Putting God First in Our Life

The best and only true and complete source of information on putting God first in our lives is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (online at www.lds.org or, geared more for non-members, mormon.org). 


In the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself:

 And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have ^apower to lay the foundation of this ^bchurch, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of ^cdarkness, the only true and living ^dchurch upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well ^epleased, ^fspeaking unto the church collectively and not individually— ~D&C 1:30

Below are some of my favorite talks on this subject. I hope they might change your life the way they have changed mine.

• "The Great Commandment-Love the Lord" by Ezra Taft Benson or (Ben's Google Doc version of "The Great Commandment-Love the Lord"). Here is a sampling:

The great test of life is obedience to God. “We will prove them herewith,” said the Lord, “to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abr. 3:25).

The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.

The great commandment of life is to love the Lord. 

“Come unto Christ,” exhorts Moroni in his closing testimony, “… and love God with all your might, mind and strength” (Moro. 10:32). 

This, then, is the first and great commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30; see also Matt. 22:37; Deut. 6:5; Luke 10:27; Moro. 10:32;D&C 59:5).

• "The Choice" by Boyd K. Packer or (Ben's Google Doc version of "The Choice").
• "The Education of Our Desires" by Neal A. Maxwell or (Ben's Google Doc version of "The Education of Our Desires").
• "The Abrahamic Test" by Larry E. Dahl, professor emeritus of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. Here are a couple of my favorite passages:

Consider the teachings of President Ezra Taft Benson, as he spoke to regional representatives of the Church in 1977, while he was President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

Every generation has its tests and its chance to stand and prove itself. Would you like to know of one of our toughest tests? Hear the warning words of President Brigham Young, “The worst fear I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty and all manner of persecution and be true. But my greatest fear is that they cannot stand wealth.”

Ours, then, seems to be the toughest test of all, for the evils are more subtle, more clever. It all seems less menacing and it is harder to detect. While every test of righteousness represents a struggle, this particular test seems like no test at all, no struggle and so could be the most deceiving of all tests.

Do you know what peace and prosperity can do to a people—It can put them to sleep. The Book of Mormon warned us of how the devil, in the last days, would lead us away carefully down to hell.

The Lord has on the earth some potential spiritual giants whom He saved for some six thousand years to help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly, and the devil is trying to put them to sleep. The devil knows that he probably won’t be too successful in getting them to commit many great and malignant sins of commission. So he puts them into a deep sleep, like Gulliver, while he strands them with little sins of omission. And what good is a sleepy, neutralized, lukewarm giant as a leader?

We have too many potential spiritual giants who should be more vigorously lifting their homes, the kingdom, and the country. We have many who feel they are good men, but they need to be good for something—stronger patriarchs, courageous missionaries, valiant genealogists and temple workers, dedicated patriots, devoted quorum members. In short, we must be shaken and awakened from a spiritual snooze.[7]

 President Harold B. Lee adds his testimony about our current collective test:

We are tested and we are tried, we are going through some of the severest tests today and we don’t realize perhaps the severity of the tests that we’re going through. In those days, there were murderings, there were mobbings, there were drivings. They were driven out into the desert, they were starving and they were unclad, they were cold. They came here to this favored land. We are the inheritors of what they gave to us. But what are we doing with it? Today we are basking in the lap of luxury, the like of which we’ve never seen before in the history of the world. It would seem that probably this is the most severe test of any test that we’ve ever had in the history of this Church.[8]

That is a rather astonishing notion: ease and affluence can be an Abrahamic test equal, in the sense of proving one’s faith, to the sufferings and deprivations of earlier generations. But that is the testimony of the prophets and the testimony of history. 

And...

Perhaps all these purposes just mentioned are encompassed in the following explanation given in the Lectures on Faith:

An actual knowledge to any person, that the course of life which he pursues is according to the will of God, is essentially necessary to enable him to have that confidence in God without which no person can obtain eternal life. . . .

Such was, as always will be, the situation of the saints of God, that unless they have an actual knowledge that the course they are pursuing is according to the will of God they will grow weary in their minds, and faint. . . .

Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things. It was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life; and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God.[15]

Simply put, choosing to do the will of God at all hazards brings a righteous and necessary self-awareness and self-confidence, a perfect faith in God and in our ability to do His will. We then know something about ourselves that God has known all along.

 

Love,

Ben


P.S. Please add your favorite resources via a comment.

How the World Turns

I found this comment from someone at this article (well worth the read):
http://www.naturalnews.com/030903_predictions_2011.html

Daddy? What’s a cog? Hm? What’s that dear? What’s a what? A cog. What’s a cog? Oh, you mean like a gear, or something of the sort? I dunno (shrugs)… That’ why I’m asking you. Where did you hear of cogs? Ms. Berlin, my teacher, was talking with another teacher— I forget his name. Anyway, she said that they were turning out good little cogs. Am I a cog? Well, I suppose you might just be… But certainly a very good little cog. (Frowning) But what is a cog? A wheel with teeth. A wheel with teeth! Oh gosh… does it bite? No, no (chuckling)… not in the sense that you mean. The teeth, they interlock. Then when one wheel turns, the other wheels around it— the cogs— also turn. It’s how machines are built. Machines? You mean like the washer? Yes! Exactly. The washer, the dryer, the car… all sorts of machines. They’re made of cogs… inside. I’m inside a machine? Yes… well, it’s a bit of… of a metaphor. A what for? A met-a-phor. A metaphor is when you say that one thing is really something else… but you know straight away that it’s not. So it’s a lie. (Sighs) More like a comparison… One that forces you to look at a thing from a new angle. D’you see? (Nods… slowly) So… if I’m pretending to be a cog, what sort of machine am I in? Oh, well… let’s see. A very big one I suppose. Nowadays you’d have to call it The World. That big? Like the whole planet! No, well, I confess that your teacher probably wasn’t thinking quite that big. How about Civilization? Or The Global Community? That’s big enough, hm? Like all the people in all the cities everywhere? That’s a whole lot! Almost seven billion. And that’s the machine that you’re part of— one of its cogs… one of its essential cogs. (Smiles) (Momentarily smiling) ...But what does the machine do? The washer washes our clothes. What does the Civilization machine do? It does everything. Indeed. What doesn’t it do? It built your school and hired your teachers. It built the roads you ride your bike on. It keeps groceries on the shelves when your mother needs to go shopping. It does everything. And who operates the machine? You drive the car, and Mommy pushes the buttons on the washer to tell it what to do. Who steers the Civilization machine? (long pause) Is it Mr. Obama? Well, no dear. I don’t think even Mr. Obama believes that he’s doing the driving. Then who is? Is it God? Oh God no! He couldn’t possibly be that inept. Then who? Does my teacher, Ms. Berlin even know where the machine’s going? I very much doubt it. I honestly don’t know. I’m not convinced that anyone does. We’re all just cogs in the machine. And there’s seven bazillions of us? (chuckling) Close enough. And no one’s driving? Apparently so. Seven bazillion wheels with teeth… Gosh, that must be a whole lot of teeth. I know what the machine does. You do? Uh-huh. (nods) It’s devouring the world. 

Setting Sail...My New Career is Launched!!!

A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for.

John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic, 1928

I recently heard a metaphor that compared a ship in a harbor to our financial lives. So often we choose to sail in the safety of the harbor, rather than venture out to experience the possibilities beyond, because we are scared of the unknown, potential buffetings of the great blue ocean. As we view the ship as our financial lives, I would like to add the idea that all too often we never leave the dock. Preferring the safety and solidity of land during the storms of life that inevitably come. Then we wonder why our financial ship is sinking, having been thrashed against the dock and rocks on the shoreline in our neglect. 

Today, I set sail. I enrolled my first client in my new career of Personal Financial Coach. So far I am still in the harbor since my first client is a dear relative of mine, but my course is set and I am headed straight for the strait that lies between me and the sea of humanity beyond. I can hardly wait to see how my vessel handles! She is completely mine. Designed from the ground up upon what I consider to be true and eternal principles such as love, stewardship, accountability, spirituality, service... The world so often seems to miss the boat regarding these fundamental principles preferring to make decisions based upon profits and increasing shareholder value (as measured in dollars). They fail to factor in less measurable but truer, deeper, thicker value such as the joy that comes from deep, loving relationships, the joy that comes from service to those we love, the peace that comes when we know we are doing what is right in the sight of God. No amount of money can ever replace the value of these. 

Ben

Inspiring-to-Greatness quote by Marianne Williamson

Marianne Williamson

Someone used this quote in a speech I heard today and I loved it!

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." (A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles", Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3)

Why?

Why am I writing this blog?

1. Share the gospel.  
1. I believe in God.  I hope through this blog to show how He influences my life in hopes that it may help others recognize His hand in their lives as well.  
2. Grow personally.  
1. Similarly to a journal, I hope that by putting my thoughts down on 'electronic' paper, it will facilitate my own spiritual growth.
2. Putting thoughts down in words can bring clarity to a subject.  If I blog about significant events and decisions, it will clarify the direction of my life.  "The unexamined life is not worth living." (Socrates [via Plato, Apology 38a)])
3. If I document life's learnings, perhaps I will better remember them and not need repeat whippings.  
3. Benefit the world.
1. I hope to better the world in some small way through my life's efforts.  If I capture my thoughts here they will be made available to future generations and available to others currently living.  Even if nobody else ever sees this blog, by electronically capturing thoughts I have along the pathway of life, they will be more easily retrievable by me later in life when I have better figured out what I am doing.  
2. The world includes my posterity.  If I can capture some of my life's learnings in this blog, it will hopefully help my posterity avoid some of the pitfalls that have beset me.  
4. Draw closer together as a family.
1. By sharing this blog with family members, I hope it draws us closer together.
5. Enable people to get to know/trust me.
1. The farther I get in life, the more I understand the importance of personal relationships. If I can capture the thoughts and desires of my heart in this blog, it will enable others to get to know me, to an extent, and thereby come to trust me.  Hopefully this will facilitate relationships.