Theron David Rose, Tuesday December 21, 2021

Some of us are running breathless, red-faced and panting through life as if our lives were a race and the finish line is just around the corner and over the next hill. We think short, but hope that we will live long. Some of us are unaware of the admonition given by King Benjamin. Said he, after listing some of the must know’s and must do’s of life:

“And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.  And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.”1

If we take this verse apart we can apply at least three success principles to our lives:

  1. Do all things [worth doing] in wisdom and order.
  2. Do not run faster than you have strength
  3. Be diligent.

Let’s talk about each principle and apply that principle to our lives.

  1. Do all things [worth doing] in wisdom and order.
    Let’s face it! Some things are just plain not worth it, while other things are worth everything.  How do we evaluate? How do we tell the difference? This quote from President Ezra Taft Benson tells us the secret:

“We must put God in the forefront of everything else in our lives.  He must come first, just as He declares in the first of His Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3)

“When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.

We should put God ahead of everyone else in our lives.”2

President Russell M. Nelson has taught us a very similar message:

“…I learned that one of the Hebraic meanings of the word Israel is “let God prevail.” 3 Thus the very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life. That concept stirs my soul!”4

President Nelson then asks the following personal questions:

“Are you willing to let God prevail in your life? Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life? Will you allow His words, His commandments, and His covenants to influence what you do each day? Will you allow His voice to take priority over any other? Are you willing to let whatever He needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition? Are you willing to have your will swallowed up in His?”5

  1. Do not run faster than you have strength.
    Even doing everything you can to put God first in your life, does not guarantee that everything you try to do will now work perfectly. All your best goals and your highest dreams still have to be accomplished in wisdom and order. That means that you cannot do more than you can do. We have all experienced having bigger expectations of what we will be able to do in an hour or even in a day. We just cannot do more than we can do. We have to content ourselves to know that we are on the Lord’s errand, that our lives and our goals are approved by Him, and then chip away–like a professional sculpture–the rough stone of our project, of our personal lives, until we have the masterpiece we desire.

It is in the Lectures on Faith that we will find the secret we need here. Here we find the message, the basic underlying formulae for running the race of our lives here on earth and having the strength to finish it:

“…three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation,

  1. The idea that he [God] actually exists.
  2. A correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes; and 3.
  3. An actual knowledge that the course of life which he [or she] is pursuing is according to his will.”6
    Please note how these three truths–in the Lectures On Faith– build upon each other. Number three, personally knowing that what you are doing with your life and in your [daily] life, is according to God’s will and His approval is the climax. It is based upon the foundation of the other two. Running the race of your personal mortal life without this knowledge can mean that you are going in the wrong direction. It can mean that you will reach the end of your life’s race and find that you have spent all your time in the weeds of life and never stopped to smell the flowers. It can mean that you hacked away at the leaves and never really got to the root of what is real in life.

It can mean–metaphorically–that you had the ladder of the life you led, against the wrong wall and were fighting a no-win battle against an illusory foe who claims that “…I am no devil, for there is none.”7

  1. Be diligent.
    Once a person has determined that he or she is pursuing personal goals and is living a life approved of by a loving Heavenly Father, what is left? What is left, is to be diligent and obedient. Diligently, and daily follow the approved course, while being obedient to the subtle Spirit corrections in effort and direction. What is the secret here? I believe it is found in the following profound truth:

“Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.”8

Note the key to gaining knowledge and intelligence: the key to gaining knowledge and intelligence is through personal diligence and obedience! May I note here that it is a profitable exercise to go to the Topical Guide and scan through the many references given under the words, Diligence, Diligent, Diligently. As I study these references, I am drawn to Alma 32, because Alma’s invitation to the poor class of people who had learned to be humble, fits our formulae. He invites these humble–and now teachable people–to compare the word unto a seed, which, when planted in their hearts, will begin to enlarge and to enlighten and to become delicious to them. This wonderful analogy to our lives and our testimonies is likened unto planting in our hearts the gospel seed and then nourishing and caring for that seed until it brings forth delicious fruit and becomes the reward of personal diligence and patience and long-suffering.9 What a great parallel to what we are speaking of here today. It is all found in Alma 32! Plant the seed in your heart! Diligently and prayerfully care for it. Enjoy the delicious fruit the tree [of life] will produce. There it is! That’s it! Turning your life over to the Lord, not running faster than you have strength, daily and diligently striving to become like Him! That is the entire secret of our personal success in this life and our successful entrance into the life to come.

Notes:

  1. Mosiah 4:26-27.
  2. Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson, 40.
  3. Bible Dictionary, 708
  4. President Russell M. Nelson, “Let God Prevail”, General Conference, Oct. 2020. 141
  5. Ibid. 144
  6. Lectures on Faith, Lecture Third.
  7. 2 Nephi 28:22.
  8. D&C 130:18-19.
  9. Alma 32, esp. 28-43.