You Can Have What You Want or You Can Have Something Better

This post is about the Ten Commandments.  Each item corresponds to one of the ten in order as described by Moses in Exodus 20.

1. You can believe in many gods or no god at all; you can look to horoscopes and scientific hypotheses for explanations or — you can have something better: a rock solid belief in God and trust that He will explain everything in his own due time.
2. You can have your big house, fast car, and all the distractions of life or — you can have something better: a relationship with God.
3. You can make your point with profanity or — you can have something better: reverence for the source of true power in the universe.
4. You can vacation, work, wash your car and a hundred other things on the Sundays of your life — or you can have something better: nourishment that comes from worshipping in church and studying God’s word privately.
5. You can harbor hatred towards your parents for all the mistakes they made — or you can accept their gift of life and the things they did right as the gift they truly are.
6. You can take your frustrations to the extreme and kill either yourself or someone else or — you can learn to be happy by dealing with your emotions.
7. You can have an affair, an open relationship or experiment with same gender attractions or — you can have something better: a marriage to someone who also keeps the law of chastity.
8. You can take what you want or think you deserve with no thought for the consequences to others or — you can earn your daily bread through honest labor and gain the satisfaction that comes from a job well done.
9. You can pretend to be who you aren’t, offer what you can’t deliver, and say what you don’t mean, but there is something better: one heart and one mind at peace with yourself and others.
10. You can have a negative perspective preferring to focus on all the things you don’t have — a house as big as your neighbor’s, a husband or wife as good as someone else, a lack of health, wealth or talents and you can become bitter and resentful of God — or you can have something better: faith in His purposes for your life, hope in a brighter tomorrow, love for your neighbor and yourself and a sense of contentment and happiness.

Life is undoubtedly hard.  The trials we face force us to use all our resources, develop resources we never had and discover our own grit and stick-to-it-ness.  These Ten Commandments (as with all commandments) point the way to happiness.

This video is an excellent speech given to an audience of young BYU students but with a timeless message of hope and encouragement.

The title comes from Jeffrey R Holland as quoted here.

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Inviting Revelation

Ephesians 1:17-19

The spirit of wisdom and revelation comes as a sacred feeling or impression.  If you want to experience this, but haven’t there are some things that you can do.  No one can force God to communicate with them, but when prepared, the flow of ideas from heaven is natural.  If you once had the spirit of wisdom and revelation but now no longer enjoy it, there may be some reason that God has hidden his face.  He is the greatest teacher and uses both sun and shadow in his individual tutorials.

Preparatory Steps to Invite Revelation:

• Slow down. Find peaceful places, linger there, practice being aware. “Be still, and know that I am God.” Ps 46:10 

• Set the Mood. Soft sacred music can create an atmosphere that invites revelation. Jesus sang a hymn before entering the Mount of Olives. Matt 26:30 

• Recognize. Sacred moments happen to everyone but are often ignored. When a baby is born or a person dies, the place feels holy. Special events sometimes evoke a sense of sacredness. 

• Be reverent. “Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit.” D&C 63:64 

The Beauty of Holiness

In reading the Bible this week I came across this phrase, “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”  Ps 29:2  It got me thinking about the connection between beauty and holiness.

We live in a Beauty-obsessed culture

• fake hair color
• botox
• fake nails

Superfoods courtesy Dr. Rebecca

We also like things that are exotic, rare and unusual.  Just look at what people are eating now — super foods…which are?  Food labeled as exotic, rare or unusual.

But what about NATURAL physical beauty

it doesn’t take a lot of effort to be natural

clear skin

shiny hair

healthy body

  “The glory of young men is their strength and the beauty of old men is the grey head.” (Proverbs 20:29)

Both pale skin and dark skin are naturally beautiful where artificially tanned skin is…well…fake.  Grey hair is beautiful in it’s season just like winter is beautiful.

Spirituality is a natural form of beauty

• It isn’t easily faked but it is used sometimes to describe  agnostics.
• It is apparent in a person’s smile when it lights up the eyes.
• It is faith expressed in manner and persona.
• It shows up in people of every culture and religion.

Jesus talked about the fake spirituality of the Pharisees when he said, “Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”  (Matt 23:28) People have all kinds of reasons for faking it.  Acceptance/rejection would rank pretty high on the list of reasons I think.

The beauty of holiness is natural beauty magnified.

“Holiness is the strength of the soul. It comes by faith and through obedience to God’s laws and ordinances. God then purifies the heart by faith, and the heart becomes purged from that which is profane and unworthy. When holiness is achieved by conforming to God’s will, one knows intuitively that which is wrong and that which is right before the Lord.” (James E Faust)

• Holiness is a feeling that surrounds sacred things.
• It can be felt in the home for the home as a haven for families is a sacred place.
• It is a reflection of cleanliness and dedication to God.
• This kind of beauty touches my soul in a powerful way.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness seems to inspire an attitude of deep reverence and clean conscience.  

Anything less is mockery.

Question:  What kind of beauty is important to you?

God is Found in Still Places

1.  The story of Elijah
2.  Finding God
3.  External distractions

The story is told in the Bible of a time when God taught the prophet Elijah and all of us about himself.  He passed by Elijah in a strong wind and the rocks of the mountain broke and fell down but God was not in the wind.  A great earthquake shook Elijah but God was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake, a fire raged but God was not in the fire.  And after the fire there came a still small voice.  God spoke in that stillness.

Earthquakes and fires are aspects of the natural world that get a lot of attention.  They are like loud music with a heavy beat and sparkly clothes in neon colors.  God is not going to come down and get your attention with any of these things.  

When I have been lucky enough to find God, he was in still places.  I have found him in moments of quiet reflection out in nature.  I have been blessed with his presence in my home at night after the kids were in bed.  I have found him in in places that were externally loud but internally I was very still.  However, if I am in a state of internal turmoil and my environment is distracting, I can’t find God anywhere.

What things are externally distracting?  Handheld devices.  Drums.  Police sirens.  Tornadoes.  Low-cut clothing.  What things are internally distracting?  Anger.  Mocking critiques.  Self-incrimination. 

When I go to worship God at church it is very important that the environment invites God’s presence.  My church’s worship service doesn’t have a band with singing performers.  The hymns are accompanied only by an organ or piano.  Some people question this type of service in the modern age.  If God is to be found in modern churches, they will be places without a lot of distractions because of what God taught Elijah.

My dh in a naturally still place