Why Obey

Monday, September 14, 2009

• Topic Introduction: Why Obey

Last Saturday evening, I reviewed with Wendy some of the topics I wanted to cover at Stake Conference. I always have so many topics I want to share, and I know I can't share them all. So I like to get a reaction from a member of the stake, and Wendy is the most convenient stake member I know, so I imposed on her to help me narrow it down..

I proceeded to review topics I had considered. Topics like "Why Obey", "The Importance of Being Active", "Why Temple Marriage" as well as a number of other topics.

After a brief discussion about these topics, we were back into the real world, getting ready to go to a 50th Wedding Anniversary openhouse for my Uncle and Aunt. I was a little reluctant to go, because I'd miss most if not all of the BYU vs Oklahoma Football Game. I knew I needed to go to the open house, but I also really wanted to see the big game. As I started to hint around that perhaps we maybe change our evening plans, and have a nice evening at home around the TV, Wendy said to me - "You need to give yourself that talk on reasons WHY we should OBEY, so that you will do what you know is right."

"Nooooo" I thought, not the "Do what you know is right" gambit. This was the same motivator that my mom had used on me so effectively growing up….and which my wife had used during all of our marriage. Whenever, I wanted to do one thing but I needed to do something else - they have said to me - "I know you'll do, what you know is right!"

What are you going to do with that? You're instantly locked in to do what you need to do, and not what you want to do. Cuz you don't want to do what's wrong. None of us want that. And if you know that one thing is 'better' than the other, then you must choose the better… This is a powerful motivator. To do what you know is right.

And a lot of people don't. They do only what they want to do, and not what they should do. And hence come most of the world's greatest woes.

For what it's worth, we did go to the open house that night, but we also got to listen to the game on the radio coming and going…and got to see the final 5 minutes on TV.

But It was at that moment that I felt a flash of inspiration that this was a topic that was worthy of a Stake Conference Talk. And one worth all of our consideration. Why Obey.

Each of us have those moments when we know we should do one thing, yet we want to do another thing, and we need that extra help to get us over the hump and get us to do the right thing.

The choice we make might not always be something so trivial as choosing between an anniversary open house or a Football Game.
○ Some may be tempted to break the word of wisdom
○ Perhaps for some the challenge is with tithing,
○ For some perhaps the challenge comes every Sunday morning and they have to choose between sleeping in or going to Church
○ Or for some it may be something more significant like trying to determine whether to wait and get married in the temple, or to get married now outside the temple.

Whatever the temptation we may face, all of us sometimes need a little reminder to do what is right and let the consequence follow. To Choose the Right.

For some, many use the CTR Ring to remind them. I would propose that each of us compliment the use of CTR jewelry with 6 doctrines which can help remind us to choose the right when temptations grow strong.


• Why Obey? Reason #1 = Obedience Pleases God.

There are many levels of motivation for doing anything. There are probably as many different motivations as there are people. There are telestial, terrestrial and celestial motivations. And I would suggest that the most celestial of all reasons to obey, is because we seek to please God.

When God sees us seeking to give him gifts of personal sacrifice, seeking to do things his way, we please him.

Of course, we don't obey perfectly, as did our Savior, but as we seek a more obedient heart and to live more obediently, sacrificing the ways of the world, and living with a broken heart and contrite spirit, being faithful in all our dealings, we begin to please the Lord.

Pleasing our Father in Heaven gives us hope and strength to endure the trials upon us. When we are called to serve in a challenging calling, or to take on a difficult assignment, or to sacrifice a sin, we develop greater and greater hope as our faith is strengthened. For with continued obedience we learn that we really would do all things to please him who is our king, our creator.

So Reason #1 is to please God. As we review the other reasons to obey, recognize that ultimately we seek to obey, to please he who created and loves us.


• Why Obey? Reason #2 = Disobedience leads to Misery...OBEDIENCE leads to happiness

The book of mormon is full of stories of people who disobeyed, and were sorry they did. A great example of how disobedience leads to sorrow is that of King Noah who had everything his evil heart desired. Money, thrones, authority over the people, a bunch of high priests who surrounded him telling him how great he was. But then the prophet Abinadi told him that he and his people all needed to repent. They needed to Change. They needed to obey.

King Noah didn't like the message, and so he had the prophet burned at the stake. Suddenly, the prophetic warnings of Abinadi's started to come true. Noah' enemies came upon him, dispersed his people, took his thrones and his money, and then burned him at the stake, in the same manner that he had killed the prophet.

How many of us are living like King Noah? We have money, authority, people surrounding us who tell us how good we are, and yet perhaps like King Noah, we don't do what we should do, but rather we do only what we want to do. Perhaps we don't go to all the church meetings we know we should. Perhaps we aren't honest with our employer, or our bishop. Perhaps we're inflicted with a habit which drags us down. Any time we ignore doing what we know we should do, it's like adding a heavy rock on an already heavy backback. Each of these weigh us down, and cause a feeling of increased misery. Guilt is a terrible companion.

Although people who break commandments may appear to be happy, like king noah, eventually their disobedience causes them to stumble into the pit they dug for another, or the pit they have tried to hide, and they become truly miserable. The scriptures teach us that 'wickedness never was happiness.' (Alma 41:10) And while most everyone wants to be happy. Most people seek happiness from the wrong sources.

Some people think that money, fame, popularity, or physical beauty will make them happy.

( I can testify that money doesn't come from those things - cuz I don't have any of those things, but I'm as happy as a jaybird. )

Fortunately, the book of mormon is not only full of examples of people who disobeyed and lived to regret it, but also full of examples of people who obeyed, and were filled with so much glory and happiness they couldn't contain their joy.

One such people were alive at the time that the Savior visited America. They were an obedient people for three generations. Mormon describes them as follows: (4 Nephi 1:15) And it came to pass that there was no acontention in the land, because of the blove of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. And there were no aenvyings, nor bstrifes, nor ctumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of dlasciviousness; and surely there could not be a ehappier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God. "

Those who obey find that happiness comes from being aligned with God's will. Misery comes from distancing yourself from it.

In the book entitled "Why? Powerful answers and practical reasons for Living LDS Standards" a book which I dearly love and recommend to everyone - especially every youth in the church - and a book I also quote from heavily, they discuss Gospel Math.

Gospel Math is as follows:
Commandments + Obedience = Happiness
Commandments - Obedience = Misery

>>>>>>>>

Now having said this, I want to be very clear, that I am not saying that obedience means you won't have hard things happen in your life. All obedient saints will suffer great trials and challenges in their lives. Just as all people suffer. But what I AM SAYING, is that when we are obedient, and we know the lord is pleased with us, and we can carry heavy burdens and pass through hard, hard things, and still rejoice.

An example of a people who knew how to rejoice even in the midst of hard things, are the People of Ammon, You may remember them as the parents of the sons of Helaman - those stripling warriors who were so faithful. The reason they were so faithful, is because they saw their parents submit themselves to death, rather than break their covenants to never use their weapons of war. So when their enemies came upon them, they lay themselves before them and waited to be killed….rather than break their covenants. And here's the point - even as their enemies killed them they praised god. I must think that being killed by angry terrible soliders is one of the hardest things you could do, but to Praise God in the act - to be filled with joy and rejoicing, reveals something very powerful about the strong hearts of the obedient.


• WHY OBEY? Reason #3 = Obedience leads us to safety.

Let me share with you a brief metaphor to help visualize the importance of obedience to keep us safe:

MINEFIELD Metaphor
Pretend for a moment that you had to walk through a minefield with hidden explosives buried all around you. Would you prefer to just walk blindly through the minefield, or would you like to have the mines marked on a map so you could see the danger? If you had such a map that showed you the location of the mines would you follow the map closely or ignore it and say, 'I don't need anyone telling me what to do. I hate all these restrictions and rules. Just let me walk where I want to walk! I can figure it out for myself!"

The commandments of God are similar to that minefield map. God knows which steps in life will hurt and even kill us spiritually, and which steps will lead us along a path of safety and happiness. When he tells us 'Don't lie' or 'serve your neighbor' he is saying 'don't step there' and 'do step here, it's a better path." Ignoring God and his divine commandments is like ignoring the map and walking blindly through a minefield.

The tricky thing is that sometimes the mines are hidden in places which are fun and pleasurable. And so, many seeking fun and pleasure just wander right into the most dangerous places where deadly traps lie in wait, traps which can destroy our families, our testimonies, or our worthiness to receive the blessings of the temple and destroy our futures. And they never see it coming. These dangerous places or activities are precisely the places and activities which the Lord commands us not to go or do…because they are dangerous.

It can be confusing to see friends or other good people explore dangerous or pleasurable activities when you know that mines lurk there. But we should never judge them, and we certainly shouldn't ever be jealous of them. We have been given a map, and the map can keep us safe and lead us to happiness, if we will follow it. We should always be grateful and attentive to the map we've been given.


• WHY OBEY? Reason #4 = Obedience gives us FREEDOM. Disobedience leads to SLAVERY.

Lots of people think of laws or rules as bad. But in reality they are good.
○ I suppose all of us enjoy games or sports or one kind or another. We may not all agree on which team to cheer for, but I suspect we enjoy the game nonetheless. Imagine how boring and frustrating your favorite game of choice would be if rules didn't exist or were not adhered to. Without rules, the game evolves into chaos - or as we used to call it - kill the man with the ball. Kill the man with the ball was a game with no rules, except that if you held the ball, you had to run because everyone else who was playing would try to knock you down and take the ball from you. There was no goal line. There were no out-of-bounds. There were no penalties. There were no referees. There was just running and getting beat up by the othter players. And while no one died…no one had much fun either, because there were no rules.

○ Thankfully, the Lord has given us guidance, rules, and commandments so that we can know how to play the game of life. And as we play by the rules, we are blessed with greater happiness and blessings.

○ Elder Hafen taught: "Curiously the invitation to submit to God's will initially looks like a restriction on our freedom, yet ends by bringing us the full liberty of eternal life. Laws and rules may seem to limit rather than free us; but it is only because of the LAW of gravity that we can walk. Only by adhereing to the LAWS of physics can we compose beautiful music and send up spaceships. Obedience is liberating not confining. By contrast Satan's invitation to disobey God's laws initially looks like an expansion of freedom; yet if we follow satan, we will end up in bondage to him.'

○ When we are obedient to the laws of good health (things like eat right, exercise often, sleep more), then we have greater power to live and do, than those who ignore the laws of good health. When was the last time you saw a runner who was also a chain smoker? It doesn't happen.

○ The same is true with our spiritual lives. When we obey laws of good spiritual health (things like read scriptures, serve others, honor our covenants, pray, etc) then we have greater power to live spiritually than those who ignore the laws of spiritual health.

○ Disobedience leads to Addiction which takes away our Freedom to Choose

As Stake President, I have the opportunity to work with people who want to progress in the gospel. Some want to receive the priesthood. Some want to go to the temple. Some want to serve a mission. But there are many, who don't qualify for this advancement, because they are locked into habits or addictions of one sort or another, and they can't find the strength to break it.

Initially disobedience begins as thoughts, usually thoughts of rebellion or pride. But quickly those thoughts lead to actions or poor choices. These actions over time change and go from a choice to a habit, and then from habit to an addiction. Eventually addictions take over conscious choice from these people, and they are enslaved to their habits.

When we obey God's commandments we are making a choice to avoid many of those limiting, addictive, and controlling practices and behaviors that can take away our freedom.

When we choose to disobey, we are making a choice to start down a path of slavery and reduced freedom.

For example: On June 30, 2007, there were more than 2,299,116 prisoners in the US prison system. The leading causes of imprisonment were violent offenses such as murder , rape, sexual assault and robery. Property offenses- such as burlary, fraud, and vandalism. Drug offenses. Can you think of any crime that does not break some sort of commandment. So these prisoners chose to be disobedient. And in so choosing, also had freedoms taken away, literally because of their disobedience.


• WHY OBEY: Reason #5 - Obedience makes us stronger and stronger.

I love the concept that the more we try to obey, the better at it we get. Just like any skill or talent, if we want to obey, then we get better and better at it.

Regarding obedience, Pres Ezra Taft Benson taught, 'when obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes a quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.'

○ A choice to obey is a choice for greater power
Obedience helps us avoid addictions and slavery because each time we obey, we are blessed with an increased amount of the spirit of the lord, which strengthens us to withstand greater and greater temptation.

We can invite the light of christ into our life by living the commandments. Note what happens when we receive light: 'He that receiveth light, and continueth in god, receiveth more light; and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day (DC50:24)

But listen to what happens when we disobey and we invite darkness into our lives…Alma 12:9-11
  10 And therefore, he that will aharden his heart, the same receiveth the blesser portion of the word;   11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser aportion of the word until they bknow nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the cchains of dhell.

These chains are exactly what we're talking about when we talk about a loss of freedom in our lives. It comes when we disobey. But when we obey, we receive a greater portion of the word until it is given to know all things in full.


○ Obedience requires acclimatizing

This concept of getting stronger and stronger as we become more and more obedient can be exemplified by President Yorgasons hike to Kilamanjero a few years ago.

At the beginning of the hike everyone was excited and prepared. But as the hike progressed and the altitude got higher and higher, people started to drop out. Many of them experienced what was called "altitude sickness". This is an ailment that occurs for someone who has gone higher than their body can deal with in such a short time. They get literally sick, and some start talking crazy talk, and doing crazy things.
It's because their body didn't aclimatize, or get used to the thin amount of oxygen in the air. However, if they could have taken a few more days to acclimatize before they continued their hike up to higher elevations their body would have been able to adjust to the higher level and they could have continued their climb..

Keeping the commandments is similar. Living a higher way of life although it may be hard at first becomes easier the more time we spend doing it.


• WHY OBEY? Reason #6 = Obedience gives us blessings

Last week I received a wonderful letter from one of our good elders serving a mission. He talked about how he hadn't realized before his mission what a real and powerful blessing the atonement is. But he told about how when he teaches those whose lives have been corrupted by evil and sin, that he realizes that THE GREATEST DESIRE of their hearts is to be clean from it, to get it out of their lives…to be able to be able to start anew - CLEAN.

And he talked about what a huge revelation it was for him, when he realized that the thing they wanted most in their life - to be clean - was THE VERY GIFT he was there to deliver to them. The atonement of Jesus Christ was a gift he could help give them in the waters of baptism. His heart was so filled with joy when he realized that, and it's helped him ever since.

And that is what obedience gives us. It gives us the opportunity to not only receive blessings - blessings of the atonement, blessings of the temple, blessings of the priesthood, blessings of the gospel. But it also always us to share them with others who so desperately seek them.

In DC 130: 20 it says, "There is a alaw, irrevocably decreed in bheaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all cblessings are predicated, And when we obtain any ablessing from God, it is by bobedience to that law upon which it is predicated. "

What a blessing that there are so many commandments which have been given to us. For with each law we choose to obey, we receive blessings. So with many laws, comes many blessings….if we obey.



Let me close with a story. A father and his son went out to the nearby park to fly a kite. As the kite rose higher and higher in the air, the boy could feel the tug of the kite string, and wondered why they had attached the string in the first place. It was clear that the kite wanted to fly higher and the only thing holding it back was the string. So the boy cut the string. He was surprised and dismayed when the kite at first jumped higher, but then tossed and turned and tumbled all the way to the ground where it cracked and broke. The boy was heartbroken. Don't ask me what the dad was doing, I'm not sure. But the boy found him, and asked him the question: Dad, why do you need a string to fly a kite? And the dad said, it helps the kite stay strong against the winds that blow against it. And as it stays strong, the wind will take it high into the sky.

I testify that as we resist the winds of temptation, and as we hold to the iron rod, or kite string, and obey commandments of the Lord we will stay strong, will he will help our spirits soar, and we will fly.

May these 6 reasons WHY OBEY, help us to resist the temptation to fall.

○ Obedience pleases the Lord
○ Obedience leads to happiness
○ Obeience guides us to safety
○ Obedience gives us Freedom
○ Obedience makes us stronger and stronger
○ Obedience gives us blessings

May we always seek to be obedient.