Sunday, October 13, 2013

More Holiness Give Me

I was asked to speak on a talk from General Conference. I thoroughly enjoyed so many talks from conference. As I pondered on what to prepare to share with the ward, one in particular kept coming to mind. On Saturday morning Ulisses Soares spoke about meekness.

Meekness is actually quite the attribute. If it weren’t such an oxymoron, I would call it humility on steroids- a super-saturated version of the Christ like attribute from Preach My Gospel. I wonder why it wasn’t included in Preach My Gospel. Christ never specifically referred to his humility, his faith, his charity, his diligence or patience. But he did refer to his meekness. Isn’t it interesting that the Great Jehovah who declared boldly and deliberately, “I am, that I am” (Exodus 3:14), who stated, “I am God and there is none like me” (Isaiah 46:9), “I am the first and I am the last” (Isaiah 44:6, 1 Nephi 20:12, D&C 110:4), “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelations 1:8, 3 Nephi 9:18, D&C 19:1, D&C 84:120, D&C 68:35, D&C 54:1) “I am the Son of God” (Matt. 27:43),  “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5, John 8:12, D&C 11:28), “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), “I am the resurrection, and the life” (John 11:25), “I am the true vine” (John 15:1), “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14, D&C 50:44), “I am the way, the truth, and the life”, (John 14:6), “ I am God; and I am a God of miracles” (2 Nephi 27:23), has one other description of himself, “I am meek and lowly of heart” (Matt. 11:29).

Meekness, brother Soares stated, “is the quality of those who are Godfearing, righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering. Those who possess this attribute are willing to follow Jesus Christ, and their temperament is calm, docile, tolerant, and submissive.” (Ulisses Soares, Be Meek and Lowly of Heart, Oct General Conference 2013). Neal A. Maxwell had said that meekness, “is more than self-restraint; it is the presentation of self in a posture of kindness and gentleness, reflecting certitude, strength, serenity, and a healthy self-esteem and self-control” (Meekly Drenched in Destiny, BYU Devotional, September 1982).
Are these synonyms attributes that we seek? To be calm, docile, tolerant, and submissive? Do we wake up thinking how can I be kind and gentle today? Are these the attributes that will help us to find success in life, success in work, success in dating/marriage, success in any worthy goal? Aren’t attributes like assertiveness, confidence, and independence more likely to cultivate the achievement of one’s goals and desires? To be honest there is a reason why the saying goes, “Nice guys finish last”. The “nice guy” lets someone else get the girl, the promotion, the recognition because he always puts someone else first.

In a BYU devotional in 1986 Patricia Holland said, “Meekness and lowliness in heart are certainly not characteristics any contemporary young urban professional—an honest-to-goodness “Yuppy”—would want to claim. Instead, it seems that these young men and women want to be regarded as totally confident in manner, dependent upon no one, assertive, and excessively protective of their image of self—in short, one who is always on the move up.
Yet so much that the scriptures teach us suggests that we ought to be on our way down, down into the depths of humility, stripped of our pride and our vanity, and, yes, stripped of a lot of our Yuppy-like materialism.” Why is it so necessary always to be on top of the ladder and to be regarded by others as successful? Why is it so terrible to admit that we do have weaknesses or to admit that we do make mistakes and are not always as competent as we would like to be? President Ezra Taft Benson warns us that one of Satan’s greatest tools is pride, which can “cause a man or a woman to center so much attention on self that he or she becomes insensitive to their Creator or fellow beings” (“This Is a Day of Sacrifice,” Ensign, May 1979, p. 34). Satan uses that very delicate line between self-confidence and pride to blind us. He can keep us so frenzied in our efforts to protect our self-esteem that we are blinded to the one quality that would assure it—true dependence upon the Lord” (Becoming Meek and Lowly in Heart, BYU Devotional, January 1986).

Why is meekness so important to understand? In April 1999 General Conference, Neal A. Maxwell gave a talk titled, “Repent of Our Selfishness”, based on D&C 56:8. There he stated that, “Meekness is the real cure, for it does not merely mask selfishness but dissolves it.” Should we worry so much about selfishness? Aren’t we all just a little bit selfish by nature anyway? Isn’t it just a part of being human? The prophet Joseph Smith once said, “Let every selfish feeling be not only buried, but annihilated” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 176).

According to Elder Maxwell, “selfishness is self-destruction in slow motion… we see more and more coarseness which is mistaken for manliness, more and more selfishness masquerading as individuality... Each spasm of selfishness narrows one’s universe that much more by reducing his awareness of or concern with others. In spite of its outward, worldly swagger, such indulgent individualism is actually provincial, like goldfish in a bowl congratulating themselves on their self-sufficiency, never mind the food pellets or changes of water… The early and familiar forms of selfishness are: building up self at the expense of others, claiming or puffing credit, being glad when others go wrong, resenting the genuine successes of others, preferring public vindication to private reconciliation, and taking “advantage of one because of his words” (2 Ne. 28:8).
By focusing on himself, a selfish person finds it easier to bear false witness, to steal, and covet, since nothing should be denied him. No wonder it is so easy for governments to pander to the appetites of the natural man, especially if the trains continue to run on time, reassuring him all the while that his permissiveness is somehow permissible.
Selfishness likewise causes us to be discourteous, disdainful, and self-centered while withholding from others needed goods, praise, and recognition as we selfishly pass them by and notice them not (see Morm. 8:39). Later on come rudeness, brusqueness, and the further flexing of elbows.
One of the worst consequences of severe selfishness, therefore, is this profound loss of proportionality, like straining at gnats while swallowing camels (see Matt. 23:24; see also JST in footnote 24a)… Small wonder, therefore, that selfishness magnifies a mess of pottage into a banquet and makes 30 pieces of silver look like a treasure trove…
The severely selfish use others but do not love them. Let the Uriahs of the world beware! (see 2 Sam. 11:3–17). Centuries before Christ, the prophet Jacob warned unchaste men, “Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them” (Jacob 2:35). When love waxes cold, let the poor and the needy beware too, for they will be neglected, as happened in ancient Sodom (see Matt. 24:12; see also Ezek. 16:49). Strange as it seems, when severely selfish people are no longer little in their own sight, everybody else shrinks! (see 1 Sam. 15:17).
Even the early droplets of selfish decisions suggest a direction. Then the little inflecting rivulets come, merging into small brooks and soon into larger streams; finally one is swept along by a vast river which flows into the “gulf of misery and endless wo” (Hel. 5:12).” (Repent of Our Selfishness, April General Conference 1999).

Selfishness is quite possibly at the root of every vice, maladaptive, and sinful behavior among individuals, families, wards, and communities. “A narcissist society, in which each person is busy looking out for number one, can build neither brotherhood nor community” (Neal A. Maxwell, Repent of Our Selfishness, April Gen. Conference 1999). To quote Elder Maxwell, “For those of us who are too concerned about status or being last in line or losing our place, we need to reread those words about how “the last shall be first” and “the first shall  be last.” (Matt 19:30). Assertiveness is not automatically bad, of course, but if we fully understand the motives which underlie some of our acts of assertion, we would be embarrassed. Frankly, when others perceive such motivations, they are sometimes embarrassed for us.” (Meekly Drenched in Destiny, BYU Devotional, September 1982).

Oh how great the goodness of our God who prepareth a way for our escape (see 2 Ne. 9:10) from the monster’s flooding waters- a cure from death, hell, and selfishness and self-destruction. As selfishness is at the root of all sin, meekness is at the root of all Christ-like attributes, and none can be developed without meekness because meekness is often the initiator, facilitator, and consolidator” (Meekly Drenched in Destiny, BYU Devotional, September 1982).

If we in our hearts really plead with the Lord for more holiness, more strivings within, more patience in suffering, or sorrow for sin, more faith in the Savior, more gratitude or trust in the Lord, to be more fit for his Kingdom, or even just of more use in it, (More Holiness Give Me, Hymn #131) then surely meekness is our path.

As a typology of Christ, the best way is also the only way. In Moroni chapter 7, Moroni shares with us the words of his father Mormon to the people of his day. “I judge that ye have faith in Christ because of your meekness, for if ye have not faith in Him then ye are not fit to be numbered among the people of his church…and again, behold I say unto you that [ye] cannot have faith and hope save [ye] shall be meek and lowly of heart. If so, [your] faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God save the meek and lowly of heart: and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confess by the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity” (Moroni 7:39, 43-44). I stress verse 44, “none is acceptable before God save the meek and lowly of heart”.

There is one way, one path through the trials of mortality, one road through the dark and dreary waste (see 1 Nephi 8:7) as we follow the footsteps of our guide who beckons, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart” (Matt. 11: 29). Is this a task we are willing to undertake? Are we willing to pay the price? Or are we more like the rich young man who walked away because of what he thought were his many possessions? (Matt. 19:20-22). Elder Maxwell said, "[We] live in coarsening times, times in which meekness is both misunderstood and even despised. Yet meekness has been, is, and will remain a nonnegotiable dimension of true discipleship- a remarkable achievement, but especially in this age" (Meekly Drenched in Destiny, BYU Devotional, September 1982).

If we find ourselves shrugging off the paramount nature of meekness, or we find ourselves caught up in the world's ideology about it, erroneously thinking that “if the meek are going to inherit the earth then they will need to be a little more aggressive about it”, perhaps it is time to change that pernicious paradigm.

Meekness does not mean tentativeness. But thoughtfulness. Meekness makes room for others like in Philippians 2:3, "let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves."... Meekness rests on trust and courage like in 1 Nephi 3:7, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded”, it permits us to be confident as in 1 Nephi 11:17, and constitutes a continuing invitation to continuing education. We receive greater than we previously had or experienced because the meek are easy to be entreated as in Alma 7:23. Meekness does not mean we are bereft of boldness. Many examples exist in the Savior, Moses, Joseph Smith and others. Meekness is cardinal to leadership as explained in D&C 121:41-42. “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood (and I would add in God’s church, or in his kingdom, or by his disciples/people) only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge thy soul without hypocrisy, and without guile”.

Cultivating meekness is not a passive pastime. It is acquired only through experience, some of it painful because it is developed "according to the flesh" as Alma put it. It isn't achieved overnight or in a single comprehensive exam, but is developed in the "process of time" (Moses 7:21). We are to "take up the cross daily" (Luke 9:23), not just once or occasionally, and certainly not just when convenient or conventional.

When we do take the Savior’s yoke upon us we are promised, “ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt 11:29). Elder Maxwell called this a “very special form of rest. It surely includes the rest resulting from the shedding of certain needless burdens: fatiguing insincerity, exhausting hypocrisy, and the strength-sapping quest for recognition, praise, and power.” (Meek and Lowly, BYU devotional October 1986). Elder Maxwell further said that meekness “is also vital, of course, if one is to experience true intellectual growth, especially that which heightens his understanding of the great realities of the universe.”(Meek and Lowly, BYU devotional October 1986). Stephen in the New Testament said that “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds" (Acts 7:22. And yet he was described in Numbers as “the most meek man "upon the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3). Perhaps this is why he could and did learn things he "never had supposed" (Moses 1:10). “The well-educated Paul warned of the indiscriminate or arrogant approach to learning fails to distinguish between chaff and kernels. Therefore, some are proudly "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7). Unsurprisingly, therefore, great stress is deservedly placed upon the need for intellectual meekness—"humbleness of mind.

Meekness is thus so much more than a passive attribute that merely deflects discourtesy. Instead, it involves spiritual and intellectual activism: "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments" (Ezra 7:10; see also 2 Chronicles 19:3, 20:33). Meek Nephi, in fact, decried the passivity of those who "will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness" (2 Nephi 32:7). Yet Alma found that most are unsearching—quite content with a superficial understanding or a general awareness of spiritual things (see Alma 10:5–6). This condition may reflect either laziness or, in Amulek's case, the busyness usually incident to the cares of the world.Intellectual meekness is a persistent as well as particular challenge. Without it, we are not intellectually open to things that we "never had supposed" (Moses 1:10). Alas, some have otherwise reached provincial and erroneous conclusions and do not really want to restructure their understanding of things. Some wish neither to be shaken nor expanded by new data.” (Meek and Lowly, BYU devotional October 1986).

Again, if we are confused by the world’s reality of meekness, perhaps it is time to change that pernicious paradigm, which ironically requires an amount of meekness.

In his talk, Elder Soares spoke of a man who, because of the laws of his country, was not permitted to either attend church or be baptized as he righteously desired to do. He had previously received a copy of the Book or Mormon and accepted its message. When informed that he would not be able to make covenants with God through baptism, nor be permitted inside the building to listen to and learn more of the gospel, he meekly and humbly accepted that decision without resentment. And he didn't walk away. Instead he asked if a window could be left open so that he could sit outside and receive some of the blessings of the restored gospel through the window. Over a period of several years, he and his family regularly attended church through the window.

How often do we become discontented, lose hope, or become frustrated because the righteous desires of our hearts are not coming to fruition in the present moment, or because the path toward their realization is dark and dreary, somewhat bleak as to the how such realization could occur? Is it possible to enjoy “through the window”, blessings related to those things we righteously desire and seek?

Of course it is. God loves us and we are his children. As children there are things that we do not understand that our Father does. We must choose to “believe in God. Believe that He is, and that he created all things both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.”(Mosiah 4:9) I echo brother Soares, “It is possible to change. It is possible to leave our weaknesses behind. It is possible to reject the evil influences in our lives, control our anger, become meek, and develop the attributes of our Savior.” (Be Meek and Lowly of heart, October general conference 2013). I know that God lives, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior. He is the way the truth and the life. I say these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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