Last Sunday’s lesson was the first in the new manual, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith entitled: "Living What We Believe." Robin Carbajal taught her first lesson and did a terrific job helping us get a feel for who George A. Smith was and to realize “our religion must find expression in our everyday lives.” Robin divided the lesson into three sections:
1) Obey, 2) Prepare, 3) Live It
1) Our obedience to the gospel—not just our Church membership—qualifies us to be called Saints. Worship in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a devoted life, a desire to be worthy of him in whose image we have been created and who has given us all that is worthwhile—the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What a fine thing it is to feel that we belong to a church that is or should be composed of saints. It is not sufficient that we have our names upon the records. It is important that we live the lives that entitle us to be called Saints, and if you will do that, you will be happy.
2) Our Heavenly Father expects us to prepare for and live worthy of His promised blessings. In the midst of the unsettled condition, the uncertainty that is in the world, if there ever was a time when we should examine ourselves, to find out if we are doing what the Lord would have us do, it is today; if there ever was a time when we should be sure that we are in the pathway of eternal life, it is now. We can’t slight these opportunities. God will not be mocked. When he has offered to us a gift, when he has placed within our reach a blessing, when he has invited us to partake of a feast and we ignore it, we may be sure that we shall suffer the distress that will come to those who refuse the blessings of the Lord when they are offered.
We cannot live like the world and expect to obtain our rightful place in the Kingdom. The Lord tells us in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, referring to evil: that he cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance [see D&C 1:31]. This is hard medicine, because some of us in the Church have the idea that we can trifle with the Gospel of our Lord and with fundamentals of Eternal Life, and yet gain the place we want. This is not true. The Lord will be merciful, but he will be just, and if we want any blessing there is only one way we may obtain it, and that is to keep the commandments that will entitle us to the blessing.
3) If we are doing our full duty, our lives give evidence of our belief in the gospel. "If the gospel of Jesus Christ does not make me a better man, then I have not developed as I should, and if our neighbors not in this Church can live among us from year to year and see no evidence of the benefits that come from keeping the commandments of God in our lives, then there is need for reform in Israel."
I pray that the spirit which will enable us to serve faithfully may be with us, that the desire to do good may overcome the temptations that are placed in our way, and that,wherever we go, others observing our good works may be constrained to glorify our Father who is in heaven.
Now let us examine ourselves. Are we doing as much as we should? And if we are not, let us turn around and do better. If we are doing as we should, if we are reaching out in all directions to do good to the children of our Father, then we will bring to ourselves the blessing of an all wise Father, and we will rejoice in the good that we accomplish here.
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