Posted on by Abe Austin

Trial Before Blessing, Pleasure Before Anguish- John 9:4, Doctrine and Covenants 64:25

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Wherefore, if ye believe me, ye will labor while it is called today.

COMMENTARY

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day.
Labor while it is called today.
Yesterday we examined how it is difficult for us to choose unpleasantness in the moment, even when we know a greater good will follow afterwards. I mentioned how our bodies are constrained by the “now.” They do not feel tomorrow or next week, they only feel this moment. Therefore asking a body to experience discomfort in “this moment” is hard, no matter what. It always will be.
However there is a salvation in the body’s state of constant immediacy as well. It is this finite-ness that makes us wary of procrastination. Note how the above scriptures appeal directly to the our physical, time-bound natures: work during today, don’t procrastinate until the night.
Think of it this way: any time your body complains about discomfort in the now it is reminding you that the “now” is all you have to work with. Whenever I commit to repenting “tomorrow,” it is my temporal body that calls me out for making an empty promise. It knows that I can’t do anything tomorrow, only right now.
We are confined to only having a finite amount of time in this earth life, and in that finite time we are confined to only having the present to do any work in. These limitations are blessings! If we had infinity to work with then the pull of procrastination might be undeniable. It would become so much harder, perhaps even impossible, to feel motivated to accomplish anything. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it next century. I promise.”
It is the fear of our time limits that gives us the power to overcome the fear of present discomfort.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Trial Before Blessing, Pleasure Before Anguish- Hebrews 12:11 (NIV), Proverbs 20:4

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

COMMENTARY

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Yesterday we discussed the phenomenon we see of enduring discomfort in the moment so that one might obtain a better reward later on. One example is exercising now so that we can feel healthier over time.
And yet we still struggle to endure even the momentary pain, and the reason why is captured in the two snippets above. Each of them is taken out of context to only show the pain and discomfort stages. Each of them sounds entirely unappealing once the promise of reward has been removed.
But this more limited perspective is the constant state of the body. In our minds and in our spirits we may know the promise of the future, but in our bodies we only feel the immediacy of right now. As Jesus observed “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)
And so I knew I needed to study for my tests in school, I knew that would result in better grades and a better future, but for right now I really wanted to play this new video game. Telling me that I could always play the game later wasn’t much help because I wasn’t concerned about having fun later, I was concerned about right now.
Denying oneself pleasure for the greater good seems to go against our nature, then. More accurately, it goes against one of our natures: the physical nature. But we also have a spiritual nature, and it maintains constant tension against the physical one. But this isn’t to say that the physical nature is all bad. Perhaps it produces the conundrum, but as we will see tomorrow, it also delivers us from it!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Trial Before Blessing, Pleasure Before Anguish- Lorem Ipsum

No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but those who pursue pleasure irrationally may encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally toil and pain can procure some great pleasure…
Who would fault a man who chooses pleasure that has no negative consequences, or who avoids any pain which produces no resultant pleasure? On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue.
The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse.

COMMENTARY

Have you ever seen the Lorem Ipsum text? It’s a large collection of altered Latin that starts like this: “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua…” You may have come across and not even realized it, you see it is commonly used as a placeholder or background text. If you look closely at a graphic with nonsense text written on a newspaper, then quite possibly this is what was used.
But it’s actually an excerpt from a work by Cicero, and one that is particularly profound. I have given an abbreviated form of the translation up above. Though this is not a work of scripture, I am convinced that there is a simple truth to it. There is nothing wrong in desiring pleasure and avoiding pain…yet only if one has the wisdom to recognize that actions of immediate pleasure sometimes are followed by a worse pain, and moments of immediate pain sometimes are followed by a better pleasure.
Thus one is right to avoid the pain of touching the burning stove, but one is also right to endure the pain of healthy exercise to enjoy a better physical condition. And yet, even knowing that eating too much will be bad for us, we still do it anyway. It is common knowledge today that smoking cigarettes is bad for us, but people still smoke. Our conscience warns against telling lies, but still we lie. Tomorrow let’s examine why this sort of illogic is baked into our very nature, and how God calls us to overcome it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Trial Before Blessing, Pleasure Before Anguish- Ether 12:6-7, 12, 18

I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.
For it was by faith that Christ showed himself unto our fathers, after he had risen from the dead; and he showed not himself unto them until after they had faith in him…
For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.
And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God.

COMMENTARY

Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith
Wherefore they first believed in the Son of God
The obvious reason for why this pattern of trial first and blessings afterwards is, of course, to promote faith. Although there are many different religions in the world, almost every one begins with a principle of faith: some notion of exercising belief in something first, and only later finding the reassurance of it.
This isn’t to suggest that God does nothing before we reach out in faith. After all, we need a catalyst to have faith in anything to begin with. If following God could only begin from a total vacuum, then following him would only occur as a random mistake, rather than as a directed path. And so the pattern that seems most accurate is: God partially discloses Himself, He then invites His child to do something on faith alone, and then God reveals Himself more fully after they do.
This is how he called Moses: first He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, then He called Moses to free the Israelites, then manifested His full power as Moses obeyed. He first promised Abraham a son, then He required Abraham to sacrifice that son, and then He intervened when Abraham obeyed.
The initial encouragement is never enough to make the following trial easy. It is still always a leap of faith. This one fact is enough to hide the journey in plain sight. The way is there for everyone, yet because it is gated by faith alone “few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:14)

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Lord Sees You- Question

Some of the most heart-warming messages I’ve received from God are as simple as “I see you.” All of us have had periods feeling overlooked and underappreciated, like we are only supporting characters in someone else’s story.

I am convinced that it is in moments of isolation that people to develop their worst habits and dependencies. Being “seen” by God isn’t just something that’s nice, it’s something we need to be our healthiest, best selves.

In this study I’d like to examine the different ways God sees us, the positive effects that come about by being seen by Him, and what we can do to more fully feel His light around us.

In the meantime, what are ways that God has shown you that He sees and cares for you? What are the changes that have come about in your life because of this knowledge?

Posted on by Abe Austin

Commandments and Personal Revelation- Summary

This study was an excellent opportunity for me to dive into a topic that has been a big source of confusion to me, and I am sure to many others as well. It’s important to remember that just because one has questions about the commandments does not mean that they don’t want to keep them. That desire naturally wants knowledge to be able to steer correctly, and so studies like these are important. Though I should add that the greatest understanding of commandments does not come by study alone, but by actively living them.

Commandments are Given and Followed By Love

One of the ways I’ve come to measure my understanding of a commandment is whether I can see the element of love in it. Can I see the love from God in giving it to me, and the love for myself and others in following it? For example, one could view laws of sexual purity as restricting one’s pleasure, or they could see them as protecting oneself from deep wounding and facilitating a more abiding romance.
Jesus came at a time where the law had been inflated into an oppressive and unwieldy mass. I believe a very real part of his mission was to remind his contemporaries of this love that had been originally intended by the law.
John 13:34- A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 14:15- If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Matthew 22:37-39-Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Commandments Should be Personal

There already existed in the Mosaic Law provisions for the poor before Jesus’s ministry. For example, farmers were required to leave portions of their fields for the impoverished to freely glean from.
When Jesus instructed the rich young man to sell all of his possessions and give to the poor, though, he was asking for something that went far above what the law required. Of other people he had different life requirements.
“Go and sin no more.”
“Behold thy mother.”
“I will make you fishers of men.”
In each case Jesus understood that we need the explicitly spelled-out commandments, but that we then have additional personal needs fitted for our individual growth. To each of us he promises this same personalized guidance.
John 14:26- But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things

Commandments, Guidance, and Revelation

I know there all manner of voices that can cast confusion on the commandments. The world calls them unnecessary, the faithful give different interpretations to them, and your own mind may obsess over whether you are following them properly or not.
Even so there are answers if we look for them. There are resources to guide us rightly. Specific injunctions like those in Moses’s ten commandments lay the ground rules for us. General guidance like those in Jesus’s two great commandments explain what our intentions should be. Personal communion from the spirit adds the final element in being able to make personalized and worthy decisions.
And it is alright if our initial thoughts of what we are supposed to be doing are imperfect. We can be sure that God will steer us as needed, just so long as we are trying sincerely.
Isaiah 28:10- For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Commandments and Personal Revelation- Life Examples

I mentioned yesterday that even if we agree that a commandment is a commandment there still can be a variety of opinions on how exactly one should follow that commandment. Take for example the question of how to keep the Sabbath Day holy. I always believed that that meant not going to the store then, because that would make other people work during the Lord’s Day.
It was a nice and tidy solution, but then it became more muddled with the advent of online shopping. Is it wrong to make a computer algorithm process my purchase on the Sabbath? Is just accruing a charge on my credit card breaking the Sabbath?
And even if I decide to not make online purchases on the Sabbath, packages that I am waiting for are still going to be processed through packing facilities and transported on shipping containers on that day. It’s unavoidable.
Does keeping the Sabbath require that I just abstain from online shopping entirely? Or am I just overthinking things and shouldn’t even worry about it? Where should the line be drawn?

This brings me to a memory where I was attending a Sunday School lesson and a similar quandary emerged. We were discussing the commandment to give to the poor and the question was raised whether we should give money to panhandlers or not.
Some of those present said they refused to do that, because they feared their contribution would just be used to purchase drugs or alcohol. Their charity would actually be enabling harmful behavior. They suggested that people buy food for panhandlers instead.
Others said they tried buying food and had it rejected, in which case they had just wasted their money and no one was benefited at all. They suggested it was better to volunteer at halfway-homes and soup kitchens where one knew that the needy were receiving real nourishment.
Still others said it wasn’t for us to judge how the panhandlers were using our money. Just give to them, and whether they use it for good things or not is on their own heads.
There were so many different opinions, and all of them had valid points. As the class discussed this we slowly uncovered what I believe was a gospel truth. Our conclusion was that the commandment was to “Give to the Poor.” If Brother Jones examines his conscience and counsels with God and decides that means he should give money to panhandlers then that is fine. If Sister Stevens examines her conscience and counsels with God and decides she would rather volunteer at a soup kitchen then that is fine too.
So long as you are doing something and your conscience is truly content with it, then you are keeping the commandment. You do not need to be concerned that someone else’s method of commandment-keeping is different from your own, we all have our own song to sing.

This, then, is commandments combined with personal revelation, and this makes the commandment become more alive! The law has now been made personal, not general. Now you have your way of giving to the poor, and your way of keeping the Sabbath, and your way of nourishing your body. Now you have ownership of your own faithfulness.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Commandments and Personal Revelation- Mosiah 4:29, Isaiah 42:21, Doctrine and Covenants 58:25-26

And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.
…
The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
…
They shall counsel between themselves and me. For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things;

COMMENTARY

For there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them
It is not meet that I should command in all things
The simple truth is that there are too many permutations of possible actions for a written law to ever encapsulate the entirety of all forbidden behavior. Even the same action can be considered both right or wrong, depending on its context.
Those that seek loopholes in any law will always be able to find them, no matter how far the law bloats itself to try to and thwart their mischief.

They shall counsel between themselves and me
He will magnify the law, and make it honourable
If I am to have any hope of truly following the commandments I am going to need some sort of constant and living guidance. A pastor will never be available enough to guide me in every life situation, and two different pastors might even give me conflicting advice.
The only solution, then, is to have personal revelation. Or as these above scriptures describe it: to counsel with God and learn from Him how we should magnify the law in our individual circumstances. By communing with Him and receiving instruction perfectly fitted to our need in that moment, we are finally able to dispel any ambiguity and act with full confidence.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Commandments and Personal Revelation- Galatians 3:24-25, 3 Nephi 9:17, Matthew 5:27-28

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
…
For behold, by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled.
…
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

COMMENTARY

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.
In me is the law of Moses fulfilled.
Thus far we have explored the motivation and purposes behind the commandments. The reasons why God gives them to us and the reason why it is in our best interest to follow them.
But the question still remains: just which commandments still apply? The two passages I have mentioned above make clear that there were certain components of the Law of Moses that served as moral training-wheels, strict observations meant to help a generation that did not yet have the benefit of Christ’s ministry and atonement.
In the time of Moses there had not yet been any sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and so they were required to make animal sacrifices in the interim. After Jesus Christ’s atonement the need for those sacrifices then ended.

But…whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery…already in his heart.
But clearly there are elements of the Law of Moses that were not done away with. Rather than dispel the ten commandments and its injunction that “thou shalt not commit adultery” Jesus actually reinforced and expanded that law. So clearly some elements of that law were not intermediary observations, they were universal truths.
Within Christianity alone there are heated debates as to where those lines should be drawn. Seventh Day Adventists maintain that Saturday is still the proper sabbath and other sects say it is Sunday. There then remains further uncertainty as to what the exact point of restriction is on that day. Jesus clearly showed that one need not worry about walking about and serving others, but what about long-distance travel? Exercising? Doing housework? Rough-housing with your kids?

It’s certainly a confusing dilemma. The Pharisees tried to remove any ambiguity by spelling out their rules to an exhaustive degree. Sometimes that might sound like a welcome relief, at least then we would know exactly what we can and cannot do, even if we don’t understand why. I think this is the reason that most of us subscribe to one particular church or another and then just accept the commandments that they give to us. But the fact is that these approaches will never take away all of the ambiguity either. We’ll look into why that is tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Commandments and Personal Revelation- Proverbs 6:23, 19:16; Doctrine and Covenants 61: 13

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.
…
He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul.
…
And now, behold, for your good I gave unto you a commandment concerning these things.

COMMENTARY

For your good I gave unto you a commandment
Yesterday we examined how the commandments are given to us by God because He loves us. The question that the worldly view raises is “why would He restrict us if He loves us?”
This view of commandments as restricting is a rather strange perspective, given that it is not at all the same one we hold for any other natural laws. Is the law of gravity restricting, or does it keep us safe from floating into empty space?
And imagine if tomorrow there were to be discovered a new law of physics, something as fundamental as the Newtonian principles. Would that news be received begrudgingly, seen as a limiting rule to tie us down? No, it would be the greatest cause of excitement! It would allow us to better understand our world, the natural order of things, and empower us to greater accomplishments.
When we launch our shuttles into space, we do not do so by defying the laws of physics, we do so by strictly adhering to them, utilizing them, and by so doing are empowered to propel man beyond the confines of this temporal world. It is the same with God’s commandments.

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light
We need to let go of the notion that things are bad because God told us not to do them. Rather God told us not to do them because they are bad. Some things are just fundamentally wrong.
All of us who have told lies know that with them comes a certain anxiety, a fear of being discovered in our deceit. Then, if we are discovered, there is inevitable hurt to the party that was lied to. Make no mistake, these feelings of anxiety, fear, and hurt are not punishments from God. These are simply the natural consequences of a fundamentally wrong action. These are the experiences God was lovingly providing commandments to try and protect us from.

He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul.
The commandments are not a set of arbitrary rules. They are instruction on how to navigate a set of natural laws that are as fundamental to the universe as “an object at rest will remain at rest.”

  1. An object in motion will remain in motion…so get out of the way of a moving train!
  2. The soul includes a spirit, which like the body requires nourishment to thrive…so remember the sabbath day to keep it holy!

Keeping the commandments is really one of the most self-interested things you can do! Keep the commandments and you are keeping yourself.