Mosiah 18:27-29 -- On Commandments and Choices

"And again Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance, aevery one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him that had not should be given.
And thus they should impart of their asubstance of their own free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul.
And this he said unto them, having been commanded of God; and they did awalk uprightly before God, imparting to one another both temporally and spiritually according to their needs and their wants."
Mosiah 18:27-29


There is an interesting balance here between commandment and choice, which I think is everywhere in the gospel really, because God is about free agency. He offers commandments to help us, and never forces us to obey. For this one though, it seems even less strict. Alma commands them, and they chose to help each other... so he was kind of helping them to know what a good thing to do would be, but they chose how to take action.

It reminds me of D&C 9:7 where God says "Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me." ... Almost everything we get from the Lord requires effort. We have to be engaged in thinking it through, doing what we can, praying and having patience and faith that the Lord will hear us and help us. Sometimes it is a lot of effort, sometimes a little, but even with small things we sometimes get frustrated and give up because we're impatient and we want it to be easy.

Today, let's remember that in order to learn anything, especially from God, we have to be actively engaged and learning, praciticing, and doing what is suggested. We can't just cram if we want to get into heaven. We actually have to learn to be a little bit more heavenly each day. :) Let's impart of our substance and help others, and make the effort in other areas of the gospel as well. The more we are out there trying to be good, the more God can multiply our efforts.