As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we know that we are sons and daughters of God, that He is our very father. As such, it is most important that we not be casual in the gospel or casual in our relationship with the Lord. We are commanded to "Always remember him", that we may always have His spirit to be with us. What a great promise, that as we continually hunger and thirst for the Spirit, we will have it to be with us and help us through each and every day. We want to be good people and live the gospel as best we can. Doing the "small" things like reading the scriptures, paying tithing and keeping the Sabbath day holy help us build our lives upon a sure foundation.
We studied this very subject in my ward today, where we were in 3 Nephi 18, but the lesson took an interesting turn when we started talking about what it means to build upon a "sandy foundation". In this chapter, Christ institutes the sacrament among the Nephites and commands them to pray always. In verses 12 & 13 He says (pay attention to what's in the bold print):
"And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock.
"But whoso among you shall do more or less than these are not built upon my rock, but are built upon a sandy foundation; and when the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon them, they shall fall, and the gates of hell are ready open to receive them."
Andrew, our teacher, made a very interesting observation here, that Christ refers not just to those who are built upon a sandy foundation doing less than what was required of them, but to doing more as well. Now the Lord has always held us to the highest standard but also says "Do not run faster than you have strength." Many of us think we have to push ourselves beyond our limits to prove ourselves. In our minds we may not think very highly of ourselves and feel we must overachieve in order to reach the perfection and eternal glory we desire. For example, we may read our scriptures for several hours each day, go to the temple 2 to 3 times a week, say incredibly long prayers or refuse to do anything outside of church on Sunday to show, even if only to ourselves, that we are more devoted to the Lord.
But here's the truth: pushing ourselves to do more reflects that we don't really understand the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. Our teacher put it best, "To understand the atonement, we need to understand that we need to be dependent on our Savior."
When we are trying to do more and more, we are not being dependent on the Lord and are, essentially, trying to save ourselves, instead of accepting that Jesus Christ has already saved us. We can also get caught in a trap of judgement, because we think that we have to be better than everyone else in the gospel. We naturally begin to judge others because they are doing less than us-not a good thing to do!
W.O.W. Double WOW. That was a huge eye-opener for me. I have always been one of those people that thought that in order for the atonement to work for me, I had to do everything and be absolutely perfect. Yeah, the Lord has given me several reality checks when it comes to this. I didn't truly understand the atonement. The atonement is all about repenting and us letting go of our sins and weaknesses because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ let them go. It's about doing our best and leaving the rest to the Lord to sort out because we can't do it all. It's about being dependent on Him in every single aspect of our lives, for we are nothing compared to Him, but we are everything to Him. You are everything to Him. He always stands ready to receive you.
So keep his commandments, always remember him, and go as far as you are able to go. Don't do more than He asks of you, or you will be building on a sandy foundation that will only lead you down. Count your blessings. Count your successes. Count everything that you are doing right, not what you are doing wrong.
Look for the sunshine through the clouds, and surely you will see it and it will bring you peace.
