetball. I lost that thirty pounds. I feel great. We need to take care of ourselves, and it is important that we do.

Practice preventive measures to preserve good health. Everybody should know how to take care of a burn, or a cut artery or vein. You learn this at church, in Relief Society, Primary, Scouts, Mutual. (Yes, Mutual, that is what it is going to be; we have returned to the name Mutual . Isn’t that great? Because no one knew what to call it.)

Under the heading of social and emotional strength—and this is the last area we will consider—it is important that you read the scriptures, as we said before, but it is also important that you have personal and family prayer. Brethren, each of you should always kneel with your wife in prayer before you retire in the evening. If some problems have developed during the day, the best way to smooth them out, President Lee said, is as you kneel together in the evening in prayer and when you finish that prayer you ought to kiss your wife and tell her you love her. That is the minimum—once a day for all eternity. And if you will follow that simple rule, you will never have so many problems during the day that you cannot handle them in the evening.

Repent of wrongdoings. You can repent of anything, except murder where you shed innocent blood, or the sin against the Holy Ghost. Anything else you can repent of; it takes time, but you can do it, because we have a gracious and kind Elder Brother that made it possible. He did not have any sins of his own. He took upon himself our sins. We caused him to suffer; but he did it because he loves us, and he says, “If you’ll come unto me and confess your sins and forsake them and follow me, you will go free.” We would be silly not to take advantage of that offer.

It is important to attend church meetings regularly and participate, hold family home evening on a regular basis, and perform frequent acts of service for family members and others. As a matter of fact, that is how we are going to be judged at the last day, on the basis of what we have done for other people. This is made very plain in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, where Jesus said,

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angles with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying: Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? [I don’t ever remember us seeing you like that. You must have us mixed up with someone else. People do look a lot alike, you know.]

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. [Matthew 25:31–40]

That is the way we are going to be judged. John said,

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. [Revelation 20:12–13]

That is how it is going to be. We are going to be judged on the basis of what we do for other people. But we must do it with love; that is the only way they will accept it. If you really want to help somebody, then you have to love them. If you do not they will not listen.

So the Lord wants us prepared both personally and as a family. We have to be prepared, if we do not want to be afraid; “[when] ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (D&C 38:30), because there will be a crown of righteousness laid up for you that cannot pass away. James told us what will happen if we get involved in helping somebody else. The last two verses of the book of James make it very plain. He said:

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. [James 5:19–20]

We know what hides the sins of the person that comes into the Church, don’t we? Yes, it costs you something to join this Church; it costs you your sins. That is one reason it is hard to bring people in. After all, their sins belong to them, and they want to hold on to them. But they cannot. They have to leave them on the outside. So it hides the sins of the person that comes into the Church, but the inference is very plain that it also hides the sins of the missionary or the member who brings them in. I would not dare give you that interpretation of that scripture if I had not heard Harold B. Lee say that is what it means. If you would like to get more evidence on it, you will find it in The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball; but when you bring somebody into the Church it will hide your sins at the last day.

May the Lord bless you to be prepared, yes, and to enjoy this probation where you are being prepared to meet God. It is important that you be happy, but “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10), and the Master said: “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:17). I bear witness to you that God our Heavenly Father is our Father, that he knows us all by our first name—he could call you by your first name—and that he hears and answers prayers. I know he does. He has heard and answered mine. I bear witness to you that Jesus is the Christ and that he lives. I know that he lives—yes, and that he has reestablished this, his true Church, on earth. You are a product of it, and this University is a product of it. It is through the great prophet Joseph Smith that we have a living prophet of God on earth today. That is Spencer W. Kimball—follow him and you will never go wrong, for he leads us in the path of righteousness as he communes with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose Church it really is, and whose plan we must follow if we would be happy. May you be happy, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hartman Rector, Jr., was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this devotional address was given at Brigham Young University on 31 May 1977.

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English Essay, Paragraph, Speech on “Obedience” for Kids, Students of Class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 CBSE, ICSE Board Examination

Obedience or the habit of doing what we are told to do. is one of the hardest things we have to learn. But it is so necessary, that if we do not learn it, we shall make a mess of our lives.

For obedience is a part of our training-indeed the most important part.

Obedience is due from children to their parents, from pupils to their teachers, from servants to their masters, from soldiers to their officers, from subjects to their government, and from all men to God.

Why should children obey their parents and teachers? Because they are ignorant and do not know what is best for them. If they are allowed to have their own way, they will hurt themselves and make themselves unhappy, and grow up untrained and useless men and women. Obedience is a kind of “co-operation”. This is a long word that means working together with another person. When a child willingly obeys his mother and father, he is really working with his parents in their efforts to help him and make him good, happy, and useful. A disobedient child is spoiling himself by stopping wiser people from helping him.

Why should a servant obey his master? Because he has promised and is paid to do what his master wants; and if he disobeys, he is a dishonest man who is not keeping his promise.

Why must a soldier obey his officers? Because an army is of no use without discipline. If soldiers in battle do just what they like, they will be defeated, and the whole object of the army will be missed.

Why must subjects obey the government? Because if they do not, there will be no law and order or justice, and society will break up in confusion, to the damage of everyone.

But there are times when obedience would be wrong. If a master orders his servant to do a wicked deed he should not obey. Why? Because we must obey God and our conscience first. And if any man’s orders are against the laws of God, we must disobey man in order to obey God. Obedience to God is the first law.

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Short Paragraph on Obedience (420 Words)

Here is your short paragraph on Obedience !

Obedience is an act of spiritual discipline. It helps to build a person’s character. Obedience teaches us self restraint. We must obey our teachers and parents.

Obedience plays an important role in student’s life. Obedience begins at infant age with the family until maturity. Children’s has to abide by the rules set down by the parents or grandparents (head of the family) where father or grandfather plays a major role.

Disobey results into punishment. The best way to escape punishment is to judge situation before reacting. Obedience is a basic aspect of everybody’s life. Even adults have to obey the rules set by the society.

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For instance, even parents and grandparents have to follow rules set by the employer. Disobedience results into loss of job or salary. Obedience is an essential element of human society. Since childhood all of us are trained to practice obedience. But we must try to adopt obedience in a progressive manner.

Instructions on how to be obedient-

I. Commit yourself & decide to be obedient towards worthy, righteous and reasonable rules.

II. Listen to your elders when they ask you to do something over another because they are more experienced than you.

III. Think before you act. Rules & regulations are made to maintain peace & order in the society.

IV. Use socially & formal acceptable ways to question rules that you do not agree with instead of disobeying to get your views across. Because your behavior may result into heartache for you as well as for people you love.

V. Start asking yourself how obeying that rule is going to benefit you in life.

VI. Remember that obeying right things helps you to become stronger & more able person. It will enhance your capability to resist temptation towards disobedience with passing situations. It will help you to ingrain values to handle more difficult situations in life.

VII. Be humble and grateful so that it can help you to become less rebellious and more obedient.

VIII. Discover ways in situations where you make mistakes. Ask for forgiveness for disobedient actions. Make retribution wherever possible.

IX. Ask for help if required. It is essential to have support system which can help you to remind you to make perfect choices. You may seek the help of your loved one and if you are religious then you may pray to God to guide you.

X. Take out time to evaluate the blessings & advantages that you get to enjoy from being obedient.

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Obedience Bible Verses

What does the Bible say about Obedience?

Obedience to God’s commands is the true sign of your love for God, and the only way you can know if you are obeying God is by knowing his Word. We should obey the commandments of Christ not as fearful slaves, but as loving children of God, trusting in Him who created us to be in communion with Himself!

Discover the top Bible verses about obedience and submitting to God's will in this collection of scripture quotes.

Top Bible Verses About Obedience

John 14:15 - “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

1 Peter 1:14 - As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

Acts 5:29 - But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

1 John 5:3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Isaiah 1:19 - If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;

Luke 6:46 - “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Use our Bible verses by topic page to quickly find scriptures about popular topics.

Read more Bible verses about obedience in the collection of scriptures below:

Exodus 19:5

Deuteronomy 11:1, 2 corinthians 10:5, ephesians 6:1-3, revelation 14:12, hebrews 13:17.

Romans 2:6-8

Colossians 3:22, romans 5:19, 1 peter 1:14.

How to Use obedience in a Sentence

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	the condition or quality of being dutiful and obedient. , , ,
	the act or practice of obeying. , , , , , ,
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Definition of obedience noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

blind/complete/unquestioning/total obedience
obedience to somebody/something He has acted in obedience to the law.

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COMMENTS

Talks about Obedience
Obedience is a principle of discipline, choice, and trust. Though rules are sometimes seen as oppressive or restrictive, God's commandments are intended to free us. When we obey Him, we are freed from the negative consequences of sin—in this life and throughout eternity. We are also enabled to reach our greatest potential, having developed ...
Obedience: The Key that Opens All Doors
Jesus came to earth and lived a life of perfect submission and obedience to the Father's will. The supreme expression of his obedience was submitting to the shameful, humiliating, and excruciating death of crucifixion, which was also the supreme expression of his love for the Father (John 14:31). In this act of self-sacrificing love, he ...
"To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice"
Amen. David McPherson was a BYU professor and chair of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology when this devotional address was given on 1 July 1997. I'll Go, I'll Do, I'll Be: Three Steps Toward A Monumental Life. In a world where morality is changing, the truths and commandments of God are unchanging.
8 Reasons Why Obedience to God Is Important
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible has a lot to say about obedience.In the story of the Ten Commandments, we see just how important the concept of obedience is to God.Deuteronomy 11:26-28 sums it up like this: "Obey and you will be blessed. Disobey and you will be cursed." In the New Testament, we learn through the example of Jesus Christ that believers are called to a life of obedience.
Obedience, Creation, and Freedom
In conclusion (yes, here is that trumpet phrase), I would like to state three propositions about obedience that I think emerge from what I have said: 1. Obedience is a dynamic force; it is the force by which creation comes about and by which we can participate with the Lord in the ongoing creation of the world. 2.
5 Great Bible Lessons On Obedience
Obedience is difficult. You may have to be obedient to a boss, a parent, a pastor, and definitely to God, but they are all very hard to do. Our natural instinct is to do what we feel and think is ...
Chapter 17: Obedience, a Law of Heaven
Supporting Statements. Obedience is the first law of heaven. " Obedience is the first law of heaven, the cornerstone upon which all righteousness and progression rest. It consists in compliance with divine law, in conformity to the mind and will of Deity, in complete subjection to God and his commands" (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 539).
How Can I Grow in Obeying God?
In Romans 1:5, the apostle Paul talks about "the obedience of faith," as the ESV puts it. Or more clearly, "the obedience that comes from faith," as the NIV puts it. We obey God only by faith in God. Faith-less obedience is a fiction. And this point, in this text, led to a late-night life-change moment for one of our listeners named Stefan.
How can our obedience lead to freedom?
For Isaac, obedience brought forth a nation. For Jesus, self-offering led to glory. This glory was not, as many might think, an efflorescence of pride or a magnification of ego. Instead it was an ...
10 Key Bible Verses on Obedience
10 Key Bible Verses on Obedience
What does the Bible say about obedience?
What does the Bible say about obedience?
Essay about Obedience
Essay about Obedience. This essay sample was donated by a student to help the academic community. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples. Ever since we were children, we have been obeying a higher authority and conforming to what society wants us to believe. Growing up, we have been obeying some form of a higher ...
Obedience (human behavior)
Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of "social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure". [1] Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which some authors define as behavior influenced by peers while others use it as a more general term for positive responses to another individual's request, [2] and from conformity, which is ...
Obedience Brings Happiness
Hartman Rector, Jr., was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this devotional address was given at Brigham Young University on 31 May 1977. The world offers transitory pleasures, but only obedience brings happiness. Are you obedient to the scriptural commandments of God and to ...
English Essay, Paragraph, Speech on "Obedience" for Kids, Students of
Obedience. Obedience or the habit of doing what we are told to do. is one of the hardest things we have to learn. But it is so necessary, that if we do not learn it, we shall make a mess of our lives. For obedience is a part of our training-indeed the most important part.
PDF Queen Elizabeth I's Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, 1588
Queen Elizabeth I's Speech to the Troops at Tilbury, 1588. My loving people, We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so ...
Write a speech on the topic obedience is the key
Answer: Obedience is "doing my duty with a good attitude."Obedience is not just about rules, regulations, and punishment. It is really about cooperating with one another in order to have a safe and orderly school, home, and community.Think of the peace and freedom you enjoy when neighbors respect one another and obey the law—and the chaos that follows when there is no law and order ...
Short Paragraph on Obedience (420 Words)
Here is your short paragraph on Obedience ! Obedience is an act of spiritual discipline. It helps to build a person's character. Obedience teaches us self restraint. We must obey our teachers and parents. Obedience plays an important role in student's life. Obedience begins at infant age with the family until maturity. Children's has to abide by the rules set down by the parents or ...
22 Best Obedience Bible Verses
Top Bible Verses About Obedience. John 14:15 - "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 1 Peter 1:14 - As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, Acts 5:29 - But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. 1 John 5:3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his ...
Essay on Obedience
Are you looking for an essay on Obedience? You are in the right place! This video provides you with the best essay on Obedience in English. It is very easy...
Examples of 'Obedience' in a Sentence
Buddhist monks learn the art of obedience by a process of 'living by the bell'. Grant me Your grace to walk in obedience to Your commands. The dog was being walked by its owner, who had just taken the dog to an obedience class in the store. Now that is serving the central idea of obedience as a virtue.
obedience
Definition of obedience. English dictionary and integrated thesaurus for learners, writers, teachers, and students with advanced, intermediate, and beginner levels. ... Writing Tool (Beta) Legacy activities: My Wordsmyth Lookup History: My Wordlists: Legacy activities: ... part of speech: noun: definition 1:
obedience noun
Definition of obedience noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.