"And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free."
Helaman 14:30
Not that I am the hugest fan of responsibility scriptures, but it has seemed to be sort of a theme lately. This one struck me with the audacious (and true) idea that when we do iniquity / sin, we are doing it to ourselves. Not something I usually think about, but an important concept. Every time we hurt someone else, we are hurting ourselves. Every time we act in defiance of God, we are also harming ourselves by harming that relationship. When we choose bad things, we are by definition inviting bad things into ourselves and our lives, and if we want to be good and to have good lives, we have to do good.
It seems so simple laid out like that, and maybe it is. It doesn't always seem that simple when we're making the choices, but I think we are the ones complicating it, not God. He gives us the choice between good and evil, and the ability to choose life and not death, in an eternal sense. He wants us to choose, and be, good. In order to become good though, we have to have the knowledge and ability to choose, so like any father he has to let us grow up--to go out the front door and face the world.
Today, let's work on not perishing. Let's do good and be good and choose life, life, and more life. Let's look unto God with every thought and every breath, and be the kind of people that are like him, loving and helping the people around us--the kind of people that we've always wanted to be.
Helaman 14:30
Not that I am the hugest fan of responsibility scriptures, but it has seemed to be sort of a theme lately. This one struck me with the audacious (and true) idea that when we do iniquity / sin, we are doing it to ourselves. Not something I usually think about, but an important concept. Every time we hurt someone else, we are hurting ourselves. Every time we act in defiance of God, we are also harming ourselves by harming that relationship. When we choose bad things, we are by definition inviting bad things into ourselves and our lives, and if we want to be good and to have good lives, we have to do good.
It seems so simple laid out like that, and maybe it is. It doesn't always seem that simple when we're making the choices, but I think we are the ones complicating it, not God. He gives us the choice between good and evil, and the ability to choose life and not death, in an eternal sense. He wants us to choose, and be, good. In order to become good though, we have to have the knowledge and ability to choose, so like any father he has to let us grow up--to go out the front door and face the world.
Today, let's work on not perishing. Let's do good and be good and choose life, life, and more life. Let's look unto God with every thought and every breath, and be the kind of people that are like him, loving and helping the people around us--the kind of people that we've always wanted to be.
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