“In our preexistent state, in the day of the great council, we made a[n] … agreement with the Almighty. The Lord proposed a plan. … We accepted it. Since the plan is intended for all men, we became parties to the salvation of every person under that plan. We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves but … saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father’s work, and the Savior’s work, but also our work. The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation.”
“That places us in a very responsible attitude towards the human race. By that doctrine, with the Lord at the head, we become saviors on Mount Zion, all committed to the great plan of offering salvation to the untold numbers of spirits. To do this is the Lord’s self-imposed duty, this great labor his highest glory. Likewise, it is man’s duty, self-imposed, his pleasure and joy, his labor, and ultimately his glory.” (“The Worth of Souls,” The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Oct. 1934, p. 189.) John A. Widtsoe
We agreed to be not only saviors for ourselves but saviors for the whole human family. Becoming a savior, this is no easy goal. If we examine the life of The Savior we can see that he wept, sorrowed, prayed, grieved and suffered for us. In our process to become a savior after the example of Christ must we also suffer for others?
Charity is the final and highest virtue of the divine nature. If we truly wish to become as the savior we must learn to love others as he loved us. “The world today speaks a great deal about love, and it is sought by many. But the pure love of Christ differs greatly from what the world thinks of love. Charity never seeks selfish gratification. The pure love of Christ seeks only the eternal growth and joy of others.” Ezra Taft Benson – Godly Characteristics of the Master. We must learn to give freely, and not just giving till it hurts, but giving even though it hurts and then continuing to give, giving if necessary for all eternity.
Giving charity opens us up to suffering, the suffering of rejection, of love ignored and squandered. This is suffering the giving of oneself, that deep personal self that comes straight from the heart, and to have that rejected by those whom you care so much for.
Every one of us has our own personal war in heaven and we must choose a side. Do we choose selfless sacrifice and a path of choice, pain, suffering and sorrow and give up the glory to God. Or do we reject that idea. Do we become selfish and choose as Satan a path where there is no pain because there is no joy, no suffering because there is no love, and no growth because there is no choice, no charity. “For many will reject exaltation in the celestial kingdom, not because they do not want the joy that can be had there, but because they are unwilling to pay the price, being willing to suffer for and serve a posterity as God has served us. Exaltation depends on how much you are willing to give.” Becoming Saviors on Mount Zion – Gordon C. Thomasson
What are we willing to give? Christ gave us his life and then gave us his death to make us able to return home. Christ was a perfect being, as a mortal he was living a celestial worthy life, this then must be how celestial beings act. We hear that if man were to just care more about each other we would not need governments, no laws, no poor, and none dying of hunger or war. All that is required is giving up self, but who will take care of my self if I do not do it? While we maintain a concern for self we reject the celestial kingdom, in a mistaken effort to not lose ourselves we lose everyone else instead.
Your writing - this writing - has an immediacy and poignancy that is so often beyond my reach. What you write is direct, incisive, and gloriously demanding. I cannot imagine a more satisfying crescendo.
ReplyDeleteYou said that under Satan's game plan there is no suffering because there is no love. I disagree. The lack of love for others is the most unbearable sort of suffering: dull and eerily muffled, metallic and sour, deadened and deadening, without reward and without savour. There is nothing beyond it, nothing through it, except more of the same.
The moments that I remember with the most gratitude and awe are the ones where I am in pain because I care about someone else. The ones I remember with the most shame are characterized by an insensitivity to others because I cannot see anything or anyone but myself - my flaws, my sicknesses, my hurts, my petty wants. Of course I am blind. My eyeballs have rolled under to look through my skull, and in searching to see in I see nothing.
But sorrow for others, because they hurt, is different. You ache for them, you cry for them, you worry and pray and yearn . . . and some day, when you see them happy, you understand that their happiness fills you and delights you, and looking back at your pain for them you see it for what it was: the other side, another happiness but one that strains forward and up.
I have a nasty habit of feeling sorry for myself, and was in such a state when I began reading your post. By the middle, I was straightening myself out and realizing it wasn't my place to feel victim here. There is so much to be done, and here I am feeling sorry for myself, completely focused on my own frailties and flaws. Charity is the key to recovering that sorry and flawed being that I am, which seems counter-intuitive because I want to focus on the flaws until I can banish them, but instead, what you say here hits home by pointing out that it's not my flaws I need to focus on but rather the strengths of others, and how I can lift others up. Changing that focus, changes everything for me.
ReplyDeleteIn short: thanks for the thoughts. It helps me see a world of other people in the mirror instead of myself, and that is a beautiful sight.