Sunday, May 11, 2014

3 Nephi 13:33 -- On Simplifying our Priorities

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
3 Nephi 13:33


I really like this verse because it seems to take the whole gospel and distill it down for us a little.  We just need to put God's kingdom first.  Seek *him* and the Zion society he is working to make us into, and the rest of it will fall into place.  Ezra Taft Benson said something very similar is a conference talk in April 1988: "When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives."
I'm not saying that putting the Lord and his goals first is easy.  It can at times be really, really hard... the whole submitting our wills to God's will thing.  It's tough.  We sometimes want to power struggle and get our way.  What I *really* like about it though is the idea that if we get that part right, the rest of it falls into place, or gets "added unto" us.  To me that seems to mean that if we have that main priority straight, that God will "add" the other lessons here and there, as we can handle them.  Things fall into place if they are things we need to learn, and drop out if they aren't.... and so on.  So, then it is God juggling our lives, and not us.  And his timing and delivery are SO much better than ours, right? :)
Today, let's simplify.  Let's focus on seeking God's kingdom.  Let's focus on putting God first, and think about ways that we can change to get that priority straight.  And then with everything else, let's not stress.  Handing over the control of the things we can't control *anyway* to God is not a loss.  It's just a realistic coping strategy. :)  Let's make sure God is first, and then take things as God delivers them to us.  If God is first, everything else will be okay.

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