How is keeping the commandments an expression of your love for God?
Keeping the commandments is doing God’s will. The commandments are suggestions from a Father to his children. They are things that, if we do, will make us the most happy in this life. The commandments aren’t restrictions necessarily.
The commandments can be broken up in to two categories:
- Showing our love to God
- Loving our neighbor
When Christ was on the earth, he gave two main commandments: Love God with all our hearts and love our neighbor as ourself.
I feel like keeping the commandments shows God that I’m willing to do whatever he recommends so that I can meet my potential in this life and in the life to come. By being obedient to the commandments, I’m showing humility and trust in God.
If I decide to not keep the commandments, I’m basically saying, “My way is better,” which is the OPPOSITE of submitting my will to God. The “my way” approach is what the talk “Beware of Pride” is all about – enmity toward God, in opposition to His will.
As I met with Jason today, I realized something about my feelings at work. For the last little while I’ve been saying, “The less I care about what’s happening at work, the happier I am.” While at times I’ve felt this is really true, I realized today that it may be something a little different.
The next question in Step 7 is titled:
The love of God
The quote says the following:
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” (Ezra Taft Benson, in Conference Report, Apr. 1988, 3; or Ensign, May 1988, 4).
The question says:
Coming to know the mercy and goodness of God thus far, you have probably begun to feel the love of God – love for Him and love from Him. Reflect on and write about any increase of love you have felt while workign through the steps.
The thing I think I realized today is that it’s not that I don’t CARE about what’s happening at work – that’s not it at all. What I feel is what is said in the quote: “…all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives…[my] love of the Lord will govern…the interests [I] pursue, and the order of [my] priorities.”
It reminded me of the questions about the grace of God. As I’ve talked with Becky about her recovery from addictions, she has mentioned that eventually you don’t know what happened, but you don’t have that desire to act out on your addiction anymore. You know it wasn’t YOU who did the work because you’ve been trying to fix the problem for a long time. You realize that as you submit to God and show Him your love, things tend to “fall into their proper place or drop out of your life.”
I do realize that Step 7, and all the steps for that matter, are a day to day process. If I stopped working on these things now, I would most likely fall back in to my addiction or into another addiction – thus taking away my agency to choose.
I know that the best way to show my love toward God is by doing the little things that he recommends. It’s JUST LIKE my experience with my kids: as they do what I ask them to do, I feel they really love me and I love them even more. As they do what they want, or disobey my recommendations, it’s frustrating to all of us. It’s not that I don’t love them, it’s just that I’m giving them recommendations based on my own experience to help them have a better life. I’m sure God feels the same way when I deliberately decide to do that which is contrary to what He has recommended (ie. the commandments and laws of the Gospel of Jesus Christ).
Things I’m Grateful For
- the time I’ve taken this morning to work the steps of the program
- the time Jason gave me this morning to talk about Step 7
- saying a prayer this morning asking Heavenly Father to help me through this day because I’m tired
- recognizing the hand of God in my process of recovery and in the subtle changes in my desires
- the good morning I had with my family (positive attitude, planning, and lots of smiles)
- that I have a good job that let’s me work on my own businesses while teaching other how to start their own
I’m excited about today and the future!
Hasta Luego!
Nate
Recent Comments