You know why some people live for entertainment? Because it's entertaining. It's fun.
So, if we ought not to live for entertainment (Overwatch, I'm looking at you... I'll admit, that 7 hours was some of the most fun of my life) then what should I live for?
That's the point of my study today. What can I get excited about?
How can I get excited about life?
From Reflections on a Consecrated Life.
“Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will. You are free to exchange your allotment of time for thrills. You may trade it for base desires. You may invest it in greed. …Yours is the freedom to choose. But these are no bargains, for in them you find no lasting satisfaction."
Every day, every hour, every minute of your span of mortal years must sometime be accounted for. And it is in this life that you walk by faith and prove yourself able to choose good over evil, right over wrong, enduring happiness over mere amusement. And your eternal reward will be according to your choosing.
A prophet of God has said: ‘Men are that they might have joy’—a joy that includes a fullness of life, a life dedicated to service, to love and harmony in the home, and the fruits of honest toil—an acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—of its requirements and commandments.
Only in these will you find true happiness, the happiness which doesn’t fade with the lights and the music and the crowds.”
What wages does the gospel offer in return for our willing obedience?
Men are that they might have joy.
Only in these will you find true happiness.
So, if you follow the gospel, you will be truly happy. I believe that. But just the thought of "Oh, good, I'll be happy," is not very motivating for me to be good. I like concrete blessings. Like, "you'll have a really cute, really sweet, really spiritual, really loving wife." Or "you'll be financially stable." But I don't know if the gospel actually helps with those things.
Well, of course it does! Those blessings flow naturally from living gospel principles to their fullest.
Interesting, also, that I equate happiness and spiritual reward nearly exclusively to finding a girl to marry.
So, let's see if Elder Christofferson has anything to say about what we can get excited about in our attempts to live the gospel.
Repentance---->Enduring Presence of the Holy Ghost
Hard Work----->Sense of Self-Worth, Survive Disappointments and Tragedies
Leisure---------->Enrich one's life (Music, literature, art, dance, drama, athletics)
Physical Body->(Free from physical problems, I suppose)
Service--------->(Satisfaction from the Lord that you were on his errand.)
Integrity------->(Avoid giving a painful accounting to God in the end)
A consecrated life is a beautiful thing. Its STRENGTH and SERENITY are “as a very fruitful tree which is planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream, that yieldeth much precious fruit” (D&C 97:9)
So, if we ought not to live for entertainment (Overwatch, I'm looking at you... I'll admit, that 7 hours was some of the most fun of my life) then what should I live for?
That's the point of my study today. What can I get excited about?
How can I get excited about life?
From Reflections on a Consecrated Life.
“Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will. You are free to exchange your allotment of time for thrills. You may trade it for base desires. You may invest it in greed. …Yours is the freedom to choose. But these are no bargains, for in them you find no lasting satisfaction."
Every day, every hour, every minute of your span of mortal years must sometime be accounted for. And it is in this life that you walk by faith and prove yourself able to choose good over evil, right over wrong, enduring happiness over mere amusement. And your eternal reward will be according to your choosing.
A prophet of God has said: ‘Men are that they might have joy’—a joy that includes a fullness of life, a life dedicated to service, to love and harmony in the home, and the fruits of honest toil—an acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—of its requirements and commandments.
Only in these will you find true happiness, the happiness which doesn’t fade with the lights and the music and the crowds.”
What wages does the gospel offer in return for our willing obedience?
Men are that they might have joy.
Only in these will you find true happiness.
So, if you follow the gospel, you will be truly happy. I believe that. But just the thought of "Oh, good, I'll be happy," is not very motivating for me to be good. I like concrete blessings. Like, "you'll have a really cute, really sweet, really spiritual, really loving wife." Or "you'll be financially stable." But I don't know if the gospel actually helps with those things.
Well, of course it does! Those blessings flow naturally from living gospel principles to their fullest.
Interesting, also, that I equate happiness and spiritual reward nearly exclusively to finding a girl to marry.
So, let's see if Elder Christofferson has anything to say about what we can get excited about in our attempts to live the gospel.
Repentance---->Enduring Presence of the Holy Ghost
Hard Work----->Sense of Self-Worth, Survive Disappointments and Tragedies
Leisure---------->Enrich one's life (Music, literature, art, dance, drama, athletics)
Physical Body->(Free from physical problems, I suppose)
Service--------->(Satisfaction from the Lord that you were on his errand.)
Integrity------->(Avoid giving a painful accounting to God in the end)
A consecrated life is a beautiful thing. Its STRENGTH and SERENITY are “as a very fruitful tree which is planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream, that yieldeth much precious fruit” (D&C 97:9)
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