"For I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also.
For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing."
Moroni 7:5-6
This is a good reminder that our actions matter. It is definitely good to believe in generosity and kindness, etc, but it is something else entirely to actually learn to act kindly, to be generous. To turn our internal ideals into external realities. Before we can become truly good, we have to get the intention out of our heads and into our daily lives... incorporated into what we do each day. And, as the second verse shows us as well, the internal matters too. If we just pray to go through the motions, or give to look good, and none of it is sincere, then it doesn't help us become good people either. Eventually, we have to get the internal and the external on the same page. We have to love people *and* treat them well. We have to believe in and honor God, *and* go to church, pray, and show him our honor through our actions in other ways. Not that we can't start with the internal or the external as we are learning... we can. But until we get our internal and our external working together, we aren't doing as God asks. We're just practicing, and we can't expect the same results. For instance, if we pray to know whether the Book of Mormon is true, but we aren't sincere and we believe that God is a fable, then can we really expect an answer? Or if we believe really strongly that the Book of Mormon is true, but we only read the first couple of chapters, can we really expect to get the spirit and the lessons of the book incorporated into our lives? Today, let's work on doing good and being sincere at the same time. Let's get our internal and external switches both set on GOOD, and start the process of becoming whole.
For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing."
Moroni 7:5-6
This is a good reminder that our actions matter. It is definitely good to believe in generosity and kindness, etc, but it is something else entirely to actually learn to act kindly, to be generous. To turn our internal ideals into external realities. Before we can become truly good, we have to get the intention out of our heads and into our daily lives... incorporated into what we do each day. And, as the second verse shows us as well, the internal matters too. If we just pray to go through the motions, or give to look good, and none of it is sincere, then it doesn't help us become good people either. Eventually, we have to get the internal and the external on the same page. We have to love people *and* treat them well. We have to believe in and honor God, *and* go to church, pray, and show him our honor through our actions in other ways. Not that we can't start with the internal or the external as we are learning... we can. But until we get our internal and our external working together, we aren't doing as God asks. We're just practicing, and we can't expect the same results. For instance, if we pray to know whether the Book of Mormon is true, but we aren't sincere and we believe that God is a fable, then can we really expect an answer? Or if we believe really strongly that the Book of Mormon is true, but we only read the first couple of chapters, can we really expect to get the spirit and the lessons of the book incorporated into our lives? Today, let's work on doing good and being sincere at the same time. Let's get our internal and external switches both set on GOOD, and start the process of becoming whole.
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