Enos 1:23 -- On Motivation and the Duration of Eternity

"And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do I write concerning them."
Enos 1:23


My sister and I were amused today about anyone having to be reminded about "the duration of eternity," but amusement aside, I think we do need to be reminded sometimes. I don't think God is particularly fond of motivation by fear (he much prefers love), but sometimes that is where we are, and we haven't learned, or are temporarily unable to put into play, higher motivations... and if the "law and order" motivation is the only one that can reach us, then we need it.

It's kind of like knowing that we shouldn't eat the cookies, but buying a package of them anyway, telling ourselves that we'll just eat one a day or something, and then eating them because they are there, in front of us, instead of utilizing the willpower that we told ourselves that we were going to have. :) Sometimes the fear motivation of stepping onto the scale and contemplating the consequences is a better deterrent. It is a blunter instrument than appealing to our higher natures and our good intentions, but since we seem to sneak a lot of things past those, it is a good back up defense to keep us on track.

Today, let's remember the duration of eternity, and remember to change ourselves and improve our lives while we can. If we can join up with God because we have learned to love Him, so much the better, but if we aren't there yet, then let's join up with God because he's serious about the heaven and hell thing. That's an okay place to start, and we can learn to understand the higher and better reasons later.